Look Back In Ongar

Whether Ongar, Chipping Ongar or even Castle Ongar, the Ongar we know today stands as a civil parish in the Epping Forest District of Essex and includes Greensted, Greensted Green, Marden Ash and Shelley, along with Chipping Ongar. Petra Hornsby learns about the town, its past and its present.

WITH an historic high street and town centre that is encompassed within the boundaries set out by the design of the town’s 11th century castle, Ongar has many impressive architectural features worthy of mention. The town was one of the first to be recognised as a Conservation Area by the county council, largely due to it having more than 100 listed buildings.

Indeed, Ongar has been an important location since Saxon times – possibly even since the Romans were here – as it served as a key administrative centre in its hundred. The name Ongar means ‘grassland’ and the location was considered an ideal settlement as both the River Roding and Cripsey Brook afforded the position good protection from attack.

However, it was the building of a castle after the Norman invasion that most significantly strengthened the town’s defences. King William had given ownership of the Manor of Ongar to Eustace, Count of Boulogne, who commissioned the building of a motte and bailey construction. The building of the castle concluded 100 years later under the instruction and supervision of its owner Richard de Lucy, Justicar of Henry II.

The motte (or mound) is calculated to be around 70 metres in diameter at its base and is surrounded by a wet ditch up to 15 metres wide. Remains of the inner bailey ramparts and the ditch sit on privately owned land, but can be seen from a footpath that leads from the Pleasance car park and is a clear reminder of the days when the locality was vulnerable to attack.