Chappel, Essex Genealogy

England   Essex   Essex Parishes



Parish History
Chappel St Barnabas (earlier St John the Baptist) is an Ancient parish in Essex.

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 present name of Chappel derives from the construction of a small church, noted in 1285 AD as standing at the northern boundary of the parish of Great Tey. During the 16th century, due to concerns from Chappel residents about the distance to Great Tey's own church at festival time, this area was split from the parish and become a separate entity known as Pontisbright (lit. "Britric's bridge") that would eventually become known as Chappel.

In 1433 the vicar of Great Tey agreed that the inhabitants of Chappel could find and elect their own chaplain. The benefice itself was united with that of the neighbouring village of Wakes Colne in 1938.

The church of ST. BARNABAS, earlier ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST,  comprises an undifferentiated nave and chancel with a south porch and a north vestry; there is a bellcote at the west end of the nave. The walls, of flint rubble with clunch dressings, may be those of the 13th-century chapel. In the 1370s or 1380s the bishop of London's suffragan granted an indulgence to those contributing to the repair of the chapel, and the surviving east window, the westernmost window in the south wall, and the nave roof date from that time. The west window and the second window from the east in the south wall were replaced in the 15th cent- ury. A steeple, presumably the bellcote, was recorded in 1552, and a south porch in 1598. The building was out of repair for much of the 16th and 17th centuries. The west gallery, with a window to light it, was probably made in the 18th century. In 1826 the chancel and the 'steeple' were repaired. The chancel walls were repaired in 1853, and the interior of the whole church in 1860-1. Presumably at one of those dates, much of the window tracery was renewed and a new window inserted in the north wall, apparently to replace a 17th- or 18th-century one. The south porch was largely rebuilt. A small north vestry had been added by 1876. The east end or chancel was restored by the ecclesiastical commissioners before 1897, the work perhaps including rebuilding the south- east buttress in brick. In 1937 the ceiling was removed, the roof repaired, and the east end re-ordered. The vestry was enlarged c. 1959. The Lord's prayer, creed, and command- ments were repainted as late as c. 1878. The interior of the church was extensively redecor- ated by the vicar, A. Werninck, in 1910. The pulpit and reading desk contain Jacobean panels, perhaps introduced by Werninck whose work included wood-carving. The altar rails are in 18th-century style, perhaps introduced during the 19th-century re-ordering; the modern rail on the north side was inserted in 1937. The 19th-century font came from Kelvedon in 1952. The royal arms of 1742 hang on the south wall. Two bells of 1676 by Miles Gray the younger, which replaced the two bells recorded in 1552, were themselves replaced in 1871 and 1893 by J. Warner &amp; Sons. In the chancel paving is a memorial to Gamaliel Lagden (d. 1736), rector of East Mersea and Abberton, who served Chappel in the 1720s, and his wife Mary (d. 1736); it was found under the chancel floor in 1937.

From: 'Chappel: Church', A History of the County of Essex: Volume 10: Lexden Hundred (Part) including Dedham, Earls Colne and Wivenhoe (2001), pp. 83-85. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=15173&amp;amp;strquery=chappel Date accessed: 12 February 2011.

The village and civil parish elects a parish council and for administrative purposes is within the Colchester district of Essex County Council.

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

Census records
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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

Tenants of Great Tey and Crepping Hall manors attended their respective manorial courts. The Great Tey court made no distinction between Great Tey and Chappel, but the Crepping court elected a rent- collector for Bridgehall in 1347 and a constable for Brightlingsbridge in 1457. From 1541 or earlier courts baron were held for Bacons manor; they dealt almost exclusively with transfers of copyholds, although c. 1580 the farmer of the manor was ordered to repair his buildings. The last recorded court was held in 1849. An almshouse for two families, on the Tey road, was repaired by the parish in the later 18th century. It may have been the workhouse or poorhouse, or the old poorhouse, both of which were recorded in 1821. A workhouse continued in use in 1835. The parish spent £104 on the poor in 1776, and an average of c. £86 a year between 1783 and 1785. In 1803 expenditure was £198, or 18s. 10d. per head of population, one of the higher rates in the hundred. All relief was given in the workhouse. The amount spent on the poor rose to £565 in 1813, and total poor rates to £669, including some money spent on the roads and the church fabric, in 1821. Expenditure peaked at £653 in 1822, then fluc- tuated between £618 and £446 between 1823 and 1834. The rate per head of population was one of the highest in the hundred in the early 1820s, reaching c. £2 a head in 1822, and remained above average for the area. Some out relief was being given, perhaps to the sick, in 1821. By 1823 up to 20 people seem to have received weekly allowances. In the 1820s clothes, shoes, and coal were bought for paupers; men were paid for work on the road, and for 'loss time'. In 1831 the overseers paid to appren- tice a boy. No records of vestry government before 1836 survive, but the 'town meeting' which cost £1 in 1822 and £2 in 1823 may have been the Easter vestry. In 1899, during the dispute between the vicar, Alfred Werninck, and his parishioners, the chairman of the parish council tendered his resignation, and no guardians were elected.

From: 'Chappel: Local government', A History of the County of Essex: Volume 10: Lexden Hundred (Part) including Dedham, Earls Colne and Wivenhoe (2001), pp. 82-83. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=15172&amp;amp;strquery=chappel Date accessed: 12 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
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Web sites
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