Kelvedon

The village lies between Brentford and Ongar, and has a tale to tell. A medieval manor house built by Thomas Bryce a fabrics dealer in 1498, and named the house Bryce. The existing mansion built in 1720. In 1882 Bryce was owned by a Mr Royd. One day a Mr Randell went shooting and shot a pheasant on Mr Royd’s land, who went so far as to take Mr Randell to court. Mr Randell was so angry that in 1906 he built a row of cottages, placing them in full view of the Manor so that they caused a blot on the otherwise open landscape. To this day they are known as the IOU’s.

The village can boast another mansion, a rather imposing entrance gate with a lodge either side is the entrance to Kelvedon Hall estate. A gentleman by the name of John Wright owned the estate in 1538, and has been held by descendants for four centuries and there have been 10 successive John Wrights, and the eighth John Wright entirely rebuilt the Hall. In 1836, Samuel Wright migrated to America an ancestor of Wilbur and Orville Wright the pioneers of the aeroplane.