Toot Hill, Essex
| Toot Hill | |
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 Toot Hill sign on the common |
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 Toot Hill
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| Toot Hill shown within Essex | |
| Population | 817 |
| OS grid reference | TL515023 |
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| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | ONGAR |
| Postcode district | CM5 |
| Dialling code | 01992 |
| Police | Essex |
| Fire | Essex |
| Ambulance | East of England |
| EU Parliament | East of England |
| UK Parliament | |
Toot Hill is a small village in the Epping Forest district of the County of Essex, England. It is located 2.3 miles (4 km) south-west of Chipping Ongar and 3.5 miles (6 km) east of Epping. It is in the civil parish, Stanford Rivers. The Parish stands at 1,749 hectares. Toot Hill also stands less than a mile from the small hamlet of Clatterford End.
Toot Hill is best known for its Country Show which has taken place each year since 1953, which occurs on the first Saturday in August. In recent years the show has relocated three miles to the west to a field at Stanford Rivers. The village is also known for its high elevation and panoramic scenery of the surrounding countryside. Aside from these features, Toot Hill has also been the location of a sighting of the 'Beast of Ongar', a legendary 'panther-like' creature the size of a big cat.
The parish chairman is John Glover.
Toot Hill may originally have been part of the parish of High Ongar, and may have become part of Stanford Rivers about 1280. Like many other towns in this area Toot Hill is made up mainly of scattered farms and cottages.
Does Farm here is of late 16th-century origin, faced with brickwork in the 19th century. Also at Toot Hill is a small cottage with one gabled cross-wing which may be of the 16th century or earlier.
In 1863, Toot Hill gained a 'sub-post office', in which a village local employed themselves to work for the post office.
There was also a windmill at Toot Hill in the 19th century. It was built about 1824. In 1829 it was badly damaged by lightning and the miller was seriously injured. The mill was soon working again and continued to operate until about 1900. It was finally demolished in 1935. It was a wooden post-mill turned by hand. The mill stood on the north side of the road leading to Greensted Green.
The railway from Epping to Chipping Ongar passes through the boundaries of the village. Blake Hall station is the closest to Toot Hill, though no longer as a passenger stop. The railway stations at North Weald and Blake Hall were probably opened as soon as the line to Chipping Ongar was completed in 1865.
In 1921, the village gained a parish room for meetings and events to take place.
Post 1945, council houses were gradually built in the area, notably the areas on both sides of the Green Man pub. Electricity was eventually supplied, in part to the village in early 1951.
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Wikipedia