Chipping Ongar
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Chipping Ongar | |
  Chipping Ongar shown within Essex |
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| OS grid reference | |
|---|---|
| District | Epping Forest |
| Shire county | Essex |
| Region | East |
| Constituent country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | ONGAR |
| Postcode district | CM5 |
| Dialling code | 01277 |
| Police | Essex |
| Fire | Essex |
| Ambulance | East of England |
| European Parliament | East of England |
| UK Parliament | Brentwood and Ongar |
| List of places: UK • England • Essex | |
Chipping Ongar is a town in the Epping Forest district of Essex, England.
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[edit] Geography
Ongar is located at the confluence of several old roads, being placed between Chelmsford and Epping on an east-west axis and between Dunmow and Chigwell (beyond which is London) on a north-south axis. To the south-east lies Brentwood, on the old road to the former River Thames ferry crossing at Tilbury, though the building in the 1970s of the M11 and M25 motorways means that Ongar is no longer directly on a principal route for petrol tankers (and other less prominent vehicles) travelling from the current Dartford Crossing and the Thames Estuary oil refineries.
Chipping Ongar is just one part of the town of Ongar, but is the common name used for the whole town. The parts are, north-to-south: Shelleys, Chipping Ongar, and Marden Ash, with Greensted out to the south-east.
The central portion of Ongar High Street comprises a widened main street of the type found in many older English towns whose status as market towns is believed to have originated during the (little chronicled) Saxon period. The widened high street is used to permit some 'no charge' short term parking that benefits the local shops. The high street does however retain a very narrow stretch, with shops and houses either side very close to the road due to pavement that is barely adequate for two people to pass each other.
Much of the surrounding countryside is occupied by large mechanised farms devoted currently, for the most part, to arable agriculture. During the twentieth century the proximity of London encouraged dairy farming, but the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s were characterised by the removal of hedges and an increase in average field sizes as cattle numbers diminished. The subsoil is of heavy clay, rendering the land too soggy in winter for sheep, and inviting a greater level of attention to ditching and drain maintenance than has been applied to the district's road network since 1974.
[edit] History
Ongar was an important market town in the Mediaeval period, lying at the centre of a hundred and once having a Norman castle. St Martin's church is noted for its reused Roman bricks.
Ongar's role in local government was downgraded in 1974 with the abolition of Epping and Ongar Rural District Council. By 1990 the area's baby boom generation had grown beyond secondary education and the town's secondary school (opened in 1936 with elegant neo-Georgian buildings fronting Fyfield Road, expanded greatly when it became a comprehensive in the 1960s) was closed despite vigorous local protest. Its buildings were regrettably demolished to make way for a new residential development. Secondary school age children from the area are bussed to school in surrounding towns, notably Brentwood and Shenfield. A sports centre and swimming pool, built in the 1970s to serve the comprehensive school, continue to serve the locality. Chipping Ongar Primary School, located on the Greensted Road at the southern edge of the town, and Shelley Primary School at the northern end of town remain. Greensted Church stands 2 miles to the west of the town - it is believed to be the oldest wooden church in the world.
Several of the small private-sector businesses that operated through to the closing decades of the twentieth century have closed down or relocated as the economic focus of the region has been redirected, especially since the opening of the M11 motorway in the 1970s, to larger towns in west Essex, especially Harlow and Brentwood. Local planning policies have focused increasingly on residential development, and Ongar, like very many of the smaller towns in the belt round London, can be viewed primarily as a dormitory town for commuters to London, Brentwood, Harlow and Chelmsford. However, the single track rail line that connected Ongar to Epping (and thereby to London) was closed down in 1994 (see below) and local area road development has not been a priority in recent decades. Ongar also retains a range of retail shops. The words to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star were written in Ongar.[citation needed] Chipping Ongar features in Will Self's novel, The Book of Dave.
[edit] Ongar tube station
The town is known for Ongar tube station, the most north easterly on the London Underground until closure of the single track Epping to Ongar section in 1994. The electrification was removed, but the line now operates with a 1950s vintage diesel multiple unit, employing the services of enthusiasts / volunteers (currently an hourly service) on Sundays and some holidays. The line exists again as the Epping Ongar Railway, but there is no connection with the London Underground services at Epping due to the lack of any suitable platform availability at Epping station which is operated by London Underground: only Ongar and North Weald stations are served by the trains. The town is situated approximately 6 miles east of the market town of Epping and is encompassed within the Epping Forest District Council.
[edit] Twinning
[edit] External links
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