Lexden, Essex Genealogy

England Essex   Essex Parishes



Parish History
Lexden St Leonard is an Ancient Parish In Essex.

The St leonard Leonard in question is Saint Leonard of Noblac, the patron saint of prisoners.

Lexden's original name, Læxadyne, is Old English for "Leaxa's valley". It is referred to as the "Hundred of LASSENDENE" in the Domesday Book.

It is now cut into two halves by a modern bypass, Spring Lane. Within the space of a few hundred yards there are two 400 year old watermills, (both now private residences) and a 100 year old iron bridge over the river Colne.

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.

Lexden is a suburb of Colchester, Essex, England. It was formerly a village, and has previously been called Lessendon, Lassendene and Læxadyne. Lexden is mentioned in the Domesday Book.

Lexden is approximately one mile west of central Colchester and for administrative purposes is part of Colchester.

The medieval church of ST. LEONARD, which was demolished in 1820, stood on the south side of Lexden Street. It comprised a chancel, a nave with north chapel or transept, a timbered north porch, a vestry, and a boarded west bellcot with shingled spire. The church and bellcot were in ruins in 1600 and, although some work was done, the church was still decayed in 1607 and the chancel, north porch, and vestry in 1609. A wooden clock tower had been mounted on the north chapel by 1748. A new church was completed in 1822 to the designs of M. G. Thompson in the Early English style, several yards south of the old building, and in 1892 a larger chancel was added in Perpendicular style. The church comprises a chancel with north chapel and south vestry with organ loft above, a nave with north and south porches, and a west tower. The chancel walls are of flint with Box stone bands and dressings; those of the nave and tower are cement rendered. The roofs of the nave and chancel are tiled; the spire is covered with copper. In the period 1946-55 four memorial windows to the Papillon family were inserted on the north side, including one depicting Lexden manor house. The church had one bell in 1683, which may survive as the clock bell. A bell dated 1751, apparently one of a ring, was probably acquired for the new church in 1820. It was cracked by 1859 and in 1899 was recast; in 1901 a chime of 11 small bells was added. The plate includes an inscribed silver cup and paten given before 1683 by Charles Lucas, Lord Lucas, and a silver flagon given in 1763. A marble monument to Richard Hewett (d. 1771) stands against the south wall. The churchyard, enlarged in 1877 and 1926, was closed in 1946. A columbarium for 300 urns was erected in the churchyard in 1950.

From: 'Outlying parts of the Liberty: Lexden', A History of the County of Essex: Volume 9: The Borough of Colchester (1994), pp. 391-401. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=22020&amp;amp;strquery=lexden Date accessed: 10 February 2011.

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

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
Colchester Poor Law Union,Essex

A poorhouse mentioned in 1592 was probably an unendowed almshouse, possibly St. Catherine's hospital which was in Lexden manor although in St. Mary's-at-the-Walls parish. A parish workhouse in Spring Lane, recorded in 1751, was sold in 1835 when Lexden became part of Colchester union. A house on Parsons Hill was let to poor people from 1672 until 1693 or later. In 1823 the parish helped Samuel Durrant to build a cottage on its land at Bottle End, granting him life tenancy at a token rent. Parish records include vestry minutes 1813-57 and overseers' papers 1746-1851. The Easter meeting determined the church rate and elected two churchwardens and two overseers. In the early 19th century the vestry rarely held more than 4 additional meetings, determining the overseer's rate twice a year, but in the period 1820-40 there were 6-8 and occasionally 10 meetings a year, besides the Easter vestry. Their main business was to approve the poor rate quarterly, to nominate a surveyor, and to approve his rate and accounts. Local farmers, and occasionally gentry, served as churchwardens, overseers, and surveyors. George Preston, rector 1804-41, and his successor John Papillon, 1841- 90, took the chair at almost every meeting. One or two inhabitants usually attended, workhouse matters and rating assessments attracting a few more. In 1830, although the Easter vestry was attended by only 7 men including the rector and parish officers, 19 parishioners partook of the Easter dinner afterwards and in 1834 many more attended a meeting to elect a new parish surgeon. In 1673 poor relief was received by 48 of the 80 households assessed for hearth tax. The annual cost of relief averaged £360 a year in 1783-5, above average for the town and liberty. It rose nearly 3-fold to £1,036 in 1813, the second highest payment in Colchester, then fell to £876 in 1814 and to £646 in 1816, a steeper drop than in any other parish in the town or liberty except Mile End. In Lexden as in the other outlying parishes costs rose thereafter, to £849 in 1818. In 1821 the overseers took a 21-year lease on 16 a. of newly inclosed land on Lexden heath for spade husbandry; in that year the amount spent on the poor fell from £827 to £759, which then represented c. 16s. per head of population, just below the average payment for the town and liberty. By 1833 the overseers employed an apothecary and subscribed to the hospital. In 1836 they continued, with the sanction of Colchester union, to provide spade husbandry on Lexden heath for the term of the lease. In 1867 the vestry set up a fund to pay the expenses of poor parishioners willing to emigrate. Following local agricultural disturbances in 1830 the vestry raised a subscription, to be supplemented by the poor rate, to select 10 special constables to provide nightly patrols of 5 men paid 2s. 6d. a night. The system seems to have been abandoned by 1833. The parish was still appointing parish constables in 1837, but by 1841 the borough provided two full-time policemen to patrol Lexden, Mile End, and Greenstead.

From: 'Outlying parts of the Liberty: Lexden', A History of the County of Essex: Volume 9: The Borough of Colchester (1994), pp. 391-401. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=22020&amp;amp;strquery=lexden Date accessed: 10 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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Web sites
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