Ramsden Bellhouse, Essex Genealogy

England   Essex   Essex Parishes



Parish History
Ramsden Bellhouse St Mary is an Ancient parish in Essex, The south porch and belfry of St Mary the Virgin church date back to the 14th and 15th century. The stone and timber tower and spire were rebuilt to a large extent in 1880.

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.

RAMSDON-BELLHOUSE (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Billericay, hundred of Barstable, S. division of Essex, 4 miles (E.) from Billericay; containing 462 inhabitants. The lands of this place were held before the Conquest, by Godric and three freemen; and at the time of the survey, were owned by the Bishop of London and Robert Gernon. They afterwards formed two manors, of which that of Ramsdon-Bellhouse has belonged to various families, among whom occur those of Bellhouse, Knivet, Clopton, Gerard, and Downing. The manor of Ramsden-Barrington, the other of the two, has been successively held by the families of Barrington, Bohun, Bourchier, Devereux, and others. The parish is intersected by the river Crouch, and comprises 2688 acres, of which 172 are common or waste; the soil is strong and heavy, producing fair average crops. The living is a rectory, annexed to that of Stock, and valued in the king's books at £14: the tithes have been commuted for £450, and there are 22 acres of glebe. The church is small, with a tower surmounted by a spire.

From: Samuel A. Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 633-638. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51230&amp;amp;strquery=crays hill Date accessed: 03 February 2011.

Ramsden Bellhouse is a village in Essex, England. The village is in the district of Basildon and in the parliamentary constituency of Billericay.

The River Crouch flows through Ramsden Bellhouse, flowing under Church Road.

During the middle ages, Roger fitzReinfrid, a royal justice, held land at Ramsden Bellhouse, and later granted the church to Lesnes Abbey.

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
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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
Billericay 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
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 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain

Web sites
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