Great Waltham, Essex Genealogy

England   Essex   Essex Parishes



Parish History
Great Waltham St Mary and St Lawrence is an Ancient Parish in Essex.The parish also consists of the village of Ford End, and four hamlets – Howe Street, Littley Green, North End, Church End and Broads Green.

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.

WALTHAM, GREAT (St. Mary and St. Lawrence), a parish, in the union and hundred of Chelmsford, S. division of Essex, 4½ miles (N. by W.) from Chelmsford; containing 2154 inhabitants. This is a fertile district, intersected by the river Chelmer, and supplied with excellent water from numerous springs. The parish comprises 7335a. 15p., of which 5701 acres are arable, 1010 pasture and meadow, 101 woodland, 105 in homesteads, and 243 road and waste; the soil is rich, and favourable to the growth of wheat. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £18. 13. 4., and in the gift of the President and Fellows of Trinity College, Oxford: the great tithes have been commuted for £1800, with a glebe of 122 acres; and the vicarial for £400, with a glebe of 3 acres. The church is a spacious edifice of brick, with an octangular tower surmounted by a spire, and contains several splendid monuments. In scraping the walls, preparatory to colouring them, some curious remains of old painting were discovered, in the summer of 1847. Near the western gateway of the churchyard is an ancient building called the Guildhall. At Black-Chapel is a separate incumbency.

From: Samuel A. Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 449-453. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51373 Date accessed: 21 February 2011.

Great Waltham is a village and a parish in the Chelmsford District of Essex County Council. It has a guildhall called Great Waltham Guildhall. It is a few miles away from the large town of Chelmsford. There is a large house called Langley's which has existed for over 300 years and is surrounded by a deer park, although the parkland is actually used for cattle grazing.

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
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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
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
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