Birch, Essex Genealogy

England Essex  Essex Parishes  Birch

Guide to Birch, Essex ancestry, family history, and genealogy. Parish registers, transcripts, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.

Parish History
Birch (St Peter), is a parish in Lexden district, Essex; it is 3 1/2 miles SE of Marks-Tey railway station, and 5 miles SW of Colchester. It comprises two ancient parishes, Great Birch and Little Birch.

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
 parish registers of christenings, marriages and burials are available online for the following years:

Poor Law Unions
Lexden and Winstree Poor Law Union, Essex

'Great and Little Birch were combined for parish government from the 18th century or earlier. In 1757 teams of farmers and labourers from both parishes were set up for highway maintenance. In 1783 there were 31 ratepayers and 20 outdwellers. In 1836 at a vestry seven of the principal inhabitants elected 2 church- wardens, 7 overseers, 2 assessors, 2 surveyors, and 2 constables. In 1726 a woman was paid £4 4s. for cures and physic for the poor. Bread was bought for the poor in 1779 with the proceeds of a fine levied on an unlicensed beerseller. In 1835 the overseers' purchases included loaves and flour; illness and unemployment were fre- quently recorded. In 1758 a workhouse was built on land near Great Birch church leased from William Round. In 1838 C. G. Round sold the workhouse to Lexden and Winstree poor law union. The building survived in 1999, called Church Cottages.

'Birch's rate of poor relief expenditure per head of population was about average for Lexden hundred. In 1608 the 'towne house called Stocke house' belonging to Great Birch parish was leased, presumably to raise money for poor relief. In 1776 costs were £239, and in the period 1783-5 averaged £224 a year. In 1801 they were £946, equivalent to 33s. 9d. a head. Between 1802 and 1815 they fluctuated between £419 and £822, except for 1812 when they reached £1,103 (41s. 2d. a head). In the period 1816-22 they ranged between £1,000 and £1,207 and in the period 1823-35 between £615 and £971. In 1836 they were £819 (21s. 11d. a head).'

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
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