Alresford, Essex Genealogy

England   Essex    Essex Parishes



Parish History
Alresford St Peter was an Ancient Parish in the county of Essex.

The village contains the ruins of an old Anglican church (St Peter's), built about 1300, by Anfred de Staunton, which burnt down in 1971, replaced by the 1975 Essex-barn style church of St Andrew's.



Alresford is a village and civil parish in Essex, England. It is located 9 km (6 miles) southeast of Colchester and is 39 km (24 miles) northeast from the county town of Chelmsford. The village is in the district of Tendring and in the parliamentary constituency of North Essex.

Here is an 1848 historical perspective on this parish, by the topographer, Samuel A. Lewis:

"ALRESFORD (St. Peter), a parish, in the union and hundred of Tendring, N. division of Essex, 6½ miles (S. E. by E.) from Colchester; containing 289 inhabitants. The parish is bounded on the west by the river Colne, and takes its name, which is supposed to be a modification of Aldersford, from an ancient ford across that river: the lands are elevated, and the soil generally of a light sandy quality. The living is a discharged rectory, valued in the king's books at £8, and in the gift of Brasenose College, Oxford: the tithes have been commuted for £348, and there is a glebe of 30 acres. The church, a small edifice, with a spire of shingles, was, according to an inscription in the chancel written in Norman French, erected by Anfrid or Anfrey de Staunton.

From: Samuel A. Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 44-49. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50753 Date accessed: 30 March 2011.

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 has parish registersm Bishop's transcripts monumental inscriptions and cremation records online for St Peter's church.

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
Tendring 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.