[2] In fact, it derives from a pear-tree orchard belonging to one Botulf in the area of present-day Perry Street.

[4] The 14th-century church of St Mary is positioned at the crossroads on a hill, which overlooks Ingatestone Hall in the distance.

These manors embraced most of Stock and part of nearby Billericay, still called Buttsbury.

Today, the village of Buttsbury consists of houses, farms and St Mary's Church.

Suggestions for the isolated position of the church and the disappearance of the village it served are that the village was cleared to make way for sheep or, more likely, the Black Death of the 14th century decimated the local population and the survivors eventually moved elsewhere for higher wages and better working conditions.

Since the early medieval period, the land of Buttsbury has been mainly agricultural, with some remaining areas of woodland.

[1] A wave of early 20th-century building was coupled with better general health, especially lower infant mortality rates.