Great Horkesley, Essex Genealogy

England   Essex   Essex Parishes   Great Horkesley

Parish History
Great Horkesley most often known as Great Horksley or Horksley (Great), is a village and a parish in Lexden district, Essex. The village stands near the river Stour and the boundary with Suffolk, it is 1 1/4 miles SW of Nayland, and 4 miles NW of Colchester railway station. There is a Wesleyan chapel.

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
Online images are available Seax - Essex Archives Online From the Essex Record Office All Saints

Poor Law Unions
Lexden and Winstree Poor Law Union, Essex

There were two churchwardens and three overseers of the poor in 1612, but only two overseers in 1636. There was a dispute over the differential poor rate payments made by tenants and landlords in the 1630s. In 1776 a poor rate raised £149 os. 10d. Expenditure increased steadily every year thereafter until it reached an initial peak of £1,071 5s. 1d. in 1813. Although it fell back briefly in the period 1814-16, it averaged c. £1,159 between 1817 and 1834, the highest expenditure being in 1820 (£1,798) and 1822 (£1,760). From a low level in the later 18th century poor relief per head of population increased until more was spent per head in the period 1820-2 than in any other parish in the Colchester division of Lexden hundred, only declining slightly thereafter. Outdoor relief was given to 102 people in 1813. In 1815 seven people received relief in the workhouse regularly and 21 occasionally. There may have been several small workhouses, perhaps originally almshouses. One was probably on the site of Workhouse Yard near the Rose and Crown. Another, sold in 1837 and demolished by 1841, was apparently a cottage, divided into two tenenments, on the heath near Francis Bridge. There was a police house and two policemen in 1841. A police station on Horkesley Causeway was open part time in 1996.

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