1013 Body of St Edmund said to have rested overnight at Greensted Church
c.1060 St Andrews Church Greensted probably rebuilt
c.1070 St Martin’s Church probably completed
c.1080 Estimated date that Ongar Castle was built
1157 King Henry II visited Ongar Castle
1222 Earliest recorded date of Ongar Fair
1285 John the Clerk killed whilst ringing the bell at St Martin’s Church
1287 Earliest recorded date of a market being held in Ongar
1321 King Edward II visits Ongar Castle
1483 Henry, Earl of Stafford, holder of Ongar Castle, beheaded
1500s White House and Dyers built
1547 Castle House built for William Morice
1668 Wren House probably built (much altered in 18th century)
1678 Joseph King bequeathed five houses to the town (Kings Trust Houses)
1697 The King’s Head built
c.1711 First non-conformist chapel built
1748 Poor House repaired next to rectory
1797 Ongar bridge rebuilt in brick by County Surveyor
1800s Brickyard established in Greensted Road
1800s The Wilderness built (present library site)
1800s St Peter’s, Shelley rebuilt in brick after demolition of the medieval church
1811 Reverend Isaac Taylor and family move to Ongar
1811 Ongar Grammar School opened as Ongar Academy (now Central House)
1824 Jane Taylor, author of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, died and buried in the United Reformed Church
1833 Congregational Church built rebuilt on site of non-conformist chapel (now URC)
1836 Ongar Union formed to administer the Poor Law
1837 Ongar Gas Company established
1838 Dr David Livingstone, African explorer, trained at the Congregational Church (URC)
1838 Ongar Union adopt and expand the workhouse built at Stanford Rivers
1839 Three Tolpuddle Martyrs lease New House Farm, Greensted
1855 Ongar Police station established (included a courthouse)
1865 Poor Law Union set up a health board
1865 The Great Eastern Railway extended to Ongar
1866 Ongar Cemetery opened
1869 St Helen’s Catholic Church built
1873 Drill Hall built for Essex Volunteer Rifles behind Wren House
1883 St James’ Church built
1884 St Martins Church extended
1886 Budworth Hall built by public subscription
1888 St Peter’s Church, Shelley, built in the churchyard of the site of two previous churches
1892 Four cottages built in Banson’s Way for railway workers
1893 Ongar Fair abolished
1894 Chipping Ongar Parish Council and Ongar Rural District Council formed
1895 Public meeting on the foul state of Cripsey Brook
1896 District Council House (Essex House) built
1897 Town Hall demolished
1898 Ongar Waterworks Company began
1898 Proposed rail extension to Dunmow
1902 Ongar gets its own sewage system
1903 Building starts on Hackney Cottage Homes (Great Stony) Built between 1902 and 1905
1904 First houses built in Cloverley Road
1904 Shelley Villas built along Fyfield Road
1907 Water Company becomes part of Herts & Essex Water Company
1908 The first children arrive at Hackney Cottage Homes
1912 Father Thomas Byles, priest at St Helen’s Church died on RMS Titanic
1912 Telephone Exchange opened
1913 Seven more railway cottages built in Banson’s Way
1915 Budworth Hall became a military hospital
1917 Greensted Road Brickyard moves to Hallsford Bridge
1920s Green Line bus depot established plus housing for workers (Fairfield Road estate)
1921 First recorded date of Ongar Scout Troop
1923 Stanford Rivers Workhouse sold
1926 Shelley Parish Council formed
1928 Construction of Ongar Cottage Hospital began at 69 Fyfield Road
1932 Shelley Rectory burnt down
1932 Electricity arrived in parts of Ongar
1933 Ongar War Memorial Hospital opened
1934 Runaway goods train at Ongar Station
1935 Ongar Gasworks closed
1936 Ongar Secondary School opened
1940 Troops and evacuees billeted at Budworth Hall
1941 Ongar Grammar School (Ongar Academy) closed
1944 Proposal for ‘Ongar New Town’ as part of Abercrombie’s Greater London Plan.
1945 St James’ Church bombed
1946 Ongar Research Station (May & Baker) established (now houses)
1949 Epping-Ongar line comes under London Transport but remains steam hauled
1950s Shelley Estate built
1951 Fire engine house demolished (near Two Brewers pub)
1955 Epping & Ongar Rural District Council formed
1956 Shelley school built
1957 Epping-Ongar line electrified
1957 Hackney Homes becomes Great Stony School
1957 St James’ Church re-built
1957 Bowes Drive & Marks Avenue built
1958 Castle Estate (Mayflower way etc.) built
1959 Longfields built
1960 Bansons Lane telephone exchange opened
1960 Great Lawn & Shakletons built
1961 The Elms built
1962 Scout Building opened
1962 Last steam train ‘special’ to Ongar
1963 Last Ongar Agricultural Show
1964 Green Walk & Woodland Way built
1964 New police station built
1965 Civil Parish of Ongar formed
1966 New fire station built and freight trains discontinued from Ongar
1968 Budworth Hall became a Community Association
1968 Ongar Junior School moved to Greensted Road
1968 Shelley House demolished (Four Wantz)
1969 The Wilderness demolished (now the library car park)
1970s Springfield Close built
1970 Secondary School becomes Ongar Comprehensive School
1970 First World War Memorial Hospital closure threat
1971 St Helen’s Church extension, altar changed ends
1974 Epping Forest District Council formed
1974 Kettlebury Way built
1977 Ongar Sports Centre opened
1980 Turners Close and Stanley Place built
1980 Tube changes to peak hours only service
1980 Gas holder dismantled at the bottom of Coopers Hill
1983 Chipping Ongar School becomes a primary school
1984 Ongar twins with Cerizay, France
1985 Ongar Infants move from behind Budworth Hall to the Greensted Road site
1989 Ongar Comprehensive School closed after a 3-year campaign
1990 Smiths Brasserie replaces Red Cow public house
1992 Old infants school demolished
1993 Shelley new school opened
1994 David Livingstone Walk created
1994 Railway closed from Epping to Ongar
1995 Great Stony School closed
1995 Tesco Express opened
1996 New library opened on The Wilderness site
1997 High Street enhancement – resurfacing of roads and pavements
1998 Railway sold to a private company
1998 Sainsbury’s supermarket opened, built on the site of Ongar Infant’s School
1998 Great Stony Park becomes a housing estate
1999 Ongar Arts & Education Centre opened at Great Stony
1999 Oaklands (Greensted Road) built
1999 The award winning book Aspects of the History of Ongar was published by OMHS
2000 Ongar’s Millennium Walk was established by OMHS
2001 Hunters Chase built
2002 Clock on Budworth Hall electrified to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee
2004 Ongar Campus (the site of the Ongar Comprehensive School) demolished
2004 20th Anniversary of Town Twinning with Cerizay celebrated
2009 Office of National Statistics shows Ongar’s population as 6,407
2010 OMHS first website
2011 Zinc Arts Centre opened on the site of Great Stony School
2012 Epping Ongar Railway opened as a Heritage line
2012 Nature reserve renamed the Jubilee Nature Reserve to commemorate Queen Elizabeth’s Golden Jubilee
2013 Ongar Health Centre opened on the site of Ongar War Memorial Hospital
2015 New Ongar Academy opened
2015 17th Century King’s Head restored and opened as a restaurant
2018 First Ongar Town Festival
2019 Cock Tavern relaunched to become a pub and kitchen
2020 Town decorated for VE Day 75th anniversary and celebrated with garden parties due to Covid-19
Please note that authors of this timeline have made some assumptions and estimated some dates due to lack of (or conflicting) documentary evidence.