Stanford Rivers

Stanford Rivers is a village and civil parish in the Epping Forest district of Essex, England. The parish, which is approximately west from the county town of Chelmsford, contains the village of Toot Hill and the hamlet of Little End, both settlements larger than Stanford Rivers village, and the hamlet of Clatterford End. The village is south-east of Chipping Ongar, south-west of North Weald Bassett and 3 miles north-west of Kelvedon Hatch. The parish covers an area of 1,749 hectares.

The nearest London Underground station to the village is Epping, to the west, the terminus of the Central line. Harlow Town Station, a National Rail station operated by Greater Anglia, is to the northwest.

History

According to ''A Dictionary of British Place Names'', the 'Stanford' in Stanford Rivers derives from the Old English for "a stone ford or stony ford". Stanford Rivers is listed in the Domesday Book of 1086 as 'Stanfort', and in 1289 as "Stanford Ryueres", 'Ryueres' being the 13th-century manorial family.Mills, Anthony David (2003); ''A Dictionary of British Place Names'', Oxford University Press, revised edition (2011), pp. 432.

In trade directories Stanford Rivers is described as a parish three miles south from Ongar station on a branch of the London and North Eastern Railway, and seven miles from Brentwood and nineteen from London. The parish, part of the Ongar Hundred, Ongar Rural District, and Ongar petty sessional division, is in the Brentwood county court district.Trade diectories: ''Post Office Directory of Essex, Herts, Kent, Middlesex, Surrey and Sussex'' (1855) p.140 / ''Post Office Directory of Essex'' (1874) p.206 / ''Kelly's Directory of Essex'' (1882) p.272 / ''Kellys Directory of Essex, Hertfordshire and Middlesex'' (1894) p.325 / ''Kellys Directory of Essex'' (1902) p.392 / ''Kellys Directory of Essex, Hertfordshire and Middlesex'' (1914) pp. 582, 583 / ''Kelly's Directory of Essex'' (1933) pp. 490, 491

Population shown in directories for Stanford Rivers parish were in 1851: 1,052; in 1871: 938; in 1881: 975; in 1891: 982; in 1901: 982; in 1911: 864, and in 1931: 758. The populations of 1891, 1901 and 1911 includes the officers and inmates of the Ongar Union workhouse. The workhouse—established in 1836 for poor relief provision set up under the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834—united poor relief for twenty-six nearby villages or parishes. The Ongar workhouse building survives today as a trade and business area in the hamlet of Little End at the southeast of Stanford Rivers parish. Little End dates to at least 1777, when houses were recorded at the settlement."Stanford Rivers: Introduction"
in ''A History of the County of Essex'', Volume 4, Ongar Hundred, ed. W R Powell (London, 1956), pp. 208-210. Retrieved 28 July 2018.

Recorded area of parish land in 1855 was ; in 1874, with a rateable value of £6,970; in 1882, 4,296 acres with a ratable value of £6,968; in 1894, of land and of water with a rateable value of £4,809; in 1902, 4,402 acres of land and 12 of water with a rateable value of £5,007; in 1914, of land and of water with a rateable value of £5216; and in 1933, 4,405 of land and 9 of water. Over this period chief crops grown were wheat, barley and beans, on a soil of clay or heavy loam overlaying clay, gravel or sand.

Recorded in 1855 was a National School for boys and girls, which was built in 1850 for 190 children, which in 1882 had an average attendance of 100, in 1894, 146, and in 1902, 152. By 1914 the school had become a Public Elementary School with an average attendance of 125, under the control of the Essex Education (Ongar District) Advisory Sub-committee.

Notable people and principal landowners in Stanford Rivers were, in 1874 and 1882 Sir Charles Cunliffe Smith, 3rd Baronet (1827–1905); in 1894 Sir Cecil Clementi Smith (1840–1916) who was also lord of the manor, and Capt George Edward Capel Cure; in 1902 Sir Charles Cunliffe Smith again with the now Major George Edward Capel Cure of Blake Hall; in 1914 Sir Drummond Cunliffe Smith, 4th Baronet (1861–1947) of Suttons, Stapleford Tawney who was also lord of the manor, and Major George Edward Capel Cure of Shakenhurst (hall and estate), Cleobury Mortimer. Drummond Cunliffe Smith was still a principal landowner and lord of the manor in 1933. The Smith estate and manor of Suttons in Stapleford Tawney contained of land in Stanford Rivers. Isaac Taylor (1787-1865), artist, author, and inventor lived at Stanford House at Little End.

Licensees of the White Bear Hotel and the Toot Hill Green Man public house were listed from 1855 to 1933, with that of the Green Man being a baker in 1874, 1882 and 1894. A further listing for a baker was in 1902. Beer retailers were also listed as trading in the parish: two in 1874, one in 1882, and two in all lists from 1894 to 1933.

From 1855 to 1874 there were 18 parish farmers; of those one was also a beer retailer, and another a cattle dealer. By 1882 directories separate out Toot Hill farmers from the rest of the parish, with six at Toot Hill, and seven elsewhere where one was a cattle dealer, and one farmed at Littlebury at the extreme east of the parish. Of the 11 farmers in 1894, two were cattle dealers, and two were at Toot Hill. Of the 15 farmers in 1902, one was also a cattle dealer and land steward to Sir Charles Cunliffe Smith. Of the nine 1902 farmers in Toot Hill, one was also an agricultural implement owner. Of the 15 farmers in 1914, eight were in Toot Hill where one was a poultry farmer. By 1933 there were 19 farmers (eight of whom were at Toot Hill with one there a poultry farmer), and a parish smallholder. There were previously in 1894 and 1902 two poultry dealers, one at Toot Hill.

There were three shopkeepers in 1855, with one also a surveyor of roads; which rose to four in 1874; three in 1882; three in 1894 with one at Toot Hill; two in 1902 and 1914 when there was a Toot Hill grocer who was also a baker; and four in 1933, when there was a grocer who also ran the post office at Toot Hill.

Boot and shoe makers are listed one each for 1855 to 1882, four in 1894, two in 1902, and one in 1914. By 1933 no boot and shoe makers were listed. Blacksmiths are listed from 1855 to 1933, and wheelwrights from 1855 to 1894, but not beyond. There were carpenters in 1855, 1894 (Toot Hill), 1914 and 1933. Bricklayers were trading in 1855 and 1874, and hay carters between 1874 and 1894. Later trade businesses in the early 20th century included Holly Tree Laundry (1914), and an electrical engineers, chimney sweeper and an Egg Grading Station (1933). Millers are listed from 1855 to 1933, particularly a miller (wind) at Toot Hill in 1894, and a miller (steam and water), at Littlebury Mill who was also a farmer (1902 and 1914). Littlebury as a hamlet settlement urrounding a country housewas listed until at least 1914.

Largely non-manual occupations included a relieving officer and registrar (1855), a registrar of births & deaths & relieving & vaccination officer (1882 and 1894), a head keeper to Charles Cunliffe Smith, and a head gamekeeper of Ongar Park wood (1902 Toot Hill), a sanitary inspector to the Ongar Rural District Council, a land steward (1914 and 1933), and a head ame
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