Ongar: An extract from the Commonplace Book of Edward Reeve c1860

The Secret of Warm Feet

Many of the colds which people are said to catch commence at the feet.  To keep those extremities constantly warm therefore is to effect an insurance against the almost interminable list of disorders which spring out of a “slight cold”.  Never be tightly shod.  Boots, or shoes when they fit closely press against the veins of the foot and prevent the free circulation of the blood.  When on the contrary they do not embrace the foot too tightly, the blood gets fair play and the spaces left between the leather and the stocking are filled up with a comfortable supply of warm air.  Never sit in damp shoes.  It is very often imagined that unless they be positively wet, it is not necessary to change them when the feet are at rest.  This is a fallacy, for when the least dampness is absorbed into the sole, it is attracted further to the foot itself by its own heat, and thus perspiration is dangerously checked.  Any person may prove this by trying the experiment of neglecting the rule, and his feet will certainly feel cold and damp after a few minutes, although, on taking off the shoe and examining it, it will appear to be properly dry.  Did every one follow these rules, there would be no more cold feet and bad colds.

Blackmore: Diamond Jubilee Walk

A new booklet will be released about Blackmore next weekend (28 / 29 April 2012) to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.   Copies will go on sale at the Priory Church of St Laurence, Blackmore, when the Friends of St Laurence hold their Art and Photographic Exhibition.  The walk booklet will cost just £2. 

This self-guided walk originated as a guided tour around the historic centre of the village.  For the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee it has been adapted it as a contribution and celebration of this great event. 

Two circular walks – one short, the other slightly longer - start at the parish church situated at the end of Church Street but can be begun at any suitable point.

It also is appropriate to announce the release on the booklet today - it being our Queen's birthday.  Happy birthday ma'am.

Ongar: An extract from the Commonplace Book of Edward Reeve c1860

Lines on going to Church

Some go to Church, just for a walk,

Some only go, to laugh, and talk,

Some go there for speculation,

Some go there for observation,

Some go there to meet a lover,

Some attend their faults to cover,

Some go there to meet a friend,

Some go there the time to spend,

Some go there to learn the Parson’s name,

Some go there to resound his fame,

Some go there to doze, and nod,

But few go there to worship God.

Blackmore: Crickett family

Received 9 March 2012

(via Church Office)

To whom it may concern and Greetings from New York. My name is Ron Giacone, I am the grandson of Robert D. Crickett, who once resided at 500 Mawney Rd., Romford. Robert was born in 1892 in Tottenham, died in 1982, in West Hempstead, New York. I am in possession of a small pamphlet entitled "The Priory Church of St. Laurence" A Short History And Guide 1973, compiled by Ms. Constance Simmons (I would add here that I also knew Connie, as she lived across the street from my grandparents’ house, on Mawney Rd. She also visited with us here in New York on several occasions through the years).

There is a small comment in the pamphlet, listed under the heading "The Chapel" which details that " In July 1900, Mr. Robert Crickett gave permission for the coffins of his relatives to be placed below the floor of the Church. The North-East corner of the Church had been a sealed vault - the Crickett vault. With Mr. Crickett's permission, the vault was opened, the coffins buried, a window opened at the east end of the north wall and the side chapel was furnished". I am curious as to;

1.   Who is the Robert Crickett that gave permission to move the bodies, as my grandfather would have been only 8 years of age at the time.

2.   Can you advise the names of the relatives who are buried below the floor of the church

3.  Is there any marking or headstone for these bodies

4.  Are there any existing Church records of the Crickett family that you could copy and email to me.

Additionally, if you could give me any information regarding Connie Simmons; when she passed away and where she may be buried.  Connie was a lovely person and a close family friend to my grandparents and my mother, Eileen (Crickett) Giacone. Eileen is still living and is now 89 years of age. She resides in Maryland with my older brother Michael.

Any information you can provide regarding the Crickett family will be very much appreciated.

Sincerely,

Ron Giacone

Replied  10 March 2012

Hello Ron

Thank you for the e mail sent to the Vicarage.  I am the church’s local historian and have come across the Crickitt family during my research.  I will look up the information requested and let you have a response as soon as I can.

I have a separate blog www.blackmorehistory.blogspot.com and website www.blackmorehistory.co.uk which may be of interest to you.

Regards

Andrew Smith

Received 10 March 2012

Andrew. Thank you for your response. I look forward to hearing from you with additional information, at your convenience. Should you require any information to help in your search regarding the Crickett's, please advise and I'll do my best to provide it.

Looking through the two linked blogs, one thing I find of interest is the spelling of the name. It is spelled both as Crickitt and Crickett in various places through the documents. Could this have been just a common spelling error over time.

Best regards,

Ron 

Replied 12 March 2012

Hello Ron

Please find below the answers to your questions gleaned from my notes.

1.   Who is the Robert Crickett that gave permission to move the bodies, as my grandfather would have been only 8 years of age at the time.

A note on the Crickett family mausoleum appeared on the blog in December 2010: http://blackmorehistory.blogspot.com/2010/12/blackmore-crickett-family.html.  The area was converted into a Side Chapel in 1901/02. 

The letter giving permission for the removal of the bodies reads as follows:

Copy of a letter received from Mr Crickitt respecting the Vault in the Church

Rozelle

Lansdown Road

Cheltenham

15 July 1900

Dear Sir

I quite agree with you that it would be much better that the coffins of my relatives should be placed below the floor of the Church instead of above it for sanitary reasons not regarded in past days …

Rob E Crickitt

2.   Can you advise the names of the relatives who are buried below the floor of the church

Please see above.

3.  Is there any marking or headstone for these bodies

Wall plaques exist for members of the family on what was previously the wall of the mausoleum, now the church vestry.  These read as follows:

To the memory of

Charles Alexander Crickitt

of Smyths Hall Esquire

many years one of the

Representatives of Parliament

of the Borough of Ipswich

who died the 16^th Jany 1803

aged 65 years

also to the memory of

Sarah the widow of

Charles Alexander Crickitt Esq

who departed this life

the 29 day of July 1828

aged 84 years

In memory of

Harriet Alexander Crickitt

the last surviving child

of the late

Charles Alexander Crickitt Esq M.P.

formerly of

Smyths Hall in this parish

she died

the 16^th of November 1868

Aged 79.

4.  Are there any existing Church records of the Crickett family that you could copy and email to me.

Church records are preserved at the Essex Record Office in Chelmsford. 

5.   … Any information regarding Connie Simmons; when she passed away and where she may be buried.

Constance Simmons died in May 1988, aged 82.  At the time of her death she was living in York.  She is buried with her late husband, Albert, in Blackmore churchyard.

6.   Any information you can provide regarding the Crickett family will be very much appreciated.

The final burial entry for a Crickitt, perhaps no relation, was ‘Percy Scott Hill Scott-Crickitt [of] 19 Campbell Road, Croydon [buried] 26 April 1919, [aged] 53 years’.

According to genealogical notes (dated 1908) held in the Essex Record Office [ERO T/G 82/1], the Crickitt family “were bankers at Ipswich, Colchester, Chelmsford and Maldon. They started the Old Bank, Ipswich in 1798. They represented Ipswich in Parliament for 50 years. They owned several manors, among them Smyth Hall Blackmore, pulled down by Miss H Crickitt, it was an old Elizabethan Hall”.

The family is mentioned in the following records:

Crickett	…, Esq	1766	Patron to Church	GLM 9558
Crickett	Charles Alexander, Esq	1778	"Two families of note". Visitation	ERO T/A 778/20
Crickett	Miss	1863	Smyths Hall	White's Directory
Crickitt	Miss	1846	Home Cottage	Kelly's Directory
Crickitt	Miss	1848	Smyth Hall	White's Directory

See also Suckling’s’ Memorials and Antiquities of Essex’ (1845): http://blackmorehistory.blogspot.com/2009/06/blackmore-revd-suckling-memorials-1845.html

Regards

Andrew

Received 13 March 2012

Andrew, Thank you so much for your effort and response to my inquiry. I am starting to think this is much more a situation of coincidence than family ancestry. As far as I know, my grandfather’s family had nothing to do with the banking industry and I'm sure I would have heard about any relative (even distant) being a member of Parliament, as detailed in your records. They were all working-class people from Tottenham, London. My grandfather was in the jewellery business and worked in a small shop in Hatton Garden, London.

Additionally, Ms. Connie Simmons may also be a coincidence, as I do not believe she ever married and lived in Romford on Mawney Rd.  from at least 1954 until her death. So, unless her husband Albert died prior to 1954, this too seems to be a different Connie Simmons.

Again, I am not sure of why the different spelling of the last names Crickitt & Crickett, but both spellings seem to be used interchangeably when describing the Crickett family graves at the Church in Blackmore.

Thanks again for your help.  I will continue to read through your forwards to see if I can find more definitive connections to my grandfather’s side of the family tree.

Best regards,

Ron Giacone

Ongar: An extract from the Commonplace Book of Edward Reeve c1860

Who says too much, says nothing.

Persons who are good at excuses are seldom good at anything else.

Gold wins its way, where angels might despair.

Seldom abandon your ground as long as you think yourself right, and never perversely maintain it, when you know yourself wrong.

A person speaking to a very deaf man, and getting angry at his not catching his meaning said, “Why it is as plain as A.B.C.”.  “That may be, Sir,” replied the poor man, “but I am D.E.F.”.

One way to avoid failure, is not to try it.

Ongar: An extract from the Commonplace Book of Edward Reeve c1860

Verses written in the first leaf of a Bible

Blessed is the man who by temptation tried,

In wisdom makes this holy law his guide,

Serene and undisturbed moments flow,

He does no wrong, and therefore feels no woe,

What tho’ adversity with powerful sway,

Clos’d for a time the sunshine of his day,

And o’er his head, while life’s horizon hours

Affliction, dark’ning, all her tempest pours

Calm is his breast, with conscious virtue warm

He bears, unmoved, the fury of the storm,

Taught by these flowing precepts from on high,

Learns how to live, and having liv’d to die.

Fryerning: Writtle Forest

Inspired by David Hockney exhibition.  Felled trees in Writtle Forest

BLACKMORE HISTORY NEWS - April 2012

Welcome to this month’s round-up of local history and heritage in and around Blackmore, Essex.

Blackmore Ancestors

My booklet, previously called ‘Hatched, Matched and Despatched’, has had a makeover and is now available again as ‘Blackmore Ancestors’.  The 24-page booklet “does not regurgitate the contents of the [Baptism, Marriage and Burial] Registers [of Blackmore, Essex] but uses two late Victorian sources – one written appropriately in the year of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee (1897) – to comment on the social changes of the parish over the past 400 years”.  It is available from Megarrys and the local church, priced £2, and sold in aid of funds for the Priory Church of St Laurence, Blackmore.

Titanic connections

An event which cannot be avoided on television at the present time is the maiden voyage and sinking to the SS Titanic one hundred years’ ago on 15 April.  The Catholic Priest of St Helen’s Church, Ongar, was one of those who perished.  Father Andrew writes in the Spring 2012 edition of the Stondon Massey News (follow link http://www.stondonmasseypc.co.uk/local-information/parish-magazine/ ) how Father Thomas Byles helped women and children get into the few lifeboats which were available and how he ministered to those who would likely perish by giving absolution and blessings.  “he then began the recitation of the rosary”.  Many times Father Byles was asked to board a lifeboat, but he refused.  A survivor recalled that he could distinctly hear the priest’s voice as his craft left the stricken vessel.  Father Byles is commemorated in a stained glass window at the church: “Pray for the Reverend Thomas Byles, for eight years Rector of this Mission, whose heroic death in the disaster to SS Titanic, earnestly devoting his last moments to the religious consolation of his fellow passengers, this window commemorates.”

Scott of the Antarctic

Less has been made in the media of the expedition by Captain Scott and his comrades one hundred years ago – which is a shame.  The party were just a few days too late to be the first to reach the South Pole and all perished on their return journey.  Captain Oates, whose family lived at Gestingthorpe in the north of Essex, is famously recorded as saying “I am just stepping outside for a moment … “.

Miscellaneous

Blackmore:  ‘Antique Road Trip’ televised 21 February 2012.  Megarrys in Blackmore village green featured.  http://www.antique-teashop.co.uk/?p=638

Fryerning: Unusual church photo. http://ellispictures.com/2012/02/24/the-church-at-fryerning/

High Ongar:  British Legion branch closes after 82 years. http://www.thisistotalessex.co.uk/post-British-legion/story-15351662-detail/story.html

Ingatestone:  Old bottles discovered on High Street fire station site.  Former dump.  http://www.thisistotalessex.co.uk/Old-bottles-unearthed-builders-dig-deeply/story-15587726-detail/story.html

Stondon Massey:  William Byrd article ahead of Cardinall Musick’s tour.  http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/73e967be-597c-11e1-abf1-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1qfnHxThM .  For more visit http://www.williambyrdfestival.blogspot.com

Writtle:  Lead stolen – again.  It is part of a major problem in which thieves target historic buildings for personal gain, which caring one jot about the consequences on the local churchgoers and community.  Hands off I say!!   http://www.thisistotalessex.co.uk/Writtle-church-victim-second-lead-theft/story-15295682-detail/story.html

Links

For an extensive list of links to other sites go to: http://www.blackmorehistory.co.uk/externallinks.html  

Ongar: An extract from the Commonplace Book of Edward Reeve c1860

A Mr Page, a gallant old bachelor, picked up a young lady’s glove, which he restored with the following extempore effusion:

“If but from glove, you take the letter g.

Then glove is love, which I devote to thee”.

Upon which the clever young lady immediately replied

“And if from Page, you take the letter p

Then Page is age, and that won’t do for me.”

It is better to do a wise thing, and say a foolish one, than do a foolish thing and say a wise one.

Area: "High Country History Group" Journal No. 41

The Quarterly Journal of the High Country History Group was issued to members in September 2011.  It contains a number of items including:

-          High Country.  An extract from ‘The People’s History of Essex’ on Greensted (see http://blackmorehistory.blogspot.com/2011/11/greensted-peoples-history-of-essex-1861.html)

-          The Bells of St Christopher’s Church, Willingale (see http://blackmorehistory.blogspot.com/2011/07/willingale-bells-of-st-christopher.html)

-          After Dinner Anecdotes, written by Edward Henry Lisle Reeve

o   Revd. Thomas Smith (see http://blackmorehistory.blogspot.com/2011/10/stondon-massey-revd-thomas-smith.html)

o   Revd. John Oldham (see http://blackmorehistory.blogspot.com/2011/10/stondon-massey-revd-john-oldham.html)

o   Revd. Thomas Hubbard (see http://blackmorehistory.blogspot.com/2011/10/stondon-massey-revd-thomas-hubbard.html)

o   Captain Reeve (see http://blackmorehistory.blogspot.com/2011/10/stondon-massey-captain-edward-reeve.html)

o   Revd. Edward James Reeve (see http://blackmorehistory.blogspot.com/2011/10/stondon-massey-revd-edward-james-reeve.html)

-          The Greensted Road

-          Kellys Directory of Essex 1933 – Greensted

-          Richard Thomas Dutton Budworth (part 1)

-          The Essex Earthquake of 1884

For membership and further information go to http://www.blackmorehistory.co.uk/hchg.html

Ongar: An extract from the Commonplace Book of Edward Reeve c1860

One of the best things is to see in a good man rewarded, the next best thing is to see a great rogue punished.

The affectionate recollection of the virtues of the dead, is the duty of the living.

The truth of our affection is tested when the object of our affection is absent.

Blackmore: Martin boy on Exmouth

Received 12 February 2012

Hello

I am impressed by the Blackmore village history web site, there is a lot of information here, and a lot of work has obviously gone into it.  I hope it was a labour of love!

I used to live in Blackmore, enjoyed my time there and only moved away as my job moved and commuting from Blackmore was just not on.  I was made redundant a few years ago and now fill in some of my time as a volunteer at the London Metropolitan Archives (LMA), where I have recently been working with the records of the training Ship ‘Exmouth’.  It was moored on the Thames off Grays in Essex, and was used in a scheme set up in the mid C19 by the Metropolitan Asylums Board to look after boys, usually either orphans, or with a single parent who was unable to look after them, so the boys had to be taken into care. The boys, who had to be ‘of good character’, lived on the ship and were given training that would suit them either for the Navy or the Merchant Marine. They were on the ship for varying periods of time, starting anytime after age 11, and required to leave, if still there, by their 16^th birthday.

I wondered if you would be interested to know that there is a record of a boy Alfred Charles Martin, son of A.C. Martin (possibly the same name) of Vine Cottage Blackmore, on the ship in 1920.  I am sure I remember a Vine Cottage being in the village when I lived there, is it near the little round-about? (the only house I do remember was Swan Cottage at the end of Church Lane because of the pargetting that it carried).  The record of Alfred Charles Martin on the ship gives a note of his height, weight, leg length and boot size (which is unusual, most entries do not carry that much information) and also say that he was a somnambulist.

Might this be of any interest for your record of names?

Peter Jackson

Replied  13 February 2012

Peter

Thank you for your E Mail.  This is an interesting piece of social history.

Vine Cottage was the home of Emma Bass.  I understand that she was a foster-parent to a number of children, one of whom was Edwin Alexander, a victim of the First World War.

It would be interesting to find out more about Alfred Martin.  I will take a look through the notes I have, and come back to you.

Regards

Andrew

Replied 10 March 2012

Hello Peter

I have looked through my records of the Martins in Blackmore, of which there were many.  Without access to the 1911 Census I can add very little to the story.  The Burial Register (1893-1992), the original of which is in the church safe, reveals a number of Martin burials, one of which is “Elizabeth Martin. Vine Cottage, Blackmore. Feb 8 1936. 76 years”.  Looking at the year Alfred was on board the Exmouth, and his age, it makes it very unlikely that Elizabeth was his mother, perhaps his grandmother.  Some detective work would be necessary to solve the mystery.

Regards

Andrew

Received 10 March 2012

Hello Andrew

Thanks for getting back to me, and for your researches … I partly wondered if you might say “yes I know all about the family”, sadly you didn’t.

I might amuse myself with some more general researches, if I find anything of interest I’ll let you know.

Peter

Replied 10 March 2012

Thanks Peter.  I will post our correspondence on the blog and look forward to receiving comments.

Andrew

Ongar: An extract from the Commonplace Book of Edward Reeve c1860

Conundrum

My 1^st is called a Company – Co

My 2^nd avoids a company – Nun

My 3^rd assembles a Company – Drum

And my whole, amuses a Company.

Fryerning: Conebeare family

Received 13 February 2012

Dear Andrew

I am researching for a biography of Charles Conybeare, born in 1853 at Ingatestone. Charles became a Barrister, like his father and also a MP. I wondered whether you have any knowledge of local sources of papers or records about the Conybeare family. The family lived at St Leonard's Grange, Fryerning in the 1880s.

Dean

Replied 10 March 2012

Hello Dean.  The obvious places to look are census records and parish registers for Fryerning.  E E Wilde mentions Fryerning Grange in her book ‘Ingatestone and the Great Essex Road with Fryerning’ (1913).

“Fryerning Grange, formerly Blankets.  Blankets was one of many old small farmhouses of the neighbourhood. It was pulled down about 1870 by Mr Parkinson, who built the present house on the site of the old one, did away with the ancient name of Blankets, and called it Fryerning Grange.  Mr Parkinson was also responsible for enclosing a piece of roadside waste on Beggar Hill, near the present pump; it is now planted with white poplars, but the double hedge remains, and middle-aged men remember playing on that ground as boys.  He also attempted to close the footpath running from Fryerning Road to Beggar Hill, but after many lively scenes, when Mr H G Conybeare and his brother assisted in destroying the obstacles erected on the path, the path was preserved for public use.  Behind the house lies a field, marked on the Tithe Map ‘Church Field’; owner, Mr E Sikes.” (page 280)

Regards

Andrew

Received 10 March 2012

Thanks Andrew. I had read a little about the rights of way argument. I shall have to have a few days in the area. I have exhausted the census info on the Ancestry site and elsewhere on the net. Currently reading about the Irish evictions.

Dean

Ongar: An extract from the Commonplace Book of Edward Reeve c1860

In many cases a true secret of what is called good fortune; it consists only in the being never unprepared to seize a favourable opportunity when it comes.

The crooked path of cunning will always lead us into difficulties.

Silence is a friend, that will never betray.

Stondon Massey: Cardinall's Musick to sing Byrd

Cardinall’s Musick to perform Byrd at Stondon Massey

The multi Gramophone Award winning Choir the Cardinall’s Musick will be coming to St Peter and St Paul Church Stondon Massey on Sunday 2 September to perform two short concerts as part of their Byrd Tour 2012. 

Cardinall’s Musick is an internationally recognised Choir specialising in early music.  In 2010, under the direction of Andrew Carwood, the singers released their 13^th disc concluding the complete Latin choral works of William Byrd.  ‘Infelix Ego’ won them the Recording of the Year. 

The Byrd Tour 2012 celebrates the recording achievement by taking the music of the great Elizabethan composer to venues both great and small.  St Peter and St Paul Church, the only stop planned in Essex, is one of the smallest on the tour but has such a strong association with Byrd that Andrew Carwood felt that the opportunity to perform here should not be missed.  The tour will be extensively advertised by Cardinall’s Musick in national newspapers and the music press.  The Choir can be heard on the cover CD of the BBC Music Magazine soon.

Members of Stondon’s congregation will be there on the day to supervise car parking, provide front of house support and post-concert refreshments.  The professional Choir will be offering tickets for sale online for about £10 for each of the two concerts.  (However please indicate to us now whether you are interested so that we can seek to secure tickets for sale locally).

Provisional times for the concerts are 3.00pm and 5.30pm on Sunday 2 September 2012.  Each hour-long offering will include a different Mass by William Byrd plus motets.

Notes:

The Financial Times carried an interesting article giving information on Byrd and heralding the Byrd Tour 2012, which began at the Wigmore Hall in London on Monday 5 March (was broadcast live on BBC Radio 3, and is available to hear on the I Player until Monday): http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/73e967be-597c-11e1-abf1-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1nN4pStYi . For the latest tour information go to http://www.cardinallsmusick.com/news/byrd-tour-2012 and specifically, for Stondon Massey Essex, follow the link to the William Byrd Festival blog, http://www.williambyrdfestival.blogspot.com/ .

Ongar: An extract from the Commonplace Book of Edward Reeve c1860

The art of conversation is …

Not only to say the right thing in the right place, but, far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.

Roxwell: Young MI

Received 3 February 2012

I found this...  [Visitation of Essex 1634 – which provides family trees of important families]  and after Thomas Yonge it says "Buried there 1593, M.I.". I have no clue what that means and Google doesn't seem to help me. Do you know?

Devon

Replied 4 February 2012

Devon

M.I.?  I am not at all sure but wonder whether this is shorthand for Latin.  ‘Mort’ in mortgage is a Latin word meaning lifetime, and my Latin dictionary says that ‘morior’ means die.  It leads me to think, because of the short family tree, of the word intestate or ‘intestatus’ in Latin.  So my wild guess is that your ancestor died without making a will or died without issue – that is surviving children.

Andrew

BLACKMORE HISTORY NEWS - March 2012

Welcome to this month’s round-up of local history and heritage in and around Blackmore, Essex.

Cardinall’s Musick launch Byrd Tour 2012

William Byrd (see picture), composer and one-time resident of Stondon Massey, is the focus of a nine-month tour by Cardinall’s Musick.  Under the direction of Andrew Carwood the internationally renowned Choir begin their series of concerts at the Wigmore Hall in London on Monday 5 March.  The tour will include two short concerts at St Peter and St Paul Church, Stondon Massey, on Sunday 2 September.  The Financial Times has carried an interesting article giving information on Byrd and heralding the tour: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/73e967be-597c-11e1-abf1-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1nN4pStYi . For the latest tour information go to http://www.cardinallsmusick.com/news/byrd-tour-2012 and specifically follow the link to the William Byrd Festival blog, http://www.williambyrdfestival.blogspot.com/ .

Petre Chapel Refurbishment at Ingatestone

The Petre Chapel in Ingatestone Parish Church, the resting place of John Petre patron to the aforementioned William Byrd, has just been refurbished.  See http://www.thisistotalessex.co.uk/Historic-chapel-time-400-years/story-15214431-detail/story.html

Antique Road Trip


Megarrys Antique Shop on The Green, Blackmore, was featured on the BBC day-time show 'Antique Road Trip' on 21 February.  It was recorded last August.  Since then there has been an influx of visitors to the village.


Dr Livingstone I presume

Ongar United Reformed Church hosted a talk on the explorer and missionary David Livingstone.  Before going to Africa the young man stayed in Ongar for about nine months.  He is famously recalled locally for being lost for words when about to give a sermon one evening at Stanford Rivers Congregational Church.   Ongar URC is one of the oldest non-conformist chapels in the country, having been formed in 1662.  It celebrates its 350^th anniversary in May.

Miscellaneous

Buttsbury churchyard accident: Drivers misjudge sharp bend at Buttsbury Church causing road accident – locals refer the two right-angle turns as ‘dead cyclists’ bend’, warning of extreme care required on this country lane.  http://www.thisistotalessex.co.uk/smash-danger-road/story-15130659-detail/story.html

Doddinghurst history: http://www.tonicbooks.com/post/2012/02/15/Doddinghurst-History.aspx

Fry family of Blackmore: http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=qnco05i3o09jr8lrjaf2mk1jc2&topic=580830.0

Greensted Church theft: http://www.thisistotalessex.co.uk/Thief-takes-painting-church-service/story-15130653-detail/story.html

Links

For an extensive list of links to other sites go to: http://www.blackmorehistory.co.uk/externallinks.html  

Ongar: An extract from the Commonplace Book of Edward Reeve c1860

The Lord’s Prayer alone is an evidence of the truth of Christianity, so admirably is that prayer accommodated to all our wants.