Little Leighs, Essex Genealogy

England Essex   Essex Parishes



Parish History
Little Leighs St John the Evangelist is an Ancient parish in Essex. The hamlet church of St John the Evangelist is 12th century in origin.

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.

LEIGHS, LITTLE (St. John the Evangelist), a parish, in the union and hundred of Chelmsford, S. division of Essex, 5¼ miles (S. W. by S.) from Braintree; containing 182 inhabitants. A priory of Black canons, in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. John the Evangelist, was founded here in the reign of Henry III.; and its revenue, at the Dissolution, was estimated at £141. 14. 8.: the gate-house, which still remains, is in the later English style. The parish comprises about 500 acres of land; the soil is various, but chiefly a sandy loam resting on clay, in many parts very fertile. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £9, and in the gift of the family of Stewart: the tithes have been commuted for £380, and the glebe comprises 15 acres. The church, which is about half a mile from the road to Braintree, is a small edifice with a shingled spire, and contains some ancient monuments.

From: Samuel A. Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 65-68. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51103&amp;amp;strquery=great leighs Date accessed: 21 February 2011.

The hamlet of Little Leighs lies beside the River Ter, just south of the village of Great Leighs; until rerouting bypassed the hamlet, Little Leighs was on the A131 road.

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 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 availableSeax - 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
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.