Billericay, Essex Family History Guide
Billericay is an Ecclesiastical Parish and a market town in the county of Essex, created in 1823 from Great Burstead Ancient Parish.
Parish church: St Mary Magdalen
Parish registers begin: 1844
Nonconformists include: Baptist, Independent/Congregational, Methodist, and Society of Friends/Quaker.
Table of Contents
Adjacent Parishes
Parish History
The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870
BILLERICAY, a small town, a chapelry, and a district in Essex. The town stands on an eminence, near the site of a Roman station, 4½ miles S of Ingatestone r. station, and 9 SSW of Chelmsford. It commands a fine view of the surrounding country, away to Kent and the Nore; and it is of ancient origin, and has been much improved.
It has a head post office, a banking office, one chief inn, a church, two dissenting chapels, an endowed school, a public reading room, and a workhouse; and is a seat of petty sessions, and a polling-place. The church is a brick building, partly as old as the time of Edward III.; and has a tower, of previous date, much decayed. A weekly market is held on Tuesday; fairs are held on 2 Aug. and 7 Oct.; and brewing, brickmaking, and country business are carried on.
Rated property, £6,972. Pop., 1,390. Houses, 248. The chapelry is conterminate with the town; and is in the parish of Great Burstead.
The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Rochester. Value, £220. Patron, the bishop of Rochester.
The district comprehends the subdistrict of Brentwood, containing the parishes of East Horndon, West Horndon, Childerditch, Little Warley, Ingrave, South Weald, and Shenfield; the subdistrict of Great Burstead, containing the parishes of Great Burstead, Little Burstead, Hutton, Mountnessing, Dunton, Ramsden-Crays, Ramsden-Bellhouse, the liberty of Lee Chapel, and most of the parish of Laindon; and the subdistrict of Wickford, containing the parishes of Wickford, Downham, Nevendon, Vange, Pitsea, Bowers-Gifford, and North Benfleet, and the chapelry of Basildon.
Acres, 50,845. Poor-rates in 1866, £7,426. Pop. in 1861, 15,031. Houses, 2,748. Marriages in 1866, 65; births, 440, of which 22 were illegitimate; deaths, 299, of which 73 were at ages under 5 years, and 13 at ages above 85 years. Marriages in the ten years 1851-60, 804; births, 4,192; deaths, 2,974.
The places of worship in 1851 were 18 of the Church of England, with 2,751 sittings; 6 of Independents, with 1,716 s.; 3 of Wesleyan Methodists, with 140 s.; and 2 of Roman Catholics, with 390 s.
The schools were 17 public day schools, with 844 scholars; 24 private day schools, with 358 s.; 18 Sunday schools, with 934 s.; and 1 evening school for adults, with 9 s.
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
Billericay, 4 m. E. Brentwood, and 23 m. E. London. Mrkt, Tues. P. 1284
Source: Leonard’s Gazetteer of England and Wales; Second Edition; C. W. Leonard, London; 1850.
A Topographical Dictionary of England 1848
BILLERICAY, a market-town and chapelry district, and the head of a union, in the parish of Great Burstead, hundred of Barstable, S. division of Essex, 9½ miles (S. S. W.) from Chelmsford, and 24 (E. N. E.) from London; containing 1284 inhabitants.
The name, anciently written Beleuca, is of uncertain derivation, and of the history of the town few particulars of importance are recorded: by some it has been called Villa Ericæ, the “Village of Heath.” From the discovery of Roman urns containing bones, glass vessels, and other relics, and from the traces of a Roman vallum and ditch formerly visible at Blunt’s Walls, nearly a mile distant, the place appears to have been known to the Romans, who probably had a station here, though the exact site has not been ascertained.
The town is pleasantly situated on the road from London to Southend, on an eminence overlooking an extensive and richly cultivated vale, and commanding a fine prospect of the surrounding country, which abounds with beautiful scenery, and a distant view of the shipping on the Thames: it has of late been much improved by the erection of several large and well-built houses.
The only branches of manufacture are those of silk braid, laces, and wire ribbon, which are at present declining. The Eastern Counties railway passes a few miles to the north-west.
Here were barracks, which have been converted into the workhouse for the union, which comprises 26 parishes and places, and contains a population of 14,934. The market is on Tuesday; and fairs, granted in 1476 by Edward IV., are held on Aug. 2nd and Oct. 7th; the former chiefly a pleasure-fair, and the latter a cattle-fair. Courts leet and baron are held on the Thursday in Whitsun-week, when constables and other officers for the internal regulation of the town are appointed.
The living is a perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the Bishop of London; net income, £120. The chapel, dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene, is a brick building in the centre of the town, erected probably in the 14th century.
There are places of worship for Baptists, the Society of Friends, and Independents.
The Rev. Mr. Bayley, rector of Benfleet, in 1654 bequeathed an estate at Laindon, producing £45 per annum, for the education of 15 children; and 5 more are taught in one school, and 10 in another, from the interest of an endowment of £500 consols.
Source: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis 1848
Bankrupts
Below is a list of people that were declared bankrupt between 1820 and 1843 extracted from The Bankrupt Directory; George Elwick; London; Simpkin, Marshall and Co.; 1843.
Adey John, sen., Cray’s hill, Billericay, Essex, cattle salesman, Nov. 9, 1822.
Dennis William Wilson, Billericay, Essex, butcher and salesman, July 2, 1825.
Gladwyn George, Billericay, Essex, grocer, Dec. 28, 1838.
Philpott James, Billericay, Essex, coach proprietor, Dec. 11, 1829.
Plume William, Stock, Billericay, Essex, builder, Sept. 11. 1829.
Shaw Hunton, Billericay, Essex, grocer, July 20, 1830.
Sneezum Thomas, Billericay, Essex, carpenter and builder, May 8, 1838.
Parish Records
FamilySearch
Administration
- County: Essex
- Civil Registration District: Billericay
- Probate Court: Court of the Archdeaconry of Essex
- Diocese: Pre-1846 – London, Post-1845 – Rochester
- Rural Deanery: Post-1844 – Billericay, Pre-1845 – Barstable
- Poor Law Union: Billericay
- Hundred: Barstable
- Province: Canterbury