Hempstead, Essex Genealogy

England   Essex



Parish History
Hempstead St Andrew is an Ancient Parish in the county of Essex. Other places in the parish include: Blackden.

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.

HEMPSTEAD (St. Andrew), a parish, in the union of Saffron-Walden, hundred of Freshwell, N. division of Essex, 5 miles (N. W.) from Finchingfield; containing 798 inhabitants. This parish, which was formerly a chapelry in the parish of Great Sampford, comprises 3507a. 1r. 11p. The soil is generally a stiff clay, with a substratum of marl, and by draining is rendered tolerably fertile; the surface is richly wooded. The living is annexed to the vicarage of Great Sampford. The church, an ancient edifice with a lofty tower, is situated on an eminence nearly in the centre of the parish; on the north side is a sepulchral chapel, in which are several monuments to the Harvey family, including one to the memory of the celebrated Dr. Harvey, who was buried here on the 26th of June, 1657. The ancient mansion of Hempstead Hall is about two miles distant from the church, in a north-eastern direction: the manor, at the time of the Domesday survey, belonged to Richard Fitz-Gislebert, from whom it passed to one of the earls of Clare; it soon afterwards came to the Veres, earls of Oxford, and among subsequent owners have been the families of Watevil, Cotton, and Harvey, the last of whom held it for many generations.

From: 'Hemley - Hendon', A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 474-478. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51024&amp;amp;strquery=hempstead Date accessed: 15 February 2011.

Hempstead is a village and civil parish near Saffron Walden, in Essex. It is situated on a relatively quiet road, from Saffron Walden to Steeple Bumpstead.

The village is the birthplace of Dick Turpin, and is also the final resting place of Doctor William Harvey, who discovered the circulation of blood.

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
Saffron Walden 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.