Great Horkesley, Essex Genealogy

England   Essex   Essex Parishes



Parish History
Great Horkesley All Saints is an ancient parish in North eastern Essex and part of the parish boundary form part of the county boundary with Suffolk.

The diocese of Chelmsford was created in 1914, prior to this Essex parishes were in the jurisdiction of the Bishops of London until 1845 when they transferred to the diocese of Rochester. The diocese of Chelmsford has 474 parishes and 600 churches and is the second largest region in the church of England outside London.

The church of ALL SAINTS, a dedication first recorded in 1512, is built of rubble with ashlar and brick dressings. It comprises a chancel with north vestry and chapel, a nave with north aisle and south porch, and a west tower. The nave is 12th-century, the unbuttressed tower was added early in the 14th century, and later in that century the north chapel and vestry were built. The church was much altered during the 15th century, the aisle and porch were added, the tower was raised by one stage, all the windows of the nave and chancel were renewed, and the church was re-roofed. In the 19th century the church was restored. In 1569 the church needed glazing and in 1581 whitewashing and paving. Windows and the vestry needed repair in 1633 and 1684, as did the tower and north buttress in 1684 and 1705. In the latter year the porch required repair, and the chancel floor needed relaying and its walls plastering. There is a sundial with Roman numerals cut on a buttress on the south side of the church. The font is 19th-century. The remains of a 15th- century font cover are incorporated in the present one. There is a 14th-century door between the chancel and vestry and a 15th-century one in the south doorway of the nave. Furniture includes a 16th-century church chest, an early 17th-century pulpit obtained from St. Margaret's, Ipswich, in 1848, an early 17th-century chair, and a late 17th-century communion table. The silver cup and paten in the church in 1684 were replaced by a silver cup and two patens dated 1741 and a paten of 1717 inscribed 'Great Horkesley 1751'. A silver flagon of 1732 is inscribed with the names of two churchwardens and the date 1832. There were five bells in 1684 and 1862. In 1909 there were six: (i) John Warner and Sons 1902 (ii) Thomas Mears 1793 (iii) Miles Gray 1679 (iv) Bury St. Edmunds, late 15th century or early 16th (v) Gardiner of Sudbury 1747 (vi) Bury St. Edmunds as (iv). The bell cast by Gardner of Sudbury was commissioned by William Sadler of Colchester and inscribed with a libellous rhyme, later removed, about a business partner. There is a 13th-century coffinlid in the nave. In the chancel is another grave slab commemorating the rector Richard Oliver (d. 1327), and a black marble grave slab of Samuel Gibbs of Horkesley Park (d. 1692). There is a portrait and a funeral hatchment of William Ward in the vestry. In 1491 the bishop of Ely granted an indulgence to all those contributing to the lights and ornaments in the chantry chapel of St. Mary the Virgin at the cross called 'the five ashes' in Great Horkesley. It was probably the chapel dedicated to Our Lady on Horkesley Causeway endowed by John Falcon, who also left a croft to support a 'drinking' in the chapel. In 1500 John Breewood left lands in Great and Little Horkesley to support a chantry priest at the chapel and gave his wife Margaret the advowson during her lifetime. The total endowment appears to have comprised the chapel, two houses, 60 a. of land, and 40 a. of pasture. In 1508 Agnes Bounde of Colchester left two painted cloths to the chapel. In 1525-6 the lands were enfeoffed for the performance of the wills of John and Alice Falcon and John Breewood to provide a secular priest to sing masses in the chapel for 99 years. In 1535 the chapel was worth £6. In 1548 the chapel and its lands were purchased by John Lucas. The clerk living in the chapel was then 80 years old and 'of small learning, very lame and impotent but of good conversation'. The chantry lands were still recorded in 1651, but were thereafter presumably re-absorbed into the Breewood Hall estate from which they were probably taken. The former chantry chapel, c. 1 mile south of the church on Horkesley Causeway, is a small red brick building probably of the late 15th century. It was originally thatched but is now tiled. The priest's lodging on two floors was at the west end, divided from the chapel by a studwork partition. The chapel extended to the full height of the building and had decorated roof timbers. The piscina survives. After the Reformation it became a labourer's cottage. In 1996 it was a private house with a 19th- or 20th-century red brick extension. In 1866 the main church could only seat a third of the inhabitants and the shortage of space probably explains why by 1874 the rector had acquired as a chapel St. John's formerly a nonconformist chapel. In 1878 services were held there on Sunday evenings and Wednesdays, but from 1922 on Sunday evenings only. The freehold of the building was bought for the church in 1902 by E. B. P. Kelso of Horkesley Park and transferred to the parish by his executors in 1925. The building was still in use in 1997.

From: 'Great Horkesley: Churches', A History of the County of Essex: Volume 10: Lexden Hundred (Part) including Dedham, Earls Colne and Wivenhoe (2001), pp. 230-232. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=15253&amp;amp;strquery=great horkesley Date accessed: 13 February 2011.

Great Horkesley is a small village approximately 3 miles north of Colchester in the county of Essex, UK, and is part of the borough of Colchester.

Horkesley is located in what is known as "Horkesley Heath", which is a combination of two villages: Great Horkesley and, to the north, Little Horkesley which is an entirely different Parish. Horkesley is a modern name for the original Saxon name of "Horkaslay" which means "farm land for herds" (mainly sheep) though now it has many fields growing a variety of crops from corn to hemp. A few years ago an archaeological dig was made in woods on Coach Road, where a Bronze Age bronze smelting pit was found. Much Of Great Horkesley was a marsh, with very boggy ground, until it was drained by farmers. This is the reason why the main road is called "The Causeway" as it was a firm, and safe route of passage.

Civil Registration
Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from July 1837 to the present day. The civil registration article tells more about these records. There are several Internet sites with name lists or indexes. A popular site is FreeBMD.

Church records
Contributor: Include here information for parish registers, Bishop’s Transcripts, non conformist and other types of church records, such as parish chest records. Add the contact information for the office holding the original records. Add links to the Family History Library Catalog showing the film numbers in their collection

Online images are available Seax - Essex Archives Online From the Essex Record Office All Saints

Census records
Contributor: Include an overview if there is any unique information, such as the census for X year was destroyed. Add a link to online sites for indexes and/or images. Also add a link to the Family History Library Catalog showing the film numbers in their collection.

Index for the Census may be searched at FamilySearch Historical Records

http://www.1881pubs.com/ for details of public houses in the 1881 census

Poor Law Unions
Lexden and Winstree Poor Law Union, Essex

There were two churchwardens and three overseers of the poor in 1612, but only two overseers in 1636. There was a dispute over the differential poor rate payments made by tenants and landlords in the 1630s. In 1776 a poor rate raised £149 os. 10d. Expenditure increased steadily every year thereafter until it reached an initial peak of £1,071 5s. 1d. in 1813. Although it fell back briefly in the period 1814-16, it averaged c. £1,159 between 1817 and 1834, the highest expenditure being in 1820 (£1,798) and 1822 (£1,760). From a low level in the later 18th century poor relief per head of population increased until more was spent per head in the period 1820-2 than in any other parish in the Colchester division of Lexden hundred, only declining slightly thereafter. Outdoor relief was given to 102 people in 1813. In 1815 seven people received relief in the workhouse regularly and 21 occasionally. There may have been several small workhouses, perhaps originally almshouses. One was probably on the site of Workhouse Yard near the Rose and Crown. Another, sold in 1837 and demolished by 1841, was apparently a cottage, divided into two tenenments, on the heath near Francis Bridge. There was a police house and two policemen in 1841. A police station on Horkesley Causeway was open part time in 1996.

From: 'Great Horkesley: Local government', A History of the County of Essex: Volume 10: Lexden Hundred (Part) including Dedham, Earls Colne and Wivenhoe (2001), pp. 229-230. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=15252&amp;amp;strquery=great horkesley Date accessed: 13 February 2011.

Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Essex Probate Records to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction. Scroll down in the article to the section Court Jurisdictions by Parish.

Maps and Gazetteers
Maps are a visual look at the locations in England. Gazetteers contain brief summaries about a place.


 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain

Web sites
Contributor: Add any relevant sites that aren’t mentioned above.