Chipping Ongar, Stanford Rivers and David Livingstone
Recommended by
Our view
"Rolling farmland, big skies and a pretty village"
Walk directions
From the rear of the car park beside the police station take the Essex Way towards Greensted. As the path narrows, walk between dwarf oaks, over the cross path and keep ahead, passing the pond of Greensted Hall on your right. Walk through the gate, passing Church Lodge on your left; Greensted Church is on your right.
Keeping the church on your right, bear right towards a barn conversion and go through the waymarked gate. After 100yds (91m), turn left across the footbridge and follow the field-edge path, keeping the hedgerow on your right. Maintain this direction through three fields, passing Greensted Wood on your right, until you reach Greensted Road. Turn left and pick up the footpath on your right. Continue along the field-edge path, keeping hedgerows on your left for about 100yds (91m), where you go through a kissing gate so that the hedgerow is now on your right. Negotiate a series of stiles and squeeze stiles.
After these go through a kissing gate and turn right, pass to the right of Widows Farm and continue along an enclosed path of the Essex Way. Ignore the metal gate on the left, and at the end of the tree plantation turn sharp left. At the field corner bear left diagonally across the field to a hedge. Keep this on your left. At the lane turn right, and at the T-junction turn left to Coleman’s Farm.
As the lane bears right into Coleman's Farm, maintain direction onto the bridleway for 0.5 miles (800m), ignoring paths left and right until you reach the tarmac lane. Just before the T-junction, turn right onto the cross-field path to Stanford Rivers. Cross three stiles to emerge onto School Road, with St Margaret's Church on your left.
Walk past the church along Mutton Row to the crossroads and turn left. After 400yds (366m) follow the right turn next to the house called Ambermead. Maintain direction on the uphill path for views of farmland and pass the ridge of oak trees at Kettlebury Spring. Follow the path past the school and turn right to reach The Borough. Continue to the T-junction, passing the Two Brewers pub on the right. Turn left into the High Street and return to the car park.
Chipping Ongar's most famous resident was explorer and missionary David Livingstone (1813–73). Born in Blantyre, in Scotland, he came from a simple working class background and as a 10-year-old worked at a cotton mill, finishing at the end of the day to bury himself in books. In 1836 he studied... medicine in Glasgow, returning to the mill in the summer. At this time he attended a meeting by Dr Robert Moffat who ran a missionary station in Africa, and was inspired by his work there. In 1838 Livingstone moved to Essex to extend his understanding of missionary work. He lived in a room near the United Reformed church in the High Street, Ongar, and in his spare time would take long walks in the countryside. Livingstone stayed in Ongar for 15 months before leaving for London to complete his medical studies. In 1840 the London Missionary Society sent him to Africa where he spent his life immersed in his missionary work, establishing trade routes and writing books about the great continent. He discovered Victoria Falls in 1855. During his time in Ongar, Livingstone walked to London to visit a sick relative but got hopelessly lost at Stanford Rivers. On another occasion, when standing in for his minister at the Independent Chapel at Stanford Rivers, Livingstone apparently forgot his sermon, panicked and fled from the congregation. This was the shy, nervous individual who went on to become a world-famous explorer. Churches and farmland Like Livingstone, it's easy to get lost when exploring the muddy lanes around Ongar. On this walk you take the Essex Way, which is nicely waymarked, to Greensted and the oldest wooden church in the world. Livingstone would have walked around this delightful church discovering the crusader coffin in the churchyard and the original timbers, which archaeologists confirm date back to 1066. Thereafter you traverse farmlands to Stanford Rivers, climbing to a fine ridge of ancient oaks at Kettlebury Spring with views of rolling countryside. You finish your walk in the High Street and pass the room where Livingstone once lived. That famous phrase In 1871 a very sick Livingstone was found beside Lake Tanganyika by the American journalist Henry Morton Stanley, who addressed him with the famous phrase, 'Dr Livingstone, I presume'. Stanley failed to convince Livingstone to return to England and he died in Africa two years later.
Essex is full of pleasant surprises. It has the largest coastline of any county in England, with its fair share of castles, royal connections and scenic valleys.
Chipping Ongar, Stanford Rivers and David Livingstone
Recommended by
Our view
"Rolling farmland, big skies and a pretty village"
Walk details
2hrs 30min
Difficulty:
Medium
Gradient:
Moderate
Distance:
5.75 miles (9.3kms)
Ascent:
151ft (46m)
Walk directions
From the rear of the car park beside the police station take the Essex Way towards Greensted. As the path narrows, walk between dwarf oaks, over the cross path and keep ahead, passing the pond of Greensted Hall on your right. Walk through the gate, passing Church Lodge on your left; Greensted Church is on your right.
1 of 5
Keeping the church on your right, bear right towards a barn conversion and go through the waymarked gate. After 100yds (91m), turn left across the footbridge and follow the field-edge path, keeping the hedgerow on your right. Maintain this direction through three fields, passing Greensted Wood on your right, until you reach Greensted Road. Turn left and pick up the footpath on your right. Continue along the field-edge path, keeping hedgerows on your left for about 100yds (91m), where you go through a kissing gate so that the hedgerow is now on your right. Negotiate a series of stiles and squeeze stiles.
2 of 5
After these go through a kissing gate and turn right, pass to the right of Widows Farm and continue along an enclosed path of the Essex Way. Ignore the metal gate on the left, and at the end of the tree plantation turn sharp left. At the field corner bear left diagonally across the field to a hedge. Keep this on your left. At the lane turn right, and at the T-junction turn left to Coleman’s Farm.
3 of 5
As the lane bears right into Coleman's Farm, maintain direction onto the bridleway for 0.5 miles (800m), ignoring paths left and right until you reach the tarmac lane. Just before the T-junction, turn right onto the cross-field path to Stanford Rivers. Cross three stiles to emerge onto School Road, with St Margaret's Church on your left.
4 of 5
Walk past the church along Mutton Row to the crossroads and turn left. After 400yds (366m) follow the right turn next to the house called Ambermead. Maintain direction on the uphill path for views of farmland and pass the ridge of oak trees at Kettlebury Spring. Follow the path past the school and turn right to reach The Borough. Continue to the T-junction, passing the Two Brewers pub on the right. Turn left into the High Street and return to the car park.
Chipping Ongar's most famous resident was explorer and missionary David Livingstone (1813–73). Born in Blantyre, in Scotland, he came from a simple working class background and as a 10-year-old worked at a cotton mill, finishing at the end of the day to bury himself in books. In 1836 he studied... medicine in Glasgow, returning to the mill in the summer. At this time he attended a meeting by Dr Robert Moffat who ran a missionary station in Africa, and was inspired by his work there. In 1838 Livingstone moved to Essex to extend his understanding of missionary work. He lived in a room near the United Reformed church in the High Street, Ongar, and in his spare time would take long walks in the countryside. Livingstone stayed in Ongar for 15 months before leaving for London to complete his medical studies. In 1840 the London Missionary Society sent him to Africa where he spent his life immersed in his missionary work, establishing trade routes and writing books about the great continent. He discovered Victoria Falls in 1855. During his time in Ongar, Livingstone walked to London to visit a sick relative but got hopelessly lost at Stanford Rivers. On another occasion, when standing in for his minister at the Independent Chapel at Stanford Rivers, Livingstone apparently forgot his sermon, panicked and fled from the congregation. This was the shy, nervous individual who went on to become a world-famous explorer. Churches and farmland Like Livingstone, it's easy to get lost when exploring the muddy lanes around Ongar. On this walk you take the Essex Way, which is nicely waymarked, to Greensted and the oldest wooden church in the world. Livingstone would have walked around this delightful church discovering the crusader coffin in the churchyard and the original timbers, which archaeologists confirm date back to 1066. Thereafter you traverse farmlands to Stanford Rivers, climbing to a fine ridge of ancient oaks at Kettlebury Spring with views of rolling countryside. You finish your walk in the High Street and pass the room where Livingstone once lived. That famous phrase In 1871 a very sick Livingstone was found beside Lake Tanganyika by the American journalist Henry Morton Stanley, who addressed him with the famous phrase, 'Dr Livingstone, I presume'. Stanley failed to convince Livingstone to return to England and he died in Africa two years later.
Essex is full of pleasant surprises. It has the largest coastline of any county in England, with its fair share of castles, royal connections and scenic valleys.
