[6] The future missionary and explorer David Livingstone lived in Chipping Ongar on the High Street in 1838 to "receive instruction from Rev.

He was parish priest in Chipping Ongar from 1905 and perished on RMS Titanic in 1912, refusing to leave in a lifeboat and staying to pray with the remaining passengers.

To the southeast lies Brentwood, on the old road to the former River Thames ferry crossing at Tilbury, though the building in the 1970s of the M11 and M25 motorways means that Ongar is no longer directly on a principal route for petrol tankers (and other less prominent vehicles) travelling from the current Dartford Crossing and the Thames Estuary oil refineries.

This historic thoroughfare is lined with over 70 listed buildings and protected by the Chipping Ongar Conservation Area, one of the first to be designated by Essex County Council nearly 50 years ago.

The high street does, however, retain a very narrow stretch, with shops and houses either side very close to the road due to pavements that are barely adequate for two people to pass each other.

Much of the surrounding countryside is occupied by large mechanised farms devoted, for the most part, to arable agriculture.

During the 20th century the proximity of London encouraged dairy farming, but the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s were characterised by the removal of hedges and an increase in average field sizes as cattle numbers diminished.

Local residents have previously called for lowering of the current national speed limit between The Mulberry House and the Four Wantz roundabout on the A414 Chelmsford-bound.

However, Essex Police's senior traffic management officer, Adam Pipe, deemed lowering the speed limit "inappropriate, as drivers would feel 30 mph (48 km/h) is not adequate and would not comply".

Since the closure of the Central line branch between Epping and Ongar in 1994, there is no longer a commuter train service to/from the town.

The nearest London Underground station to the town is Epping, 7 miles (11 km) away, the terminus of the Central line.

[15] Wally Hope, experimental philosopher and free festival organiser died at the home of family members in Chipping Ongar, Essex on 3 September 1975.