Bocking, Essex Genealogy

England   Essex   Essex Parishes



Parish History
BOCKING (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Braintree, hundred of Hinckford, N. division of Essex, 1 mile (N.) from Braintree; containing 3437 inhabitants. The parish comprises 4490a. 1r. 12p., of which 3460 acres are arable, 617 meadow and pasture, 262 woodland, and 30 acres hop-grounds; and is intersected by the river Blackwater, which puts in motion the machinery of several corn-mills and silk-factories. The lands rest on a substratum of clay partially mixed with chalk; that portion under tillage produces fair average crops. The village, one of the most extensive in the county, has one principal street reaching to the town of Braintree, and containing several well-built houses. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £35. 10., and in the gift of the Archbishop of Canterbury: the tithes have been commuted for £1360, and there are nearly 114 acres of glebe. The church, built partly of flints and stone, is a spacious and handsome structure in the early English style, with a square embattled tower, and contains many interesting monuments. John Gauden, Bishop of Worcester, established a school for boys, and endowed it with land now producing £50 per annum. An almshouse, endowed with about £8 per annum, was built by license of Henry VI., as a Maison Dieu, or "God's House," by John Doreward, who gave to it, and the chaplain of his chantry in the parish church, his manor of Tendring and a rentcharge on all his lands in the county; but this revenue, it is supposed, was lost at the Dissolution.

From: Lewis, Samuel A., A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848). URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50809

Bocking St Mary is an Ancient Parish in Essex

Braintree is a town of about 42,000 people and the principal settlement of the Braintree district of Essex in the East of England. It is 10 miles (16 km) northeast of Chelmsford and 15 miles (24 km) west of Colchester on the River Blackwater, A120 road and a branch of the Great Eastern Main Line.

Braintree has grown contiguous with several surrounding settlements: Braintree proper lies to the south of Stane Street, and Bocking lies to the north. The two together can be referred to as Braintree and Bocking, although many people refer to them together as "Braintree"

H. G. Wells, in his What Is Coming? A European Forecast (1916), in the fourth chapter, "Braintree, Bocking, and the Future of the World," uses the differences between Bocking and Braintree, divided, he says, by a single road, to explain the difficulties he expects in establishing World Peace through a World State.

“ If the curious enquirer will take pick and shovel he will find at any rate one corresponding dualism below the surface. He will find a Bocking water main supplying the houses on the north side and a Braintree water main supplying the south. I rather suspect that the drains are also in duplicate. The total population of Bocking and Braintree is probably little more than thirteen thousand souls altogether, but for that there are two water supplies, two sets of schools, two administrations. To the passing observer the rurality of the Bocking side is indistinguishable from the urbanity of the Braintree side; it is just a little muddier. ”

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

Bocking St Mary the Virgin parish register, Bishop's transcripts, transcripts and 1793 and 1807 census

Bocking St Peter (in the Fields) parish registers

Records online for Bocking meeting (Society of Friends Bishop's transcripts Burials,Bocking Congregational Church

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
Braintree 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.