Shenfield, Essex Genealogy

England   Essex   Essex Parishes



Parish History
Shenfield St Mary church dates back to the 13th century and forms the Ancient parish. The porch and spire were added in the 15th century.

The name originates from the Saxon Chenefield, meaning 'good lands'.

The old village, by the church and Green Dragon pub, lies along the original Roman road (now the A1023) which linked London &amp; Colchester.

Nathaniel Ward, a Puritan clergyman and author, was made minister of the Shenfield church in 1648 and held that office until his death in 1652.

Nathaniel Ward (1578- 1652), Rector of Stondon 1623-33, was deprived of the living by Laud for nonconformity. He subsequently emigrated to New England and helped to draft the 1641 Code of Laws for the colony of Massachusetts. He returned to England in 1647 and spent the last four years of his life as Rector of Shenfield.

From: 'Stondon Massey: Worthies', A History of the County of Essex: Volume 4: Ongar Hundred (1956), pp. 242. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=15687&amp;amp;strquery=shenfield Date accessed: 03 February 2011.

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.

SHENFIELD (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Billericay, hundred of Barstable, S. division of Essex, 1 mile (N. E. by N.) from Brentwood; containing 983 inhabitants. The parish comprises 2417 acres, of which 95 are common or waste land. The village is pleasantly situated on the road to Colchester, and contains several well-built houses; a fair, chiefly for pleasure, is held in it on Whit-Monday. The EasternCounties' railway intersects the parish. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £14. 18. 4., and in the gift of Earl de Grey: the tithes have been commuted for £575, and the glebe comprises 77 acres. The church is an ancient edifice with a shingled spire, and contains a monument to Mrs. Robinson, which is much admired.

From: Samuel A. Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 69-74. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51269&amp;amp;strquery=shenfield Date accessed: 03 February 2011.

Shenfield is a former village and now an outer suburb of Brentwood in the borough of the same name in Essex, England.

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
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
Billericay 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
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 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain

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