Great Horkesley, Essex Genealogy

England   Essex   Essex Parishes



Parish History
Great Horkesley All Saints is an ancient parish in North eastern Essex and part of the parish boundary form part of the county boundary with Suffolk.

From: A History of the County of Essex: Volume 10: Lexden Hundred (Part) including Dedham, Earls Colne and Wivenhoe (2001).

Great Horkesley is a small village approximately 3 miles north of Colchester in the county of Essex, UK, and is part of the borough of Colchester.

Horkesley is located in what is known as "Horkesley Heath", which is a combination of two villages: Great Horkesley and, to the north, Little Horkesley which is an entirely different Parish. Horkesley is a modern name for the original Saxon name of "Horkaslay" which means "farm land for herds" (mainly sheep) though now it has many fields growing a variety of crops from corn to hemp. A few years ago an archaeological dig was made in woods on Coach Road, where a Bronze Age bronze smelting pit was found. Much Of Great Horkesley was a marsh, with very boggy ground, until it was drained by farmers. This is the reason why the main road is called "The Causeway" as it was a firm, and safe route of passage.

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 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

There were two churchwardens and three overseers of the poor in 1612, but only two overseers in 1636. There was a dispute over the differential poor rate payments made by tenants and landlords in the 1630s. In 1776 a poor rate raised £149 os. 10d. Expenditure increased steadily every year thereafter until it reached an initial peak of £1,071 5s. 1d. in 1813. Although it fell back briefly in the period 1814-16, it averaged c. £1,159 between 1817 and 1834, the highest expenditure being in 1820 (£1,798) and 1822 (£1,760). From a low level in the later 18th century poor relief per head of population increased until more was spent per head in the period 1820-2 than in any other parish in the Colchester division of Lexden hundred, only declining slightly thereafter. Outdoor relief was given to 102 people in 1813. In 1815 seven people received relief in the workhouse regularly and 21 occasionally. There may have been several small workhouses, perhaps originally almshouses. One was probably on the site of Workhouse Yard near the Rose and Crown. Another, sold in 1837 and demolished by 1841, was apparently a cottage, divided into two tenenments, on the heath near Francis Bridge. There was a police house and two policemen in 1841. A police station on Horkesley Causeway was open part time in 1996.

From: 'Great Horkesley: Local government', A History of the County of Essex: Volume 10: Lexden Hundred (Part) including Dedham, Earls Colne and Wivenhoe (2001), pp. 229-230. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=15252&amp;amp;strquery=great horkesley Date accessed: 13 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
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.