Hatfield Broad Oak, Essex Genealogy

England   Essex   Essex Parishes



Parish History
Hatfield Broad Oak St Mary the Virgin is an Ancient Parsih in Essex.

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.

The church of ST. MARY THE VIRGIN, High Street, consists of nave, chancel, north and south aisles, north chapel, south chapel with library adjoining to the east, west tower, north vestry, and south porch. The walls are mainly of flint rubble, with some 17th-and 18th-century brickwork. The building was once part of the priory church, but was rebuilt for separate parochial use in the later 14th century. A church probably existed on the present site before the Conquest. No part of it survives above ground, but traces of foundations seen in the later 19th century suggested a building about 80 ft. by 40 ft. externally. The priory church, built in the mid 12th century and incorporating the parish church, lay south of the conventual buildings, and was cruciform, with central tower, but without aisles. At the west end was probably a great door, flanked by turrets. Early in the 14th century Robert Taper of Hatfield, one of the priory's main benefactors, extended the church to the east and added a new west window. In 1378, after a violent dispute between the priory and the parishioners, it was agreed to separate the conventual church from the parish church. A wall was built across the western arch of the crossing. The conventual church, east of the crossing, continued to be used by the priory until it was demolished after the Dissolution. The old nave, west of the crossing, was rebuilt soon after 1378 as the parish church, with nave, chancel, north and south aisles, and north chapel. Head stops on the arch mouldings of the nave are thought to depict inter alia Richard II, John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster (d. 1399), Edmund of Langley, duke of York (d. 1402), Thomas of Woodstock, duke of Gloucester (d. 1397), and his wife Eleanor (de Bohun), and Robert Braybrooke, bishop of London (d. 1404). The west tower, south porch, south chapel, and rood loft stair turret were added in the earlier 15th century. Alterations in the later 15th century included new windows in the chancel, the aisles, and the chapels, and the reconstruction of the north chapel to provide, at its eastern end, a vestry with priest's chamber above. The western end of the north chapel had by the 15th century become the burial place of the Barringtons, lords of the manor. At a later date, perhaps in the 17th century, the floor of the priest's chamber was removed, the vestry became a store room, and the wall dividing it from the chapel was replaced by a 15th-century wooden screen, thought to have come from the priory. In 1708 Sir Charles Barrington, Bt., built a room at the east end of the south chapel to hold the parochial library formed by the vicar, George Stirling. About the same time the north vestry was built, and the whole church was panelled with oak and adorned with carving said to have been designed by John Woodward, a pupil of Grinling Gibbons. An 18th-century cupola surmounting the tower and housing a clock bell cast in 1783 survived until 1884. The church was restored in 1843 to the design of Richard Cromwell Carpenter. Some of the decorative woodwork was removed, but the reredos, altar rails, chancel panelling, and other portions dispersed about the church were preserved. The east window, inserted at about the same time, was designed by the master of Trinity, William Whewell (1794–1866). In 1881 the Barrington chapel was furnished with pews and a new organ was placed in the former vestry at the east end of the chapel. The church was again restored in 1886, when nine new windows were inserted. The church has eight bells, of which seven were cast in 1782 and the 8th, originally of 1783, was recast in 1935. The silver plate includes a cup, paten, and almsdish, all of 1723, and a flagon of 1729. The parish chest, which is of oak with lifting rings, was probably made c. 1400. (fn. 514) The font, made in 1897, is an enlarged facsimile of the 15th-century one at Magdalen Laver. Its cover, made up of 15th-and 18th-century fragments of oak, was added in 1908. The fine brass chandelier in the nave, probably of the early 18th century, was bought in 1780. The 13th-century effigy in the chancel is said to be of Robert de Vere, earl of Oxford (d. 1221), and to have come from his tomb in the conventual church. The most notable Barrington monuments are those to Thomas (d. 1472, a brass), Sir John, Bt. (d. 1691), and John Shales Barrington (d. 1788), the latter by John F. Moore. There are portrait medallions to Sarah Chamberlayne (d. 1742), and Richard Chamberlayne (d. 1758), and marble monuments to William Selwin (d. 1768), Sir Thomas Selwin, Bt. (d. 1869), and Lady Ibbetson (d. 1816), the last by John Flaxman. The parochial library comprises some 300 volumes, mainly relating to theology, philosophy, and history, in several languages. Most of the books range in date from the late 15th to the early 18th century. The church estate originally comprised Almonds, later Bridgefoot farm (86 a.), lying 2 km. north of the village. It probably belonged to the medieval guild of St. Mary, and was certainly church property from the 16th century onwards. In the 1870s it produced an annual net income of about £40, but that fell sharply in the following years of agricultural depression. The farm was sold after 1918, and in 1936 the church estate comprised £3,183 stock, with an income of about £120, used to pay for an annual sermon and church repairs.

From: 'Parishes: Hatfield Broad Oak', A History of the County of Essex: Volume 8 (1983), pp. 158-186. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=63851&amp;amp;strquery=hatfield broad oak Date accessed: 18 February 2011.

Hatfield Broad Oak (also known as HBO or Hatfield Regis is a village and civil parish in the Uttlesford district of Essex, England, about five and a half miles south-east of Bishop's Stortford. Near the church of St Mary the Virgin is former Benedictine priory Hatfield Regis Priory.

At around 8,800 acres (36 km2) the parish is one of the largest in Essex, stretching four miles (6 km) north of the village, and was formerly divided into four "quarters": Town Quarter, Woodrow Quarter, Heath Quarter, and Broomsend Quarter. At the north end of the parish lies Hatfield Forest, known for its large oak trees.

The name Hatfield Broad Oak has been used since at least 1136, and the eponymous oak was mentioned in record in 1295. The forest still contains the fenced remains of a very large oak known as the "Doodle Oak", estimated as 850 years old, though it is believed to be a different tree to that which gave the parish its name. Hatfield forest is now in the possession of the National Trust.

Hatfield was at one time a thriving market town.

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
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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
Dunmow Poor Law Union,Essex

The parish records include vestry minutes 1693–1712, 1715–45, and 1782–91; vestry agreements and memoranda 1806–61; overseers' bills, accounts, and rates 1732–1840; and surveyors' rates and accounts, 1790–1837. In April 1693 a select vestry of eight members was set up, to meet monthly. It was reappointed in 1694 but there is no later reference to it. Open vestry meetings were in any case rarely attended by more than a dozen at that period, and even in the 18th century they were not much larger. Monthly meetings seem to have continued until 1697, but then to have become less frequent: George Stirling, vicar from c. 1684 to 1728, attended occasionally until 1707, but rarely thereafter. John Hooke, vicar 1728–53, attended all Easter vestries recorded during his time. Henry Wray, vicar 1753–1814, who was non-resident, never attended, though an assistant curate, James Butterfield, was sometimes present at the Easter vestry between 1785 and 1791. Sir Charles Barrington, Bt., attended several times between 1704 and 1711, but no other gentry were prominent in vestry. In the period 1693–6 there were four churchwardens, one for each quarter of the parish. From 1697 to 1700 there were two, one for the Town and one for the rest of the parish. From 1700 to 1745 there was only one warden, except in 1706, when two were appointed. William Mead served from 1708 to 1729. In 1729 and 1730 the warden was 'nominated by the ministers, and the parish agreed'. Between 1783 and 1792 there were two wardens, one chosen by the vicar, the other by the parish. There were normally four overseers of the poor, one for each quarter, but the number was occasionally reduced to three by giving one overseer charge of both the Town and Bruntsend. Between 1696 and 1706 the number of surveyors of highways nominated in vestry varied from four to eight. From 1707 to 1733 it was always eight, two for each ward. Later in the century four surveyors held office. In the appointment of constables the vestry seems to have played no part, except occasionally between 1694 and 1711. Since that was the period when Sir Charles Barrington, Bt., was involved in parish government it is possible that he was responsible for the temporary change of practice. Separate rates were levied by the surveyors. The constables appear to have levied separate rates until c. 1740, after which their expenses were met from the poor rates. Since no church rates are recorded it is likely that the churchwardens also were reimbursed by the overseers. By the 18th century the parish was well furnished with charities, including almshouses. (fn. 454) A workhouse, opened by the vestry in 1711, occupied Chalkes, opposite the churchyard, at some time before 1745. In 1766 it stood near the south end of the village. It had some 6–10 inmates in the 1730s, 12–18 in the 1770s, and 25 in 1821. In 1835 it contained a sitting room, parlour, 3 bedrooms, a workshop with 2 rooms above, a piggery, and a large garden. Then, as previously, it was a rented building. In 1732 the master of the workhouse received, in addition to his salary, 1s. 6d. a week for each inmate. In 1815 the capitation fee was 3s. 6d. a week, subject to variation according to the price of flour. Attempts were made to secure an income from work done by inmates of the house. The men were put to brewing, while the women spun or did casual work outside the house. Between 1783 and 1786 the income from such labour averaged £66 a year, equivalent to 7 per cent of the amount raised by the poor rates. Even that modest level was not maintained: between 1787 and 1791 the labour income averaged only £8. In 1708 the vestry was paying doles to 25 paupers, including 11 children. When the workhouse was opened the vestry resolved that all those seeking regular relief should be sent there, but the order proved ineffective. Between 1720 and 1722 some 18 or 19 were still receiving outrelief, in weekly sums ranging from 6d. to 2s. 6d., and in 1782–3 regular doles cost more than relief in the house. During the earlier 18th century the vestry often distributed firewood as well as cash. In 1831 the vestry embarked on a scheme, which was still in operation in 1835, for employing the poor in spade husbandry, on land rented or enclosed from the waste for the purpose, and in 1832 it collected subscriptions to assist those wishing to emigrate to America. In the early 18th century medical care of the poor seems to have been provided on a casual basis, but by 1782 the vestry was paying an annual retainer to a doctor. The parish pesthouse, mentioned in 1741 and still in use in 1841, lay on the edge of the forest west of Little Barrington Hall. In 1831, during a national cholera epidemic, a 'board of health' was set up, consisting of the curate, a magistrate, the churchwardens, overseers, and the doctor, who were to draw up sanitary regulations and inspect houses. Between 1694 and 1725 the annual amount raised by the poor rate averaged £224, with a peak of £344 in 1712, near the end of a long period of war. Between 1726 and 1745 the average rose to £315. The rates were kept down by a substantial income from charities: in 1698 the overseers received £71 from parish rents, as against £218 from rates. In 1776 expenditure on the poor amounted to £546. For the three years 1783–5 the annual average spent on the poor was £748, out of an average poor rate of £885. Between 1800 and 1821 the poor rates averaged £2,133, while expenditure on the poor averaged £1,870 between 1800 and 1817. (fn. 459) From the figures it seems that the costs of poor relief between 1776 and 1817 were somewhat higher at Hatfield Broad Oak than at Harlow, where the population was slightly larger. In 1836 the parish became part of Dunmow poor law union. During the following years the vestry continued to concern itself with such civil matters as the village pump, drainage, and the fire engine, but in 1895 those functions were transferred to the new parish council.

From: 'Parishes: Hatfield Broad Oak', A History of the County of Essex: Volume 8 (1983), pp. 158-186. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=63851&amp;amp;strquery=hatfield broad oak Date accessed: 18 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.

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Web sites
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