Great Baddow, Essex Genealogy

England   Essex



Parish History
Great Baddow St Mary is an Ancient Parish in the county of Essex. Other places in the parish include: Howe Green.The church commemorates the rebel leader Jack Straw who led an ill-fated crowd (the "men of Essex") from the churchyard to London, in one of the risings in the 1381 Peasants' Revolt.

The name Baddow comes from an Old English word meaning 'bad water', although this probably refers to the meadow area in Great Baddow. The manor was once a possession of Robert the Bruce.

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.

BADDOW, GREAT (St. Mary), a parish, in the union and hundred of Chelmsford; S. division of Essex, 1 mile (S. E.) from Chelmsford; containing 2022 inhabitants. It comprises 3620a. 1r. 27p., of which 150 acres are common or waste: the village is very pleasantly situated, and inhabited by several highly respectable families. A large brewery was established about seventy years since. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £18. 6. 8., and in the patronage of Mrs. Bullen; impropriator, J. A. Houblon, Esq. The great tithes have been commuted for £636, and the vicarial for one of £495. 15.: the glebe belonging to the impropriator comprises about 22 acres, and the vicar's glebe one acre. The church contains some ancient monuments, one of which, in the south aisle, is very beautiful, representing the figure of a child, in a mournful attitude supporting the bust of a female. A free school was founded in 1731, by Jasper Jefferey, of London, and endowed with property invested in the purchase of estates now producing an annual income of about £168.

From: 'Babcary - Badgeworth', A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 124-128. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50773 Date accessed: 21 February 2011.

Great Baddow is an urban village in the Chelmsford borough of Essex, England. It is close to the county town, Chelmsford, and is one of the largest villages in the Country.

Great Baddow was named after the river Baddow which runs a mile or so east of the village, many will now know the river from its modern name, the Chelmer derived from Chelmsford. At the heart of the old village there are over 30 listed buildings. The village has been the site of a Marconi factory for many years, and major development started in the fifties with the building of the Rothmans Estate for workers at Marconi's and English Electric Valve Company in Chelmsford.

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

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
Chelmsford Poor Law Union, Essex

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
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