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Shelley is a partly rural village and partly residential conurbation in the Ongar civil parish of the
Epping Forest Epping Forest is a area of ancient woodland, and other established habitats, which straddles the border between Greater London and Essex. The main body of the forest stretches from Epping in the north, to Chingford on the edge of the London ...
district of
Essex Essex () is a Ceremonial counties of England, county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the Riv ...
, England. The former civil parish of Shelley focused on the
parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...
and the manor house of Shelley Hall at the north of the parish, and was bounded at the north by the civil parish of Moreton, the south by the A414
Harlow Harlow is a large town and local government district located in the west of Essex, England. Founded as a new town, it is situated on the border with Hertfordshire and London, Harlow occupies a large area of land on the south bank of the uppe ...
to
Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Southend-on-Sea and Colchester. It is located north-east of Londo ...
Road, the east by the B184 road from
Chipping Ongar Chipping Ongar () is a market town and former civil parish, now in the parish of Ongar, in the Epping Forest District of the county of Essex, England. It is located east of Epping, southeast of Harlow and northwest of Brentwood. In 2020 th ...
to
Great Dunmow Great Dunmow is a historic market town and civil parish in the Uttlesford district of Essex, England. It is situated on the north of the A120 road, approximately midway between Bishop's Stortford and Braintree, five miles east of London Stans ...
, and the west by the southeast-to-northwest Moreton Road which edges Shelley Common with its Roding tributary of Cripsey Brook."Shelley: Introduction"
in ''A History of the County of Essex'', vol 4, Ongar Hundred, ed. W R Powell (London, 1956), pp. 203-204.
British History Online ''British History Online'' is a digital library of primary and secondary sources on medieval and modern history of Great Britain and Ireland. It was created and is managed as a cooperative venture by the Institute of Historical Research, Uni ...
. Retrieved 2 March 2018
The village church is just west off the B184 Fyfield road, and north, separated by farm and fields, from the conurbated southern area of Shelley contiguous with the small
market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...
of Chipping Ongar. Shelley is west from the
county town In the United Kingdom and Ireland, a county town is the most important town or city in a county. It is usually the location of administrative or judicial functions within a county and the place where the county's members of Parliament are elect ...
of Chelmsford.


History

In the ''
Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...
'', Shelley is listed as "Senleia". Shelley manor was of 13 households, with five villagers, five smallholders, and three slaves, and included one lord's plough team and two men's plough teams. There were of meadow, and woodland with 150 pigs. Before the
Conquest Conquest is the act of military subjugation of an enemy by force of arms. Military history provides many examples of conquest: the Roman conquest of Britain, the Mauryan conquest of Afghanistan and of vast areas of the Indian subcontinent, ...
, lordship was held by Leofday, under the overlordship of Esger the Constable; after which in 1086 the manor was given to Reginald, under Geoffrey de Mandeville who was
Tenant-in-chief In medieval and early modern Europe, the term ''tenant-in-chief'' (or ''vassal-in-chief'') denoted a person who held his lands under various forms of feudal land tenure directly from the king or territorial prince to whom he did homage, as opp ...
to
William the Conqueror William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England, reigning from 1066 until his death in 10 ...
. Shelley was described in 1848 as "a small parish of scattered houses, between the river Roding and Cripsey Brook, 1½ miles north from Chipping Ongar". At the time, Shelley Hall, west from today's
parish Church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...
of St Peter, was home to the
Lord of the Manor Lord of the Manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England, referred to the landholder of a rural estate. The lord enjoyed manorial rights (the rights to establish and occupy a residence, known as the manor house and demesne) as well as seig ...
and principal landowner. Of
Elizabethan The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The symbol of Britannia (a female personific ...
style, it was extensively restored in 1869.'' White's History, Gazetteer and Directory of Essex'' 1848 / 1863''
Kelly's Directory Kelly's Directory (or more formally, the Kelly's, Post Office and Harrod & Co Directory) was a trade directory in England that listed all businesses and tradespeople in a particular city or town, as well as a general directory of postal addresses ...
of Essex'' 1882 p.258 / 1894 p.304 / 1902 p.357 / 1914 p.510 / 1933 p.437
Shelley Hall is today a Grade II* listed gabled, timber framed and brick clad house dating to the 14th century with 16th- to 18th-century structural additions and internal fittings. By 1848, the former mansion of Bundish Hall, 1⁄2 mile (800 m) north from the church, had been reduced to a moated farmhouse, and is today partly within Moreton parish. The church in 1848, built in 1811 on the site of a decayed and unused former church, consisted of a small nave, a brick chancel and a western wooden turret with one bell. The parish incumbency, in the
gift A gift or a present is an item given to someone without the expectation of payment or anything in return. An item is not a gift if that item is already owned by the one to whom it is given. Although gift-giving might involve an expectation ...
of the Lord of the Manor, was held by the
rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...
of
Stapleford Tawney Stapleford Tawney is a village and civil parish in the Epping Forest district of Essex, England. Stapleford Tawney is approximately west-southwest from Chipping Ongar and southwest from the county town of Chelmsford. History Historically Stapl ...
, with Shelley
glebe Glebe (; also known as church furlong, rectory manor or parson's close(s))McGurk 1970, p. 17 is an area of land within an ecclesiastical parish used to support a parish priest. The land may be owned by the church, or its profits may be reserved ...
land, attached to the rectory and directly supporting the incumbent and church, being of , remaining almost unchanged until at least 1914. The parish
rectory A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of religion. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, parsonage, rectory or vicarage. Function A clergy house is typically ow ...
, near the hall but no longer existing, was described as "an ancient timber-framed building", and was where
Thomas Newton Thomas Newton (1 January 1704 – 14 February 1782) was an English cleric, biblical scholar and author. He served as the Bishop of Bristol from 1761 to 1782. Biography Newton was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge and was subsequently elect ...
(1704–1782), subsequently the
Bishop of Bristol A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
from 1761 to his death, wrote his ''Dissertations on the Prophecies'', which he completed in 1758. The rectory, about west from the church, dated to perhaps before the 16th century, was later enlarged, was restored in 1861, and had a front face of four gables with a two-storey porch at the centre. The house was burnt down when unoccupied in 1937. Within the church was noted a memorial of inscribed brass with effigy to John Green, who died in 1626, aged 89, and his wife, and sixteen children of whom seven were boys. The children left the manor but produced 111 grandchildren during the life of John Green and his wife. The parish registers date to 1689 for baptisms, 1687 for burials, and 1709 for marriages. Two parish charities were those of Harvey Kimpton who was Lord of the Manor until his death in 1817, and of William Bullock in 1822. The Kimpton charity of £110.5s.2d. gave a three per cent dividend per year, as did the Bullock charity from a bank annuity of £333.6s.8d. Both charities provided for the relief of parish poor, with Bullock's being distributed by the rector on Christmas Day in the form of beef, bread and coal to those of good character. The rector was also responsible for the upkeep of Shelly Bridge over Cripsey Brook on Moreton Road to the south-west of the church. Shelley parish was in the Ongar
Union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...
poor relief In English and British history, poor relief refers to government and ecclesiastical action to relieve poverty. Over the centuries, various authorities have needed to decide whose poverty deserves relief and also who should bear the cost of hel ...
provision set up under the
Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 The ''Poor Law Amendment Act 1834'' (PLAA) known widely as the New Poor Law, was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed by the Whig government of Earl Grey. It completely replaced earlier legislation based on the ''Poor Relie ...
– and in the Ongar
Rural Dean In the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion as well as some Lutheran denominations, a rural dean is a member of clergy who presides over a "rural deanery" (often referred to as a deanery); "ruridecanal" is the corresponding adjective. ...
ery, of the Essex
Archdeacon An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in the Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, St Thomas Christians, Eastern Orthodox churches and some other Christian denominations, above that o ...
ry of the
Diocese of St Albans The Diocese of St Albans forms part of the Province of Canterbury in England and is part of the wider Church of England, in turn part of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The diocese is home to more than 1.6 million people and comprises the hi ...
. In 1888 St Peter's Church was entirely rebuilt on same site in Early English style with flint and
Bath stone Bath Stone is an oolitic limestone comprising granular fragments of calcium carbonate. Originally obtained from the Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines under Combe Down, Somerset, England. Its honey colouring gives the World Heritage City of ...
. The new, and existing, church has a nave of three bays, a north aisle, a
vestry A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government for a parish in England, Wales and some English colonies which originally met in the vestry or sacristy of the parish church, and consequently became known colloquiall ...
and an organ chamber. The tower, with shingle broach spire, and containing two bells dating to 1810, is built at the north west corner of the church, the base of the tower forming the north facing porch. During digging the foundations for new church, two tombstones, dated 1652 and 1765, were discovered and were built into the west wall of the porch. The present church is Grade II listed. During at least the last half of the 19th and into the 20th century, children at Shelley were entitled to attend school at Chipping Ongar. Attached to Shelley Hall was a room which housed the parish
Sunday School A Sunday school is an educational institution, usually (but not always) Christian in character. Other religions including Buddhism, Islam, and Judaism have also organised Sunday schools in their temples and mosques, particularly in the West. Su ...
, which in 1894 was being taught by the occupant of the Hall and the daughters of the rector. In 1818 education for the poor had been provided by a Sunday School in Ongar and a nearby day school, paid for through a subscription from the rector.''Digest of Parochial Returns'' Select Committee on Education of the Poor (1818) The rector's later Sunday School at Shelley, begun in 1828, was attended by nine males and eight females.''House of Commons papers'', volume 41, in Abstract of Education Returns (1833) Crops grown in the parish were chiefly wheat, barley, beans, clover, and roots (typically root vegetables such as turnips), these on a soil of
marl Marl is an earthy material rich in carbonate minerals, clays, and silt. When hardened into rock, this becomes marlstone. It is formed in marine or freshwater environments, often through the activities of algae. Marl makes up the lower part o ...
over a clay subsoil. Shelley parish area in 1848 was ; in 1882 was ; and in 1894, 1902 and 1914 was . Shelley parish population in 1818 was 175; in 1833 was 163; in 1841 was 209; in 1881 was 200; in 1891 and 1901 was 186; in 1911 was 232, and in 1931 was 386. Trade directory parish occupations in 1848 listed five farmers, a beer seller, and a plumber. By 1863 there were four farmers, one of whom was a cattle dealer, a tailor, two shoemakers, one of whom ran a beer house, and a 'traveller' (possibly a hawker). In 1874 there were four farmers, presuming one to be at Shelley Hall, and a new listing for the
licensee A licensee can mean the holder of a license or, in U.S. tort law, a licensee is a person who is on the property of another, despite the fact that the property is not open to the general public, because the owner of the property has allowed the li ...
of the Red Cow public house, who remained listed until at least 1914. By 1882 the number of farmers was reduced to three, and by 1914, to two. At Shelley Hall a mechanical engineer was listed for 1882. New occupations by 1914 were two accountants and a dressmaker. From 1863 to 1882 an establishment variously listed as a ladies' boarding school and ladies' academy was present at Shelley House,''Post Office Directory of Essex 1874'' a building at the south on today's crossroads of the A414 and B184. This
Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...
-facaded house with later 19th- and early 20th-century additions, probably dated to the late 17th century, but today is non-existent. Until the Second World War Shelley was chiefly a rural parish. However, a small program of council house and
prefabricated Prefabrication is the practice of assembling components of a structure in a factory or other manufacturing site, and transporting complete assemblies or sub-assemblies to the construction site where the structure is to be located. The term is u ...
bungalow A bungalow is a small house or cottage that is either single-story or has a second story built into a sloping roof (usually with dormer windows), and may be surrounded by wide verandas. The first house in England that was classified as a b ...
building was started before the War on Moreton Road at the south by the then Ongar Rural District Council, which, between 1945 and 1953, planned and developed further housing infill of the southern part of Shelley, between Moreton Road and the A414, of approximately 450 houses, with shops, a community hall and Shelley primary school. In 1965 Shelley civil parish was abolished and absorbed, with
Chipping Ongar Chipping Ongar () is a market town and former civil parish, now in the parish of Ongar, in the Epping Forest District of the county of Essex, England. It is located east of Epping, southeast of Harlow and northwest of Brentwood. In 2020 th ...
, Marden Ash and
Greensted Greensted is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Ongar, Essex, England, strung out along the Greensted Road approximately one mile to the west of Chipping Ongar. In 1961 the parish had a population of 711. Toponymy Greenste ...
, into the new Ongar civil parish, governed by its own Ongar Town Council. In 1974 Ongar civil parish with its town council, which was previously within
Epping and Ongar Rural District Epping and Ongar Rural District was a rural district in the county of Essex, England from 1955 to 1974.http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/unit_page.jsp?u_id=10074174 Creation It was created in 1955 by the merger of the disbanded Ongar Rural Distri ...
, was transferred to the new
Epping Forest District Epping Forest is a local government district in Essex, England. Situated in the west of the county, bordering northeastern Greater London, it is named after, and contains a large part of, Epping Forest. The district, though wholly within the cou ...
of Essex. In 2013 a planning application was presented to Epping Forest District Council and Ongar Town Council by Fyfield Joint Venture, an organization based within Fyfield Business and Research Park which is privately operated by the real estate company Fyfield Business And Research Park Ltd. The proposal was to develop the Park with the addition of 105 homes and shops, an enlarged café, recreational facilities, of new retail space, increased parking, and a new access roundabout, partly on the
green belt A green belt is a policy and land-use zone designation used in land-use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wild, or agricultural land surrounding or neighboring urban areas. Similar concepts are greenways or green wedges, which hav ...
. Ongar Town Council wrote to
Eric Pickles Eric Jack Pickles, Baron Pickles, (born 20 April 1952) is a British Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party politician who served as Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Brentwood and Ongar (UK Parliament co ...
, the then
Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government The secretary of state for levelling up, housing and communities, also referred to as the levelling up secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, responsible for the overall leadership and strategic direction o ...
, over lack of public consultation and safety concerns. A revised plan was presented by Fyfield Joint Venture in 2015.


Community

Shelley is in the Shelley Ward of the Ongar civil parish, under the local authority of Ongar Town Council."Fyfield Business And Research Park - Ongar"
Get The Data. Retrieved 2 March 2018
Services and businesses in Shelley include the Fyfield Business and Research Park,
The Ongar Academy The Ongar Academy is a mixed comprehensive secondary school, on Fyfield Road in Shelley, in the Ongar civil parish of Essex, England. History Background The Ongar Academy's website conflates with its own 'history' the 1940 disestablished Ongar ...
secondary school, Ongar Leisure Centre, Ongar War Memorial Medical Centre, a branch of Comitti of London clockmakers, and a BP fuel service station, all on the B184 road. Ongar Primary School is adjacent to the A414 in the post-war housing development. Fyfield Business and Research Park, to the east of St Peter's Church, provides and 25 units of laboratory, office, workshop, retail and services space. The Park includes a drug development laboratory, a building design consultancy company, an audio-visual & lighting company, building contractors' and surveyors' companies, an oil and gas extraction company, various design and consultancy firms, an E-commerce clothing shop, an
Indian food Indian cuisine consists of a variety of regional and traditional cuisines native to India. Given the diversity in soil, climate, culture, ethnic groups, and occupations, these cuisines vary substantially and use locally available spices, her ...
takeaway A take-out or takeout (U.S., Canada, and the Philippines); carry-out or to-go (Scotland and some dialects in the U.S. and Canada); takeaway (England, Wales, Australia, Lebanon, South Africa, Northern Ireland, Ireland, and occasionally in Nort ...
, a private day nursery, and a screen printing company. Other smaller services and shops in Shelley include further takeaways for kebab & pizza and fish & chips, a
seafood restaurant A seafood restaurant is a restaurant that specializes in seafood cuisine and seafood dishes, such as fish and shellfish. Dishes may include freshwater fish. The concept may focus upon the preparation and service of fresh seafood, (as oppose ...
, a hair salon, and two small convenience stores (one a Nisa).


Education

In 1936, Essex County Council had established the Ongar County Secondary School in a neo-
Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...
building fronting Fyfield Road, Shelley. The school expanded in the 1960s when it became Ongar Comprehensive School, but was closed in 1989. Its buildings were demolished to make way for a new residential development and new youth and adult education centres. Ongar Leisure Centre, a joint use sporting facility, was retained. Secondary school children were then bussed to schools in the surrounding towns, particularly Brentwood and
Shenfield Shenfield is a commuter suburb of Brentwood, in the borough of Brentwood, Essex, England. In 2020, the suburb was estimated to have a population of 5,396. History The old village (now town), by the church and Green Dragon pub, lies along the ...
. Twenty six years later in September 2015, a new secondary education school called
The Ongar Academy The Ongar Academy is a mixed comprehensive secondary school, on Fyfield Road in Shelley, in the Ongar civil parish of Essex, England. History Background The Ongar Academy's website conflates with its own 'history' the 1940 disestablished Ongar ...
, with no historic association to any previous Ongar school apart from being built on part of the site of the earlier Ongar County Secondary School in Shelley, opened adjacent to Ongar Leisure Centre on Fyfield Road.Flaig, Joseph
"Ongar Academy welcomes first ever set of year seven pupils"
''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', 8 September 2015. Retrieved 3 March 2018


References


External links

*
"Shelley: Church"
in ''A History of the County of Essex'', vol 4, Ongar Hundred, ed. W R Powell (London, 1956), pp. 206–208.
British History Online ''British History Online'' is a digital library of primary and secondary sources on medieval and modern history of Great Britain and Ireland. It was created and is managed as a cooperative venture by the Institute of Historical Research, Uni ...
. Retrieved 1 March 2018.
Ongar Primary School
in Shelley. Retrieved 2 March 2018
The Ongar Academy
secondary school in Shelley. Retrieved 2 March 2018 {{authority control Villages in Essex Former civil parishes in Essex Epping Forest District