Aldham, Essex Genealogy

England   Essex   Essex Parishes



Parish History
An early 19th century discripton by Samuel A. Lewis is:

ALDHAM, a parish, in the union of Lexden and Winstree, Witham division of the hundred of Lexden, N. division of Essex, 6 miles (E. N. E.) from Great Coggeshall; containing 382 inhabitants. This place is situated on the river Colne, by which it is bounded on the north; and comprises an area of 1512 acres, whereof 27 are common or waste. Fairs are held at the hamlet of Ford-street on Easter-Tuesday and Nov. 1st. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £12; net income, £327; patron, the Bishop of London. The church is a rude edifice, with a small wooden turret. A national school is supported; and £22 per annum, bequeathed by an unknown benefactor, are divided among 16 married persons who have not received parochial relief during the preceding twelve months. The Rev. Philip Morant, author of the History of Essex, was rector of the parish; he died Nov. 26th, 1770, aged 70 years, and was interred in the chancel of the church, where a monument has been erected to his memory. The learned Sir John Marsham, one of the six-clerks in chancery, and author of several valuable works, was proprietor of Bourchiers Hall (now a farmhouse), in the reign of Charles I., to whose fortunes he was a firm adherent.

From: Lewis, Samuel A., A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848). URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50748 Date accessed: 13 September 2011.

Aldham St Margaret and St Catherine is an Ancient Parish in Essex.

Aldham's parish church is dedicated to St Margaret and St Catherine. The church is first mentioned in 1145. The original church stood by Old Church Farm to the west of the village. By the middle of the 19th Century it had become very decrepit; the floor was damp, the walls had to be supported by large brick buttresses and stout wooden posts had replaced some of the pillars. In 1853, it was decided to build a new church in a more central location, modelled on the old one (but enlarged) and re-using as much of the original fabric as possible, notably the whole of the 14th Century south porch. Since 1951, the parish has been held jointly with Marks Tey.

The medieval church demolished in 1854 comprised chancel, and nave with north chapel, south aisle, south porch, and western bell turret. A small 13th-century or earlier church seems to have been enlarged and remodelled in the 14th century, when the north or St. Anne's chapel was added, apparently by James at Lee, and the south aisle built, perhaps by the Tey family. The chapel was roofless by 1639 and had been demol- ished before the mid 18th century. In 1633 the steeple, presumably the bellcote, was in decay, one of its buttresses had partly fallen, and the stairs were ruinous. In 1684 the steeple boarding needed replacing. By 1853 the south arcade had been replaced by wooden posts, and a west- ern singers' gallery had been built. Although the church was repaired in 1800 it was in a 'wretched state' by 1853.

The new church of ST. MARGARET AND ST. CATHERINE, possibly formerly ST. ANNE, was built on a new site in 1854-5 to designs by E. C. Hakewill. Its plan is the same as that of the old church, but enlarged, and many of the old materials were re-used in its construc- tion. It comprises a chancel with new north vestry, a nave with south aisle and the 14th- century timber porch, and a new west tower and spire. The c. 15th-century roof timbers of the nave and south aisle, with some of the 13th- 15th-century Barnack limestone windows, were re-used. The three lancet windows in the south wall of the south aisle, the chancel arch, and the south nave arcade, were new. An external stair turret at the east end of the south aisle appears to have been copied from the rood loft stairs of the old church.

Aldham is a village and civil parish in Essex. It is located 7.2 km (4.5 miles) west of Colchester. The village is in the borough of Colchester and in the parliamentary constituency of North Essex. The village has its own Parish 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

Easter vestries, recorded from 1754, were nor- mally chaired by the rector or his curate and attended by 7-10 parishioners, attendance declining during the 18th century. About 6 other meetings a year were held, usually in the church vestry. In the periods 1757-78, 1781-8, and 1828 only 1 churchwarden was elected or re-elected. In 1754 the churchwardens were empowered to act as additional overseers, and in 1828 the sole churchwarden was also over- seer. Two overseers, 2 constables, and 2 sur- veyors were appointed regularly, the overseers serving for 6 months each. In 1757 a widow served as overseer. Constables were appointed until 1872. In 1584 Aldham had many impotent poor, and in 1589 Petty Sessions met at Fordham ford, near the house of one of the chief constables, to deal with local unemployment. There was a workhouse by 1757, apparently at Westons on Gallows green. Paupers there span wool in the 1780s. The house was enlarged in 1801 and was leased by the overseers until c. 1835. Two other houses were used as pauper housing in 1783. In 1753 three adults and 3 children, and by 1782 twelve people, received regular out-relief. By 1800 weekly payments were made to 33 families with young children, and between 1817 and 1819 a flour allowance was given to families with 4 or more children. Several poor families received bread in 1836. Between 1819 and 1822 payments were made to unemployed men and those on low wages, and in 1823 men were employed in the gravel pit. In 1833 the vestry resolved to levy a labour rate, based on a wage of 9s. a week, to help provide employment. In 1830 one man was helped to emigrate to New York. Expenditure on poor relief rose from c. £120 in 1776 to an average of c. £211 between 1783 and 1785 and to £338 in 1803. By 1813 it had reached £792 or £2 1s. per head of population, one of the highest rates in the hundred. It dropped to £18s. a head in 1814 and remained well below that thereafter, except in 1820 and 1831. In most years up to 1836 expenditure, at 18s.-25s. a head, remained about average for the hundred.

From: 'Aldham: Local government', A History of the County of Essex: Volume 10: Lexden Hundred (Part) including Dedham, Earls Colne and Wivenhoe (2001), pp. 18-19. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=15132&amp;amp;strquery=aldham Date accessed: 11 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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