Chipping Ongar
Chipping Ongar is a small town in Essex, a few miles from both Brentwood and Chelmsford and close to Epping Forest. Sometimes known just as Ongar, it stands in the lovely Roding Valley.
The word “Chipping”, also used in Chipping Camden, Chipping Norton and Chipping Sodbury, signifies a market, and distinguishes the town from nearby High Ongar.
There is a large mound, and mount, which are the remains of a castle, which was probably built in Saxon times.
The parish church of St. Martin is essentially Norman, with an impressive doorway from this period. David Livingstone trained for his vocation as a missionary at the Congregational church.
Jane and Anne Taylor, who wrote “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”, lived at Chipping Ongar. At other times they dwelt at Colchester and Lavenham.
Ongar was the last station on the Central Line, on an extension from Epping which sadly closed in 1994.