Foulness, Essex Genealogy

England   Essex   Essex Parishes



Parish History
FOULNESS (St. Mary), an island and parish, in the union and hundred of Rochford, S. division of Essex, 9 miles (E. by N.) from Rochford; containing 674 inhabitants.

From: Lewis, Samuel A., A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848).

Foulness (Island) St Mary the Virgin is an Ancient Parish in Essex.

The Church of St Mary the Virgin in the North end settlement of Churchend and neighbouring Courtsend closed in May 2010.

The church was rebuilt in 1848 when the previous church began to crumble. The church stands on Ministry of Defence land and access by prior permission. The church closure followed within 3 years of the closure of the only pub The George and Dragon.

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.

Foulness Island is predominantly farm land and is protected from the sea by a sea wall. The island's name is derived from the Old English for wild birds and promontory, and it is an internationally important site for migrating and breeding birds, including avocets. During the North Sea flood of 1953, almost the entire island was flooded, and two people died.

Prior to 1922, when the military road was built, access was only available across the Maplin Sands via the Broomway, a tidal path said to pre-date the Romans, or by boat. Although public rights of way exist, the island is run by QinetiQ on behalf of the Ministry of Defence, and access to the island is only permitted with a pass, obtainable from Shoeburyness. The island's visitor centre is opened to the public on the first Sunday in summer months, but permission must be sought to visit.

From 1855, the Shoebury Sands, which are a continuation of the Maplin Sands to the south of the island, had been used as a testing site for artillery, and the War Office sought to extend this at the end of the 19th century, by buying the island and its offshore sands, to act as a research and development centre for new weapons. They bought some of the sands above Fishermans Head in 1900, but the rest belonged to Alan Finch, the lord of the manor, and he refused to grant shooting rights over them. In 1912, the War Office also discovered that large areas of the sands were leased to tenants, who used them for fishing kiddles. A kiddle was a large V-shaped or square net, which formed an enclosure in which fish were trapped as the tide receded. Attempts to buy the lordship were also refused by Finch, but he died in 1914, and his half-brother Wilfred Henry Montgomery Finch sold it on 13 July 1915, resulting in the War Office owning around two-thirds of the island. They had also been buying any farms that were not part of the manor, and by the end of the First World War, the only buildings which they did not own were the church and rectory, the school, and a mission hall at Courts End. They demolished the post mill towards the beginning of the war, and the parish poor-house and a wooden lock-up which was located near the church were also demolished.

One benefit of the takeover was the construction of the military road in 1922, which crosses New England Island and Havengore Island by a series of bridges, to reach the mainland near Great Wakering. After its opening, the Broomway ceased to be used, except by the military. With the passing of the Ministry of Defence Act (1946) and the subsequent rationalisation of five agencies in 1971, ownership of the island passed from the War Office to the Ministry of Defence. In 2003, a contract to manage the testing of munitions was awarded to the defence contractors QinetiQ, and they also control access to the island.

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
Rochford 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.