Stock's history goes back a long way. Fossilised shells have been found in the village going back 15 million years. As regards evidence of human beings - an axe from the Neolithic or new stone age has been found on the village. This would date back to somewhere about the year 3500BC, give or take the odd few centuries. Just to the south of village, in the area of land between Stock Brook, Honeypot Lane and the B1007, formerly the Life Science Research Centre, there is a Bronze Age Barrow, dating from about 3000 to 2000 BC., to be seen from the road. Also near Bishop's Wood Iron Age pots have been found. It has been suggested that Stock was on two ancient salt trackways, from Maldon to Hertfordshire and to London. In prehistoric times salt was a very valuable commodity. Pots or urns that may have been Roman, but in all probability were from an earlier period and may even have been Iron Age, were found by workmen digging in the field where the Catholic church and cemetery are when building what is now the Church, but was originally the Catholic School. Whilst some were destroyed immediately by the workmen in the hope of finding spoils, others were stored in the cellars of a local farm house (Hope Farm) and finally thrown out as rubbish. It seems likely that the site was at one time an encampment. This has been suggested by the presence of vague traces of a deep ditch or moat, which surrounded the site. The encampment may have guarded the salt trackway. Roman finds are also reported in the vicinity of the Church and of Thornton Place. There must have been a settlement in Stock in Roman times, centred on the area of the Catholic Church and Thornton Place.

During the construction of Crondon Park golf course in the early 1990s two Roman sites were located which yielded pottery and tiles. The presence of a Saxon site was also suggested by the discovery of three shards of Saxon pottery. There is a suggestion that two Roman roads ran through Stock, one from Tilbury to Chelmsford the other from Maldon to Brentwood. However, neither of these roads is accepted by all historians: One must therefore agree with Miller Christie writing about Billericay in a series articles on Roman roads in the 1920s that ‘the road which gave access to it is now not obvious.’

From the above evidence it is fairly clear that there was some form of habitation in the area of Stock from the very earliest times, but no-one can produce a complete picture of the area then, so it is not absolutely sure when Stock came into existence.

At the time of the Domesday Book in 1086, commissioned by William the Conqueror, there is no mention of Stock. There are entries for Buttsbury and also Fristling. The parishes Buttsbury and Stock were until 1935 interwoven to the extent that part of Stock High Street was part of Buttsbury. Fristling was not a village as such, but a manor - a country estate, now Fristling Hall Farm. Buttsbury, written as Cinga in the Domesday Book, was held by the steward of Henry of Ferrers (or de Ferrers) for him. Henry was one of the Domesday commissioners, who had come over from Normandy with William. Fristling was owned by St Mary's Abbey, Barking, when the Church was a very influential force in the country and Abbeys were very powerful within the Church. Barking was one, if not the most, influential in England and the abbess of Barking, Alfgiva, was a very commanding woman.The abbess of Barking’s status was that of a peeress of the real.

The state was not going to make enemies of the church or its leaders.
So, where was Stock at this time? The consensus is that it was a hamlet within Buttsbury - rather as Tye Green in Swan Lane is a distinct place, but is a hamlet within the parish of Stock today. Stock is not the only place locally not mentioned in Domesday, as Billericay does not figure therein.

Buttsbury was in medieval times quite a prosperous settlement round the church, but whilst the hamlet of Stock was on the main road, or the trackway that served as a main road in those days, from Chelmsford to the Thames, Buttsbury was on a minor lane from just south of Stock to Ingatestone. Not being on the main route it became isolated and eventually died.

The name of Buttsbury is reckoned to be derived from St Botolphsbury, but there is some debate as to origin of the name of Stock. Stock was at various times also known as Harvard Stock or Stock Harvard. The accepted opinion is that it is derived from the Saxon word Stoks, which means a place within another district (in this case Buttsbury) and that most probably under the Saxon system of local government a man named Hereward was appointed to look after it. With a little bit of corruption of the words Hereward Stoks you end up with Harvard Stock and then you drop the Harvard.

A summary of the two entries in the Domesday Book is as follows -
Buttsbury. Henry de Ferrer's steward held Buttsbury for him, which at the time of the Conquest was held by one Bondi. It covered an area of 5.5 hides (a hide covered an area of 120 acres) thus an area of 660 acres. At the time of the Conquest there were 6 villagers (a villager being a superior type of cultivator), but at the time of the compilation of the Domesday Book only 4.. At the time of the Conquest there were 8 smallholders (a smallholder being an inferior sort of cultivator), but there were now 12 At both times there were 3 slaves. These figures just quoted are only the actual workers - not their wives and family. There were always 2 ploughs for the sole use on the manor farm and 4 for common use by the workers on their allotted land. In the woodland there were 500 pigs and in the pasture 100 sheep. At the time of the Conquest the manor had 20 cattle, 50 pigs and 60 sheep. There were now 7 cattle, 100 sheep and 40 pigs. The manor was always valued £7.Os.Od. Fristling. St Mary's Abbey, Barking, held this, both at the Conquest and at the time of the Domesday book. The area was 45 acres. At the time of the Conquest there had been 3 smallholders, but there were now 4. At the time of the Conquest there had been 1 slave, but there was now none. The manor had always had I plough. In the woodland there were 200 pigs, 4 cattle, 37 sheep and 10 goats. The value of the land had increased from 8s.Od at the time of Conquest to £ 1.Os.Od. Prior to 15th February 1971 British currency was calculated in Pounds (£), Shillings (s) and Pence (d). with 12 pence (pennies) to the shilling and 20 shillings to the pound or 240 pennies to the pound. Under Edward VI, Mary and Elizabeth there were 360 pence to the pound, but it reverted to 240 in James Ps reign. It should also be remembered that £1 of silver pennies was worth an awful lot more in medieval times than it is now. If you had a very few pounds in savings then you would have been regarded as wealthy.

From this it can be seen that at the time of the time of the Conquest and the Domesday Book there were probably about a maximum of some 150 people living in the area: perhaps even as few as 90. However the Domesday Book was a land survey and not a population census. William the Conqueror was more interested in the land that he owned and to the people working it rather than the actual number of people living in the country. There is therefore no mention in it of priests, blacksmiths and millers for example. The area was agricultural with a lot of woodland, traces of which still remain in the area - notably Swan Wood and Hankin's Wood.

Interestingly, the parish church of Buttsbury is some distance from the village and quite isolated, apart from a farm nearby, whereas Stock parish church is at the edge of the village centre. There is evidence of some Anglo-Saxon construction in Buttsbury church and evidence that Stock church had a Norman origin. This would indicate that Buttsbury church may wellhave its origins in Saxon times, whilst Stock has Norman origins. However, during work to the latter in 1948 the foundations of a building earlier than the present were found, which may suggest that there was a church in Saxon times.This would suggest a Saxon settlement in Stock. This would suggest a Saxon settlement in Stock. As to the actual dates of the construction of the churches, that is lost in time, in particular Stock. Lesley Harvard in her book on Stock, Country Chronicles, said that a face on the outside of the north-west wall dates about 1150, the piscina to about 1390, part of the roof beams to about 1430 and the belfry to about 1450 to 1465 give or take a few years on each side.

A curious thing about Stock and Buttsbury is that whilst Buttsbury had seven manors, Stock had none.Philip Morant in The History and Antiquities of the county of Essex published 1760-68 specifically mentions this peculiarity.. . The seven manors of Buttsbury were Crondon; Imphey (pronounced lmpee) Hall; Ramsey Tyrells; White Tyrells; Fristling; Blunts; and Buckwynes

1275. Fristling is of interest in that it has sometimes been very much on the borders between Buttsbury and Margaretting and is now part of the parish of Margaretting. In 1190 Imphey was granted by Richard I to the Benedictine Priory and Nunnery of Ickleton in Cambridgeshire and remained in the Nunnery's possession for 350 years. There was small Nunnery there at that time.

Crondon was originally granted by the Monarch to the Priory of Orsett and remained part of that parish for rating and other purposes, being known as Orsett Hamlet, until 1881. The lands of what is now Crondon Park golf club, formerly Crondon Park farm, were once owned by the Bishop of London and was a Deer Park, frequently visited by the Bishop. The Deer Park dated from about 1205, as on 30 November 1204 a licence was granted by King John to the Bishop of London empowering him to enclose the park. Whites Tyrells and Ramsey Tyrells can be traced back to Norman times. It is not precisely clear when, but it appears sometime after 1100 when Sir Walter Tyrell, who held certain lands in Essex at the time of Domesday, was hunting with William 11 in the New Forest and accidently killed the King. He fled to France, but his version of what happened was believed and he returned to England to find favour with Henry I and found a family. The chief seat of the family was at East Horndon, but quite early they were granted the two manor houses at Buttsbury of Whites and Ramsey.

Blunts took its name from a family who held it in the reign of Henry III when Tobert de Blund lost possession of it for joining Simon de Montfort, but was held by Thomas le Blonte of the same family under the Richard II. What one king took another gave.

Buckwynes was at one time owned by the Abbey of Stratford Langthome, according to the Essex historian Philip Morant. There is the possibility not proven of a manor of Lilystone. The question of this arose from a visit to Stock Parish Council by Lord Petre in December 2006 and a subsequent meeting between the author of this article and Lord Petre in February 2007.According to records in Ingatestone Hall there is no manor for the area of Stock south of the junction of Mill Road and Well Lane. Lord Petre wondered if there was a manor of Lilystone. The following is the result of my investigations.

According to the London Eyre of 1244 one Otto fitz William held the manor of Lilystone in Essex for the king by serjeanty of engraving the die of the king’s money in the City of London From information supplied to me by the Royal Mint I have learned that the office of the engraver of dies of the king’s money was an hereditary office. It seems that Otto fitzWilliam was the descendent of Otto the Goldsmith who was one of the holders of Gestingthorpe in the Domesday.

Other information that I have found about Otto fitz William is that he held rent of assize in the City of London of either 40s 6d or 45s

However in 1294 it was found that Otto fitzWilliam held of the king the manor of Lilleston in Middlesex in capite by serjeanty of engraving the die of the kings money: but that the master of the Knights Templars then held the manor.

Now a problem arises. The spelling of Lilystone used in the original document of 1244 is Lillestone. Equally the original name of Lisson Grove in Middlesex was Lilestone. According to the Domesday Book Lisson Grove was described as land given in alms. Further from an investigation of Philip Morant’s History of the Antiquities of the County of Essex there are no Lilystones in Gestingthorpe.

There is no mention of a manor of Lilystone by Philip Morant.

It is worth mentioning that there is no mention of the City of London in the Domesday Book, so by logic if Lilystone was a detached part of the City of London there would be no mention of it. Detached manors were quite common. An extreme example was a large part of Ingatestone High Street being in Fryerning. And of course there was Orsett hamlet in Stock. Also if Lilystone was the king’s land it should be mentioned that a large part of Margaretting was held by the king at the time of the Domesday Book.

An alternative theory on the origin of Stock could be that it was part of the manor of Fristling. This theory is based on the following. As mentioned earlier, evidence was found in 1948 of a Saxon church in the grounds of All Saints. Why would Buttsbury have two churches? (Buttsbury church has evidence of Saxon construction). Fristling manor house was near the river (as was Buttsbury church). Rivers were rather more important in medieval times as a means of transport than today. The roads were not as good as they are now. Even Ingatestone and Margaretting which are in the Domesday Book were within easy reach of a river. Roads though were still used though. Now we know that some form of settlement has existed in Stock since Iron Age times. Also Stock was on the direct road from Maldon to Hertfordshire. It was also on the main road from central Essex to the Thames. Supposing that in Saxon times there was a place of settlement on the highway i.e. Hereweg Stoc. Words get corrupted and Hereweg Stoc could easily be corrupted into Hereward Stock. Or alternatively supposing Stock was the dwelling place of the workers of the manor of Fristling and that only the Steward lived in Fristling manor house. Supposing that instead you Herewic Stoc or dwelling place. This could also easily be corrupted into Hereward Stock. Either version is feasible. Equally with the latter version it could have been the dwelling place of the workers of Buttsbury and that the original Saxon church at Stock was abandoned when the one at Buttsbury was built. However it could be argued that any manor would need a church. Religion was very important in medieval times. This all leads me to the conclusion that Stock was settlement place of the manor of Fristling. Some people may say that “Surely Fristling was separated from Stock by Buttsbury.” My answer is twofold. Firstly we do know what the manor boundaries were like at the time of the Norman Conquest. Secondly it was not uncommon to have detached parts of one parish or even a manor in the middle of another parish or manor. Orsett hamlet –the detached part of Orsett in Stock being a very good example. This to some extent is borne out by a conversation that I had with Alan Smith, who at one time farmed Fristling Hall Farm. According to him the deeds of the farm included details of the tenants back to 900. This was before the Domesday book. A French Celtic and Saxon coins had been found in the vicinity. He believes that the Fristling was bigger than it is now. Perhaps a Saxon settlement? Apparently there were tombs discovered in Margaretting church of Geoffrey and Godfrey de Fristling. Also the river Wid is reckoned once to have been navigable. Fristling Hall was a moated manor house. Parts of the manor still exist. Equally looking at Mountnessing on the first edition of the ordnance survey map the location of the church and manor house is quite some distance from the main settlement. The ordnance map denoting the main settlement as Mountnessing Street. The idea of the manor house and the main settlement being separate should not though be dismissed.

One really bad thing the Normans did was get rid of England’s real patron saint – St Edmund the Martyr, whose feast day is 20th November and replace him by St George. St Edmund was a real person unlike St George and was English also unlike St George if he existed. He lived from about 840 to 870 and was martyred for his Christian faith by invading Danes. The real flag of England is the white dragon on the red background. The reason for his usurping is a cultural cleansing by the Normans. If you like St George and the dragon is symbolically the Normans beating the Saxons. I do not recognise St George as our patron saint and refuse to celebrate St George’s day. Cry England and St Edmund. Excuse this diversion.

Buckwynes was at one time owned by the Abbey of Stratford Langthome, according to the Essex historian Philip Morant in The History and Antiquities of the county of Essex published 1760-68

An alternative theory on the origin of Stock could be that it was part of the manor of Fristling. This theory is based on the following. As mentioned earlier, evidence was found in 1948 of a Saxon church in the grounds of All Saints. Why would Buttsbury have two churches? (Buttsbury church has evidence of Saxon construction). Fristling manor house was near the river (as was Buttsbury church). Rivers were rather more important in medieval times as a means of transport than today. The roads were not as good as they are now. Even Ingatestone and Margaretting which are in the Domesday Book were within easy reach of a river. Roads though were still used though. Now we know that some form of settlement has existed in Stock since Iron Age times. Also Stock was on the direct road from Maldon to Hertfordshire. It was also on the main road from central Essex to the Thames. Supposing that in Saxon times there was a place of settlement on the highway i.e. Hereweg Stoc. Words get corrupted and Hereweg Stoc could easily be corrupted into Hereward Stock. Or alternatively supposing Stock was the dwelling place of the workers of the manor of Fristling and that only the Steward lived in Fristling manor house. Supposing that instead you Herewic Stoc or dwelling place. This could also easily be corrupted into Hereward Stock. Either version is feasible. Equally with the latter version it could have been the dwelling place of the workers of Buttsbury and that the original Saxon church at Stock was abandoned when the one at Buttsbury was built. However it could be argued that any manor would need a church. Religion was very important in medieval times. This all leads me to the conclusion that Stock was settlement place of the manor of Fristling. Some people may say that “Surely Fristling was separated from Stock by Buttsbury.” My answer is twofold. Firstly we do know what the manor boundaries were like at the time of the Norman Conquest. Secondly it was not uncommon to have detached parts of one parish or even a manor in the middle of another parish or manor. Orsett hamlet –the detached part of Orsett in Stock being a very good example. This to some extent is borne out by a conversation that I had with Alan Smith, who at one time farmed Fristling Hall Farm. According to him the deeds of the farm included details of the tenants back to 900. This was before the Domesday book. A French Celtic and Saxon coins had been found in the vicinity. He believes that the Fristling was bigger than it is now. Perhaps a Saxon settlement? Apparently there were tombs discovered in Margaretting church of Geoffrey and Godfrey de Fristling. Also the river Wid is reckoned once to have been navigable. Fristling Hall was a moated manor house. Parts of the manor still exist. Equally looking at Mountnessing on the first edition of the ordnance survey map the location of the church and manor house is quite some distance from the main settlement. The ordnance map denoting the main settlement as Mountnessing Street. The idea of the manor house and the main settlement being separate should not though be dismissed.

The earliest mention of Stock, according to the Rev F W Austen in his Rectors of Two Essex Parishes and Their Times is in 1232, when Master Gregory was designated as `rector of the church of All Saints de Ginges'. However there is a definite evidence of Stock in 1239 in the Charter Rolls, which stated that the King (Henry III) had granted a market to the Manor of Imphey Hall to be held in the village each Thursday in the village of Herewarstoc. In 1269 there was an inspexus confirming the earlier charter. Some say that the market developed into an annual fair, held until the middle of the 19`h century in the square in front of the Bear. In 1248 there is mention in the Charter Rolls of the provision to the Prioress of Ickleton of six oaks for timber from Herewarstoc.

The next mention of Stock was in 1275, when, following complaints, a deer leap in the manor Crondon Park, which had been temporarily taken back by the King from the Bishop of London, was returned to him. A deer leap was an old feudal privilege whereby a deer could leap into a park from the outside, but could not get out again owing to either sloping ground or a ditch within. The reason why the King temporarily took the Crondon Park back is matter or speculation. For example, I have no doubt that owners of deer parks chased deer on the outside into their parks.

In 1295 Buttsbury is recorded as having a watermill, named Wluesdon, on a tributary of the River Wid by a bridge called Wolvensbridge at the foot of a hill. According to Austen there is mention of what I take to be the tenancy of the manor Fristling in 1302 the papers of Lord Petre's estate. Trying to interpret the phraseology of medieval English, even written in modern spelling can be difficult. A lot of the early material that relates Stock is concerned with the rectors, and has been well documented in the Rev Austen's book.

There was also at one time what could be held to be a primitive fort near Stock. At Blunts Walls one and half miles north west of Billericay there are or were some earthworks which are or were the remains of a ditch and ramparts. There were also some artificial mounds in the area, which have now been levelled. These fortifications dated back to the 13th century. At the time of Henry III the manor of Blunts, of which Blunts Walls was part, was held by Robert de Blunt.

The Black Death that ravaged England was first reported in London at the end of September 1348 and spread through the whole country in the next three years and there were intermittent outbreaks between 1356 and 1369. Its effect on Stock and on Buttsbury is unknown: while it is probable that both parishes suffered from it, it is also possible that neither parish suffered at all.

The perennial crime of sheep stealing was going on. And not only sheep were stolen, but a cow - not to mention cloth, wool and linen. This was mentioned in a King's Pardon dated 1370. The Bailiffs - the nearest equivalent of the police then - got the wrong men. The robberies took place in West Hanningfield, Stock and Buttsbury.

Stock got involved in the Peasants' Revolt of 1381. The causes were about dignity and respect for basic freedoms. It was about tenant farmers resenting servile dues from the lords of the manors. In some instances the tenants were required to work a certain number of days in the lord's fields and there were dues such as a fine paid for marriage, the seizure of the best beast of the family on the death of a tenant and the compulsory use of the lord's mill for the grinding of corn at a monopoly price. There was also a matter of a Poll Tax imposed by the government to raise money for the war against France then in progress. The Revolt started on 30th May 1381 when the villagers of Fobbing, Corringham and Stanford-le-Hope attacked the King's Commissioner when he went to Brentwood to investigate and revise tax returns. The Revolt spread and Manor houses and religious houses were attacked, the houses of unpopular lords of the manor and justices were pillaged, Court rolls were burnt. The Rebels invaded London and killed, amongst others, the Archbishop of Canterbury. The young Richard II, who the rebels thought to be on their side, met them at Mile End and granted commutation of all servile dues for a rent of 4 pence per acre plus a free pardon for all rebels. What is more, this was written down on paper, which satisfied most of the rebels although the more recalcitrant were dealt with more sternly - i.e. execution in the presence of the rebels there. Very shortly after, the king called out his soldiers and put down the rebellion and punished it with cruel severity. The charters of liberation were repealed by Parliament as having been extorted under pressure. Far from being on the rebels' side, the king was against the poor devils.

Where does Stock come into this? Well besides the villagers of Fobbing, Corringham and Stanford-le-Hope who attacked the King's Commissioner when he went to Brentwood there were also amongst other villagers from Stock. The last place where the rebels made a stand against the king's men was Norsey Woods, between Stock and Billericay. Over 500 were killed and it is quite probable that there were Stock and Buttsbury men at that last stand. Donald Jarvis in Stock, Essex and Wynford Grant in A Short History of Stock quote the transactions of the Essex Archaeological Society which mentions an inquisition at Chelmsford in which men of Stock from amongst other places had attacked a couple of Justices of the Peace at Brentwood and had then gone to Cressing where they had gone to the Prior's house, (apparently) destroyed it and taken away his goods. After this they went to Coggeshall and broke into the house of the Sheriff of Essex took away £1,000 and afterwards rode off marauding around the county.

After the Peasants' Revolt, Stock and Buttsbury settled down to a fairly humdrum period. Or rather, anything of interest that happened has long been forgotten. Things that were no doubt the talk of the area at the time have long vanished in oblivion simply because there was no-one to record them. In the main reading and writing was only for monastics, the clergy and wealthy.

The enclosure of open land took place quite early in most of Essex and the south, although there is no definite date for when the lands of Stock and Buttsbury were enclosed.

It is known that in 1476 there was windmill in Stock, whilst round about this time, say circa 1490, Stock's oldest inhabited house 'Broadmore' was constructed. This is only one of two thatched houses in the village. The other is the Old Beer House, formerly the Leather Bottle beer house.

A conveyance of property (apparently) in Buttsbury circa 1468 or 1469 shows there was some evidence of a pottery trade existing in the area, as one of the witnesses was a potter.

In those days restrictions on people were harsh. For example, in 1468 or 1469 Richard Dowe of Stock was hauled by Manor Court at Great Baddow for cutting down leaves and branches from an oak and taking away the undergrowth from Baker Street without Royal permission. In 1501 or 1502, John Darsy the parker of Crondon Park was fined because he cut down trees on Galleywood Common near his park's paling to make rails for his park.

From wills of the period, a lot of people were leaving money to the Church.