Widford, Essex Genealogy

England   Essex   Essex Parishes



Parish History
Widford St Mary is an Ancient Parish in Essex. The River Wid and a ford account for the early formation of the name. Widford is first recorded in 1216 (as Witford); the later 13th century forms Wydiford and Wydeford show that derivation from "withig" (by the willows) is probable. In early times the area was inhabited by the Iceni and later by the East Saxons. In 1329, the manor of Widford was held by Edward of Woodstock, Earl of Kent; and it afterwards passed to the Mortimer, Bacon, Altham, and other families.

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.

WIDFORD (St. Mary), a parish, in the union and hundred of Chelmsford, S. division of Essex, 1½ mile (S. W.) from Chelmsford; containing 362 inhabitants. This parish, which is supposed to have derived its name from a ford over the river Chelmer, comprises 690a. 3r. 29p.; the soil is rich, and around the village the lands are in a high state of cultivation. The living is a discharged rectory, valued in the king's books at £8, and in the gift of the Rev. W. Buswell: the tithes have been commuted for £250, and the glebe comprises 20 acres. The church is a small ancient edifice, partly in the early and partly in the decorated English style, situated on the west side of the road from London to Chelmsford.

From: Samuel A. Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 568-571. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51405&amp;amp;strquery=widford Date accessed: 22 February 2011.

The village and civil parish are for administrative purposes part of Chelmsford Borough and the parish lies approximately 1.5 miles (2 km) to the south/ south west of Colchester.

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
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
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.