Ashen Essex Family History Guide
Ashen is an Ancient Parish in the county of Essex.
Alternative names: Esse
Parish church: St Augustine of Canterbury
Parish registers begin:
- Parish registers: 1558
- Bishop’s Transcripts: 1629-30; 1800
Nonconformists include:
Table of Contents
Adjacent Parishes
- Birdbrook
- Ridgewell
- Stoke by Clare, Suffolk
- Tilbury juxta Clare
- Ovington
- Clare, Suffolk
- Belchamp St Paul
Parish History
The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870
ASHEN, a parish in the district of Risbridge and county of Essex; on the verge of the county, at the river Stour, 2½ miles SW of Clare, and 3¼ NNW of Yeldham r. station. Post Town, Bumpstead-Steeple under Halstead.
Acres, 1,498. Real property, £2,528. Pop., 344. Houses, 71. The property is subdivided. An Augustinian priory was founded here in the time of Edward II.
The living is a rectory in the diocese of Rochester. Value, £300. Patron, the Duchy of Lancaster. The church was repaired in 1859.
Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].
Leonard’s Gazetteer of England and Wales 1850
Ashen, 8 m. N.W. Halstead. P. 321
Source: Leonard’s Gazetteer of England and Wales; Second Edition; C. W. Leonard, London; 1850.
A Topographical Dictionary of England 1848
ASHEN, a parish, in the union of Risbridge, hundred of Hinckford, N. division of Essex, 2½ miles (S. W. by S.) from Clare; comprising by measurement 1574 acres, and containing 321 inhabitants.
The village is pleasantly situated on elevated ground, commanding fine prospects; and the parish is richly wooded. John Elwes, celebrated for his great wealth and penurious habits, was proprietor of the manor of Ashen, to which he succeeded on the decease of his uncle, Sir Harvey Elwes.
The living is a rectory, valued in the king’s books at £8, and in the patronage of the duchy of Lancaster: the tithes have been commuted for £390, and there are 16 acres of glebe. The church is an edifice of small dimensions, chiefly of stone, with a square embattled tower, and contains several monuments of great antiquity. According to Bishop Tanner, here was a priory of Augustine friars in the seventeenth of Edward II.
Source: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis 1848
Parish Records
FamilySearch
Directories
Post Office Directory of Essex, 1874 – Special Collections Online
Kelly’s Directory of Essex, 1882 – Special Collections Online
Kelly’s Directory of Essex, 1894 – Special Collections Online
Kelly’s Directory of Essex, 1902 – Special Collections Online
Kelly’s Directory of Essex, 1914 – Special Collections Online
Kelly’s Directory of Essex, Hertfordshire and Middlesex 1890 – Google Books
Poll Books
Administration
- County: Essex
- Civil Registration District: Risbridge
- Probate Court: Court of the Archdeaconry of Middlesex (Essex and Hertfordshire Division)
- Diocese: Pre-1846 – London, Post-1845 – Rochester
- Rural Deanery: Pre-1847 – Hedingham, Post-1846 – Yeldham
- Poor Law Union: Risbridge
- Hundred: Hinckford
- Province: Canterbury