Chappel, Essex Genealogy

England   Essex   Essex Parishes



Parish History
PONTISBRIGHT, or Chapel, a parish, in the union of Lexden and Winstree, Colchester division of the hundred of Lexden, N. division of Essex, 6 miles (E. S. E.) from Halsted; containing 429 inhabitants.

From: Lewis, Samuel A., A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848). URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51218 Date accessed: 11 October 2011.

The village and civil parish elects a parish council and for administrative purposes is within the Colchester district of Essex County Council.

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
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
Lexden and Winstree Poor Law Union, Essex

Tenants of Great Tey and Crepping Hall manors attended their respective manorial courts. The Great Tey court made no distinction between Great Tey and Chappel, but the Crepping court elected a rent- collector for Bridgehall in 1347 and a constable for Brightlingsbridge in 1457. From 1541 or earlier courts baron were held for Bacons manor; they dealt almost exclusively with transfers of copyholds, although c. 1580 the farmer of the manor was ordered to repair his buildings. The last recorded court was held in 1849. An almshouse for two families, on the Tey road, was repaired by the parish in the later 18th century. It may have been the workhouse or poorhouse, or the old poorhouse, both of which were recorded in 1821. A workhouse continued in use in 1835. The parish spent £104 on the poor in 1776, and an average of c. £86 a year between 1783 and 1785. In 1803 expenditure was £198, or 18s. 10d. per head of population, one of the higher rates in the hundred. All relief was given in the workhouse. The amount spent on the poor rose to £565 in 1813, and total poor rates to £669, including some money spent on the roads and the church fabric, in 1821. Expenditure peaked at £653 in 1822, then fluc- tuated between £618 and £446 between 1823 and 1834. The rate per head of population was one of the highest in the hundred in the early 1820s, reaching c. £2 a head in 1822, and remained above average for the area. Some out relief was being given, perhaps to the sick, in 1821. By 1823 up to 20 people seem to have received weekly allowances. In the 1820s clothes, shoes, and coal were bought for paupers; men were paid for work on the road, and for 'loss time'. In 1831 the overseers paid to appren- tice a boy. No records of vestry government before 1836 survive, but the 'town meeting' which cost £1 in 1822 and £2 in 1823 may have been the Easter vestry. In 1899, during the dispute between the vicar, Alfred Werninck, and his parishioners, the chairman of the parish council tendered his resignation, and no guardians were elected.

From: 'Chappel: Local government', A History of the County of Essex: Volume 10: Lexden Hundred (Part) including Dedham, Earls Colne and Wivenhoe (2001), pp. 82-83. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=15172&amp;amp;strquery=chappel Date accessed: 12 February 2011.

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.