Brentwood Borough Council Community - The Parishes - Stondon Massey

Stondon Massey

A small parish two miles south-east of Chipping Ongar, lying along the road to Doddinghurst, with a population of 613.

Stondon Massey is still mainly rural, but there has been a good deal of suburban building during the past 30 years.

The original settlement was on the high ground to the north, which, with its gravel soil, gave the parish its first name 'Stondon', which means 'stony hill'. It is believed that its second name, 'Massey', derived from the family of Marcy who held a manor in the Middle Ages.

There have been three successive manor houses, the oldest of which is Stondon Hall, near the church. The north wing of the Hall is probably of the 15th century, and there is some 16th and 17th century panelling inside.

Stondon Place, originally a farmhouse, was rebuilt about 1707, and again after a fire, about 1880. From 1593 to 1623, it was the home of William Byrd, the musician.

The church of St Peter and St Paul retains the nave and chancel and some of the original round-headed arches of 1100. There is a brass of 1570 to John Carre, Ironmonger and Merchant Adventurer of London, with figures of himself and his two wives, and another, of 1573, to Rainold Hollingsworth.

Nathaniel Ward, Rector of Stondon from 1623 to 1633, was deprived of his living for non-conformity. He subsequently emigrated to New England and helped draft the 1641 Code of Laws for Massachusetts.