West Horndon with Ingrave, Essex Genealogy

England   Essex   Essex Parishes



Parish History
West Horndon with Ingrave is an Ecclesiastical Parish in the county of Essex, created in 1712 from West Horndon Ancient Parish and Ingrave Ancient Parish. Other places in the parish include: Ingrave [see also Ingrave].

Originally there were three manors in the area of West Horndon, Tillingham Hall being the one which had most of the land in its borders. In 1066 Alwin, a free woman held it, but by 1086 it had passed to Swain of Essex in the hundred of Barstable. Following this the Tillingham family held the hall for several hundred years.

It was eventually sold to Sir William Bawd, who conveyed it to Coggeshall Abbey, where it remained until the Dissolution of the Monasteries. It is thought that the Abbey began to restrict the rights of the commons, for there were many proceedings in the manor-courts against the ordinary people, supposedly trespassing on the land of the lords. After they acquired the commonland it was mostly left as wild heath and woods, much as we see it today, the later lords of the manor having much pleasure hunting to hounds through it, even as far as Southend.

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.

The church of All Saints is built entirely of brick, the present one being the third on this site. The village of Torinduna (Thornhill) referred to in Domesday was built around this hill. The Saxon church was built around AD 807, then rebuilt in the Norman style by the Neville family about 1200.

The southern portion of the traditional parish of West Horndon is now in the unitary authority of Thurrock.

West Horndon is a village in the south of the Brentwood borough of Essex on the boundary with Thurrock and in the East of England. It is located 20.6 miles (33.2 km) east north-east of Charing Cross in London.

The village has its own Parish Council and forms part of the 'Herongate, Ingrave and West Horndon' ward of Brentwood Council. The local school is West Horndon Primary School, and the village falls within the Brentwood County High catchment area.

Ingrave's name is derived from the name of the original manor in this area being called Ging-Ralph, or Ralph’s-ing. The manor was originally owned by the Mordaunt family but acquired by the Petre family in 1573. The Petre's built Thorndon Hall (now luxury apartments) on the site in 1770.

"HORNDON, WEST (St. Nicholas), a parish, in the union of Billericay, hundred of Barstaple, S. division of Essex, 3½ miles (S. S. E.) from Brentwood; containing 60 inhabitants. This parish, in ancient documents called Thorndon, and Little Horndon, is remarkable for the splendid mansion of Lord Petre, named Thorndon Hall, which is beautifully situated on an eminence, surrounded by an extensive and richly wooded park. The living is a rectory, with that of Ingrave united, valued in the king's books at £14. 13. 4.; net income, £350; patron, the Rev. R. Johnstone: the tithes were commuted for land and a corn-rent in 1776. The church, a plain edifice of brick, was erected in 1734, on the union of the two livings, at the expense of the then Lord Petre. At the Hall is a private Roman Catholic chapel."

From: Samuel A. Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 550-553. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51045 Date accessed: 13 April 2011.

West Horndon is a civil parish in the Brentwood borough of Essex, England. It is a new parish, having been formed in 2003 following a petition by residents in 2002.

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 Nicholas Ingrave

Also Thorndon Hall

Essex Online Parish Clerks (OPC)

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
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
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.