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The name "Ongar" means "grass land" (akin to the German word: Anger). "Chipping" is from Old English ceping, "a market, a market-place", akin to Danish "købing" and Swedish "köping"; the same element is found in other towns such as Chipping Norton, Chipping Sodbury and Chipping (now High) Wycombe.
Ongar was an important market town in the Medieval era, at the centre of a hundred and has the remains of a Norman castle. The Church of England parish church, St Martin's dates from the 11th century and shows signs of Norman work. A small window in the chancel is believed to indicate the existence of an anchorite's cell in medieval times. The Gothic Revival architect C.C. Rolfe added the south aisle in 1884.
David Livingstone lived in Chipping Ongar on the High Street in 1838.
The civil parish of Chipping Ongar was abolished in 1965 and a new parish of Ongar was created which also incorporated the former area of the Greensted and Shelley civil parishes. The parish was part of Epping and Ongar Rural District until 1974 when it became part of the Epping Forest District.
St. Andrew's Parish Church in Greensted is 2 miles (3.2 km) west of Ongar. 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 20th 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 green belt round London, can be viewed primarily as a dormitory town for commuters to London, Brentwood, Harlow and Chelmsford. However, the single-track railway branch line that connected Ongar to Epping (and thereby to London), operated by the London Underground, was closed down in 1994. Ongar also retains a range of retail shops. Jane Taylor, the author of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, is buried in Ongar.[7] Chipping Ongar features in Will Self's novel, The Book of Dave.
The nursery rhyme "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" is reported to have been written in Chipping Ongar.
Not to be confused with RAF Chipping Ongar, RAF Station Chipping Ongar (also known as Willingale) is a former World War II airfield in Essex, England. The airfield is approximately 2 miles (3.2 km) northeast of Chipping Ongar; about 20 miles (32 km) northeast of London. Opened in 1943, it was used by both the Royal Air Force and United States Army Air Forces. During the war it was used primarily as a bomber airfield. After the war it was closed in 1959 after many years of being a reserve airfield.
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