Matching is a village and civil parish in the Epping Forest district of Essex, England centred in countryside 3 miles (4.8 km) east of Harlow's modern town centre and 2 miles (3.2 km) from Old Harlow/Harlow Mills area of the town.

[4] Matching Hall is one of the four and one of three Grade II* architecture buildings in the old village centre, which is dominated by the church and is a cul-de-sac also accessible by footpaths.

Housham Hall is timber-framed but encased in brick in the 18th century and was William de Warenne's in 1086, one of two manors in the feudal system recorded as "Ovesham" in the Domesday Book.

[4] Parvills Farm, anciently "Parvilles", may have originated as a free tenement of Matching Hall manor, and was held in the 13th century by the Pereville (later Parvill) family – Agnes de Pereville gifted 50 acres (20 ha) of land in Matching to her son, Peter of Wakering.

In the later 19th century it was acquired as part of the Down Hall estate, in which it passed until it was sold in 1920 to the Scantlebury family, who held it until at least 1982.

[4] Watermans Hall is also mentioned in the church parish but its whereabouts is unknown, A deserted moated site where a manor house may have been contained is at Gunnetts Green but no evidence of building can be seen.

[6] All the owners of Down Hall, Down Hall Hotel today, which has a Grade II*-listed building and Grade II-listed parkland just north of the church in Hatfield Heath parish played a major part in the land ownership and church donations system of poor relief in Matching.

[7] Forest was sparse throughout; however in 1229 Thomas de Arderne, lord of Matching Hall, was given royal licence to impark Matching Wood, which seems to have caused local resentment in the 13th and 14th centuries, leading to trespass in the park, theft of timber, and attacks on the park keeper.

In 1668 the tenants of Waterman's manor and Otes in High Laver were said "to have commoned at Matching Green time out of mind" (i.e. grazed animals and collected wild berries).

[4] Little Leighs priory in 1274 was licensed by the Bishop of London to appropriate the rectory from its rector and upon the dissolution of the monasteries, the government granted the rectory to Sir Richard Rich, later Lord Rich, who in 1555 settled it and the advowson on his new chantry at Felsted and in 1564 they became part of the initial endowments of Felsted School.

The rectorial glebe, called Parsonage farm, at Newman's End, comprised 63 acres (25 ha) in 1745.

The small tithes of Matching were customarily paid in cheese, showing the importance of dairy farming.

Maltings at Matching Green operated from 1845 or earlier and stood north of Albion House, and in 1902 occupied half an acre.

The other stained window on the south wall is dedicated by parishioners and friends to the memory of Lord Rookwood who died on 15 January 1902.

A brass plaque commemorates the erection of the organ by Mrs Calverley of Down Hall in memory of her brother, Sir Frederick Henniker, of the 60th Rifles, who died on 19 August 1908.

A memorial plaque remembers American airmen who lost their lives in World War II when stationed at RAF Matching.

At the SE end an original studded partition separates one bay from the remainder – the main section is open.

Inside are visible the transverse and axial beams, plain chamfered except in the service end[clarification needed] with joists lathed and plastered to soffits.

Morant wrote in 1768: "A house, close to the church yard, said to be built by one Chimney, was designed for the entertainment of poor people on their wedding day".

[11] The village of Matching is on undulating land separated from the Stort valley by the parishes of Harlow and Sheering.

Elevations range between 90 m above sea level[n 2] and 49 m at Pincey Brook, the northern boundary with Sheering, which is a tributary of the Stort from Hatfield Broad Oak.

[12] Given the number of old buildings, three conservation areas shape the ongoing character and maintenance requirements of the three biggest settlements.

[13] Villages and hamlets, with historic farms, roads, manors and in one case a green leading to named small neighbourhoods: The Hundred Parishes Media related to Matching, Essex at Wikimedia Commons