Stanway, Essex Genealogy

England   Essex  Essex Parishes



Parish History
Stanway is an Ancient parish in Essex.

The ruined church of ALL SAINTS com- prises a nave with a north porch and a west tower. Nothing survives of the 13th- or early 14th-century church comprising chancel, nave, and bell tower, the nave of which collapsed in the 1380s or 1390s. The nave was rebuilt c. 1400, and the north aisle, whose arcade sur- vives, and the west tower may have been built at the same time. There was an alabaster reredos behind the high altar in 1477, and the 'light beam' was painted in 1521. The church was repaired by John Swinnerton (d. 1616) as a pri- vate chapel; the chancel arch and north arcade were blocked with brick, and a brick north porch bearing the Swinnerton arms was added. By the early 18th century the church was 'utterly decayed', and has remained so. The church of ST. ALBRIGHT (ETHEL- BERT), of flint and rubble with limestone and Roman brick dressings, comprises chancel with south chapel, and nave with south aisle, west bell turret, and north porch. The late 11th- century church comprised undivided nave and chancel, possibly entered by a west door. The nave walls and probably some of the rafters sur- vive. The chancel was rebuilt and the north porch added in the 15th century, perhaps by the Tey family, whose arms survived in the east window in the 1630s. The bell turret was built about the same time. The church was repaired in the 1620s and 1630s, and regularly main- tained thereafter. In 1707 there were north and south porches, but the south porch was later replaced by a small vestry which was demolished c. 1800. There was a west gallery by 1856. The church was extended eastwards in 1826, the medieval chancel being incorporated into the nave. The south vestry was rebuilt c. 1860. The church was enlarged and restored in 1879 when a new chancel with south vestry was built, a south aisle added to the nave, the gallery removed, and the north porch rebuilt, to plans by Sir G. G. Scott. The 15th-century piscina from the medieval chancel was rebuilt in the new one, and the 15th-century arcade from the demolished St. Runwald's church, Colchester, was rebuilt between the chancel and vestry. The bell turret and roofs were repaired in 1936. The octagonal 15th-century font has alternating chalices and blank shields on its faces. The church plate is modern, the 3 chalices recorded in 1552 having been sold or lost; there are 2 pewter plates of c. 1750. There were at least two bells in 1541, and three in 1684. In 1856 they were: (i) 1574, (ii) John Thornton 1710, (iii) Miles Gray 1610, but the first two were taken down in 1890 and sold in 1892. The remaining bell was repaired in 1936. The graveyard was extended in 1858, 1897, and 1935. A lich gate was built as a war mem- orial in 1920.

From: 'Stanway: Churches', A History of the County of Essex: Volume 10: Lexden Hundred (Part) including Dedham, Earls Colne and Wivenhoe (2001), pp. 270-273. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=15277&amp;amp;strquery=stanway Date accessed: 14 February 2011.

Stanway is a village and civil parish in Essex, England located near Colchester. It is now widely referred to as a suburb.

Stanway is located approximately three miles west of Colchester town centre on the B1408 (former A12), near the junction of the A12 and the A1124 at Eight Ash Green.

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 St Albright See also All Saints

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
Lexden and Winstree Poor Law Union, Essex

The two churches of All Saints' and St. Albright's appear to have had their own officers in the earlier 16th century. In the 17th century and later there were usually two churchwardens, although only one attended visitations in 1684 and 1707. There are no records of vestry government. A newly-built cottage on the heath was con- veyed to trustees as pauper housing in 1703. There was a workhouse, perhaps in the former poorhouse, by 1769; in 1817 it was at Beacon End, probably in Millers Lane, called Work- house Lane in 1897. It was sold in 1837. (fn. 80) Expenditure on poor relief between 1776 and 1815 was one of the highest per head of population in the hundred. Actual expenditure rose from c. £237 in 1776 to an average of c. £254 between 1783 and 1785. It reached a peak of c. £908 or £2 3s. per head of population in 1801, fell to c. £419 or c. £1 a head in 1804, then rose fairly steadily to c. £653 or c. £1 10s. a head in 1812. Between 1812 and 1813 expenditure almost doubled to £1,215 or £2 16s. a head, the largest proportional increase in the hundred. Expenditure fell again to c. £708 in 1814 or £1 12s. 10d. per head of population. From then until 1834 expenditure was usually between £600 and £700 a year, except in the years 1817 to 1819 when it was over £900 or nearly £2 a head, again among the highest payments in the hundred. The wheel-shaped Lexden and Winstree Poor Law Union workhouse was built in 1836 and 1837 in London Road near the boundary with Lexden. The building was slightly altered in the 1930s, when it was Stanway public assistance institution.

From: 'Stanway: Local government', A History of the County of Essex: Volume 10: Lexden Hundred (Part) including Dedham, Earls Colne and Wivenhoe (2001), pp. 270. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=15276&amp;amp;strquery=stanway Date accessed: 14 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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 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain

Web sites
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