GREENSTEAD
Greenstead is a small parish adjoining Chipping
Ongar to the west. (fn. 1) From 1548 to 1554 it was united
with Chipping Ongar. (fn. 2) Its population has always been
small until the last 20 years. In 1801 it was 102, and
in 1931, 119. The population in 1951 was 785, the
large increase being mainly accounted for by the building of houses on the estate adjoining Chipping Ongar. (fn. 3)
The main centres of population are at the east and west
ends of the parish, not in the centre by the hall and the
church.
The land rises from about 200 ft. above sea-level in
the east to 300 ft. in the west. A stream which rises in
the west flows east to join Cripsey Brook near the
north-east corner. Greenstead Wood is in the west,
between the stream and the north boundary. The
road from Chipping Ongar enters Greenstead in the
south-east and runs through the parish to Greenstead
Green in the north-west. At the Ongar end of this
road there is a small built-up area, mostly of the 19th
century and later. To the north of this is a large housing site consisting of 100 privately built houses, 30
post-1945 council houses, and two groups of prefabricated houses.
The rectory lies on the road about ½ mile from
Ongar. To the west of it, lying close together to the
north of the road, are the parish church and Greenstead Hall. They are joined to Ongar by an avenue of
trees about a mile long. (fn. 4)
There are a number of houses at Greenstead Green.
Little Thorbens (now called The Cottage) is a small
two-story timber-framed house with a cross-wing and
an overhanging gable at its west end. The date 1564
is cut on one of the roof timbers. (fn. 5) Blackstock House
and Tudor Cottage formerly made up a single house,
named New House. Tudor Cottage is timber-framed
and partly weather-boarded, and dates from the late
16th or early 17th century. Blackstock House, on the
west, is a gault brick addition dating from about 1870.
Greenstead House is a two-story stucco building, dating
from the 18th century with a large addition of about
1860. Ivy Cottage adjoins it (see below, Schools).
Hardings Farm is opposite Ivy Cottage. Also at Greenstead Green, on the south side of the road leading to
Ongar, are five pairs of council houses. The green
from which this part of the parish took its name no
longer exists, but within living memory there was a
long triangular open green on the west side of the road
here, reaching nearly to Toot Hill in Stanford Rivers. (fn. 6)
The present road from Greenstead Green to Toot Hill
appears to have been constructed between 1838 and
1873-4. (fn. 7) Pensons Lane runs from Greenstead Green
north-east to Ackingford Bridge (see Chipping Ongar).
Another road runs north from Greenstead Green to
Bobbingworth. A road from the centre of the parish
runs south to Stanford Hall and the church in Stanford
Rivers. Half a mile to the east of this road, on the
southern border of the parish, is Lodge Farm. It is a
timber-framed house of mid- or late-17th-century date,
and it contains a round-headed corner cupboard of the
same period.
The railway from Epping to Ongar passes through
a small part of the parish on the north east. Blake Hall
station, on this line, is ¼ mile north of Greenstead
Green but is in the parish of Stanford Rivers.
Few references have been found to the parish roads.
In 1598 Greenstead was presented at quarter sessions
for the bad state of its highways. (fn. 8) In 1618-19 the
road from Chipping Ongar to Greenstead was in a
bad condition and the parishioners of Greenstead and
High Ongar were said to be jointly responsible for its
upkeep. (fn. 9)
For transport and postal services Greenstead has
always depended on Chipping Ongar (q.v.)
The Greenstead housing estate has all the public
services. (fn. 10) Water was supplied to some parts of the
parish in 1908, from Chipping Ongar as far as Greenstead church. (fn. 11) There is sewerage as far as the Croft. (fn. 12)
Gas was first supplied in 1934. It at first extended
along the road to Blake Hall Station. (fn. 13) Greenstead
Green has had electricity since 1932. (fn. 14)
In 1086 there were in all 8 plough-teams in Greenstead, woodland for 520 swine, 35 acres of meadow.
There were then only 14 pigs on the manor: the number had declined from 30 in 1066. There were 40
goats and 20 sheep, a rouncy, and 3 beasts. (fn. 15) The
parish was less densely wooded than Chipping Ongar
(q.v.) to the east.
The manor of Greenstead in 1349 was said to
contain 60 acres of (arable) land, 8 acres of meadow,
15 acres of pasture, and a wood. (fn. 16) In 1625 it was said
to contain 100 acres of land, 20 acres of meadow, 60
acres of pasture, and 60 acres of underwood. (fn. 17) In 1690
there were 100 acres of land, 80 acres of meadow, 100
acres of pasture, and 80 acres of underwood. (fn. 18) These
figures seem to indicate that from the 14th century
onwards the demesne farm gradually increased in size
until, by the end of the 17th century it contained about
half the total area of the parish. In the 18th century
there were at least three farms in the parish apart from
the home farm of Greenstead Hall. (fn. 19) During the first
half of that century almost all the land in the parish
was acquired by a single owner. It was split up again
after 1750. (fn. 20) In 1839 the parish was estimated to contain 289 acres of arable, 325 acres of meadow and
pasture, 31 acres of woodland, and 23 acres of common,
waste, and roads. (fn. 21) The Hall farm contained 263 acres.
There were three other farms of 50-100 acres. More
than 400 acres were owned by the lord of the manor,
and within the next 30 years two other farms were
added to the main estate, leaving very little land in the
parish outside the estate. (fn. 22)
Inclosure was probably facilitated in Greenstead by
the small number of interests involved. A rental of
about 1525 has numerous references to crofts in
Greenstead, which suggests that much inclosure had
already taken place. (fn. 23) It is, however, interesting that
the green which gave its name to Greenstead Green
should have survived until modern times. (fn. 24)
There was a mill at Greenstead in 1086. (fn. 25) In 1349
there were two mills in the manor, one driven by water
and the other by wind. (fn. 26)
The sale of timber from Greenstead during the
Napoleonic wars is mentioned below. (fn. 27) It is clear from
the maps that Greenstead wood was much larger in
1777 than it was a hundred years later. (fn. 28)