Pleshey, Essex Genealogy

England   Essex   Essex Parishes



Parish History
Pleshey Holy Trinity is an Ancient Parish in Essex.

William the Conqueror gave Pleshey, in the parish of High Easter (southwest of Braintree) to Geoffrey de Mandeville in appreciation of his services; Mandeville was one of William's battle commanders at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. At Pleshey, Mandeville built his caput (centre of administration and main home) of the many villages in Essex given to him by the king. Later, his grandson, another Geoffrey, was made Earl of Essex by King Stephen.

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.

PLESHEY (Holy Trinity), a parish, in the union of Chelmsford, hundred of Dunmow, N. division of Essex, 6½ miles (N. N. W.) from Chelmsford; containing 337 inhabitants. This place was the seat of the high constables of England, from the institution of their office till nearly four centuries after the Norman Conquest; and from discoveries made, it seems to have been previously the site either of a Roman station or a villa. The village consists principally of one long street, and is surrounded by an intrenchment, inclosing also the keep mount of the Norman fortress, of which only a stone bridge remains, of singular construction, across the moat that separated the castle and its keep. The treacherous arrest of the Duke of Gloucester by Richard II. was planned while the former lay at this castle, from which the king himself decoyed him under the pretence of a friendly invitation to London. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £50; patron and impropriator, J. Tufnell, Esq. The body of the church was rebuilt of brick in 1708, chiefly by the munificence of Bishop Compton; but the tower which rose from the intersection of the ancient cruciform structure, remained in decay until renovated by the late Samuel Tufnell, Esq., who also added a handsome chancel. To the south of the church a college was founded about 1394, in honour of the Holy Trinity, by Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester, sixth son of Edward III., for a master, warden, eight chaplains, two clerks, and two choristers, whose revenue at the Dissolution was estimated at £143. 12. 7.

From: Samuel A. Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 576-578. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51216 Date accessed: 21 February 2011.

The village and civil parish of Pleshey is within the bourough of Chelmsford for administraive 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
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
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
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 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain

Web sites
Contributor: Add any relevant sites that aren’t mentioned above.