LAVER (HIGH), a parish in Ongar district, Essex; 4 miles N by W of Ongar, and 4½ SE by E of Harlow r. station. Post town, Ongar, under Brentwood. Acres, 1,894. Real property, £3, 024. Pop., 471. Houses, 95. The property is subdivided. The parish is a meet for the Essex hounds. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Rochester. Value, £500.* Patron, Capt. Budworth. The church is a plain low building, with tile roof, brick tower, and wooden spire; and contains a brass of 1500. The churchyard contains the grave of the philosopher John Locke, who resided in the parish during most of the last fourteen years of his life, and died at Oates manor house, then the seat of Sir Francis Masham.

(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))