Layer Marney, Essex Genealogy

Parish History
Layer Marney St Mary the Virgin is an Ancient Parish in Essex; in Lexden district, Essex; on a branch of the River Roman, 4¾ miles E by S of Kelvedon railway station and 7 miles SW of Colchester.

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.

LAYER-MARNEY (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Lexden and Winstree, hundred of Winstree, N. division of Essex, 5 miles (E. by S.) from Kelvedon; containing 256 inhabitants. It comprises 1900 acres, of which about 100 are woodland and plantation, and the remainder chiefly arable. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £15. 3. 4., and in the gift of Quintin Dick, Esq.: the tithes have been commuted for £466, and the glebe comprises 3 acres. The church is principally in the later English style, and contains several fine monuments of the Marney family. In an ancient brick edifice about 50 yards from the church, William de Marney, in 1330, founded a college for a warden and two chaplains.

The village is part of the Colchester District for administrative purposes.

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
Layer Marney parish registers of christenings, marriages and burials are available online for the following years:

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

Non-Conformist Churches

 * 1717 England & Wales, Roman Catholics, 1717 at FindMyPast ($), index and images
 * 1613-1971 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index (dates may vary by parish)

Poor Law Unions
Lexden and Winstree 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