Littlebury, Essex Genealogy

England Essex   Essex Parishes



Parish History
Littlebury Holy Trinity is an Ancient Parish in the county of Essex. Other places in the parish include: Littlebury Green, Catmere Green, Chapel Green and part of the Audley End estate.

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 parish church of Holy Trinity was built on the site of a Roman camp. The first record of it dates from 1163 and the church was considerably altered between 1870 and 1874. It houses a beautiful stone font with decorated oak canopy.

St Peter's church at Littlebury Green was built in 1885.St Peter's was set up as a chapel of ease to save residents the long walk to the parish church in Littlebury. It was assembled from a kit which came complete with stained glass windows.



The village formerly supported a chapel, situated on Chapel Green, but no trace of it remains.

LITTLEBURY (Holy Trinity), a parish, in the union of Saffron-Walden, hundred of Uttlesford, N. division of Essex, 2 miles (W. N. W.) from SaffronWalden; containing 822 inhabitants, and comprising 3408a. 1r. 31p. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £10. 2. 1.; net income, £205; patron, the Rector. The rectory is a sinecure, valued at £26. 13. 4.; net income, £24; patron, the Rev. J. H. Sparke, Prebendary of the fifth stall in the Cathedral of Ely. The tithes were commuted for land and a money payment in 1801. The church is within the area of an ancient encampment. On Chapel green was formerly a chapel of ease. In 1585, Jane Bradbury bequeathed some land, for instruction.

From: Samuel A. Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 101-104. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51111&amp;amp;strquery=littlebury Date accessed: 15 February 2011.

Littlebury is a small village in north-west Essex. It includes the two hamlets of Littlebury Green and Catmere End. It lies around a mile and a half from the market town of Saffron Walden and fifteen miles south of Cambridge, the nearest city. Situated in the Uttlesford district, the parish of Littlebury includes the hamlets of Catmere End, Chapel Green, and Littlebury Green which lie to the west and south-west of the church. It also includes parts of the estate of Audley End.

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 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 HolyTrinity

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
Saffron Walden 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
Contributor: add any relevant sites that aren’t mentioned above.