Ingatestone, Essex Genealogy

England   Essex   Essex Parishes



Parish History
Ingatestone (formerly deicated to the Virgin Mary) is an Ancient Parish in Essex.

INGATESTONE (Virgin Mary), a parish, and formerly a market-town, in the union and hundred of Chelmsford, S. division of Essex, 6 miles (S. W.) from Chelmsford, and 23 (N. E. by E.) from London; containing 856 inhabitants. This place was anciently called Ing-atte-stone, a name derived from the Saxon word Ing, a "meadow," and a Roman military stone on the road to Colchester. The parish comprises 2678 acres, of which 226 are woods and plantations, 104 common and waste, and the remainder arable and pasture; the lands are chiefly luxuriant, meadow and pasture. Ingatestone Hall, the mansion-house of the principal manor, a quadrangular structure erected by Sir W. Petre, ancestor of the present Lord Petre, in 1565, has been partly taken down, and the remainder converted into private dwellings. The town, which extends into the adjoining parish of Fryerning, is lighted with oil; and has a station of the Eastern Counties railway. There is a large fair for Scotch and Welsh cattle on December 1st and 2nd. The living is a rectory, with the perpetual curacy of Buttsbury annexed, valued in the king's books at £16. 13. 4., and in the gift of Lord Petre: the tithes have been commuted for £560, and the glebe contains one acre, with a house. The church has a lofty embattled tower of brick at the west end: adjoining the chancel is a sepulchral chapel belonging to the Petre family, which contains several handsome monuments, especially a fine altar-tomb to the memory of Sir William Petre, treasurer to Edward IV., and his lady, with their statues in Parian marble; also a sumptuous monument to John, the first Lord Petre, with his lady. There is a place of worship for Independents. An almshouse for seven men and three women was founded and endowed by Sir William Petre, in 1557.

From: Samuel A. Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 608-611. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51061&amp;strquery=ingatestone Date accessed: 21 February 2011

Ingatestone was established in Saxon times on the Essex Great Road (A12) that runs between the two Roman towns of London and Colchester. The name, derived from the Old English Yenge-atte-Stone, and also Latinised as Ginge ad Petram,means parcel of land at the stone. Stone is not prevalent in the local geology, making the town's stone—deposited by glacial action—unusual for the area. The stone can still be seen, split into three stones, one by the west door of the church and one each side of the entrance to Fryerning Lane.

By the time of the Domesday Book in 1086, Fryerning and Ingatestone (Inga) were recorded as being in the Hundred of Chelmsford and part of the land of St Mary of Barking with a value of 60 shillings, which was held by Robert Gernon in demesne.

Ingatestone belonged to Barking Abbey from about 950 AD until the dissolution of the monasteries, when it was purchased from the Crown by Sir William Petre. Petre, originally a lawyer from Devon, had risen to become the Secretary of State to Henry VIII. He built a large courtyard house, Ingatestone Hall, as his home in the village, along with almshouses which still exist today as private cottages in Stock Lane.

By the 18th century Ingatestone had become a major coaching town, although the coming of the railway saw a decline in business along the Essex Great Road, and Ingatestone again became a small town. In 1889, the parishes of Ingatestone and Fryening merged, now covering almost 4,000 acres (16 km2).[3] During the 20th century Ingatestone again grew as commuters moved to the area attracted by the surrounding countryside.

Due to congestion on the narrow Roman road, plans to bypass the village were first drawn up before the Second World War, but it was not until 1958 that construction commenced on a dual-carriageway bypass of the village. In the 1960s further sections of dual-carriageway were added to by-pass Brentwood and Chelmsford, to form the current A12 trunk road.

The civil parish for the area is governed by Ingatestone and Fryerning Parish Council. Since 1974 the village has been within the Brentwood borough, although in earlier times the parish was (in order) part of Chelmsford Rural District, Chelmsford Rural Sanitary District, and Chelmsford Poor Law Union.

The village lies within the Chelmsford Hundred.

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
Chelmsford 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
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Web sites
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