Birchanger, Essex Family History Guide

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Birchanger is an Ancient Parish in the county of Essex.

Alternative names:

Parish church: St Mary

Parish registers begin:

  • Parish registers: 1688
  • Bishop’s Transcripts: 1800

Nonconformists include:

Adjacent Parishes

Parish History

The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870

BIRCHANGER, a parish in the district of Bishops-Stortford, and county of Essex; on the Eastern Counties railway, 2 miles NE of Bishops-Stortford. Post Town, Bishops-Stortford.

Acres, 1,051. Real property, £2,050. Pop., 358. Houses, 86. The property is divided among a few. An hospital was founded here, by Richard de Newport, in the time of King John.

The living is a rectory in the diocese of Rochester. Value, £218. Patron, New College, Oxford. The church is good.

Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].

A Topographical Dictionary of England 1848

BIRCHANGER (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Bishop-Stortford, hundred of Uttlesford, N. division of Essex, 2 miles (N. E.) from Bishop-Stortford; containing 386 inhabitants.

It was given by Richard II. to William of Wykeham, for the endowment of New College, Oxford, the Warden and Fellows of which are the present proprietors.

The parish comprises 1051a. 23p., of which 730 acres are arable, 185 meadow, and 97 woodland.

The living is a rectory, valued in the king’s books at £9. 13. 4., and in the gift of the college: the impropriate tithes have been commuted for £50, and the rectorial for £310; there are 24 acres of glebe, with a handsome house. The church, pleasantly situated on the summit of a hill, near the London road, is a small ancient edifice with a round tower, and contains a fine Norman arch.

Richard de Newport founded here, in the reign of John, an hospital dedicated to St. Mary and St. Leonard, for a master and two chaplains; the revenue, in the 26th of Henry VIII., was £31. 13. 11.

Source: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis 1848

Parish Records

FamilySearch

The following records are available free online.

Census

Census returns for Birchanger, 1841-1891

Church Records

Bishop’s transcripts for Birchanger, 1800-1875 Author: Church of England. Parish Church of Birchanger (Essex)

Parish registers for Birchanger, 1688-1943 Author: Church of England. Parish Church of Birchanger (Essex); Essex Record Office

Poorhouses & Poor Law

Parish chest material, 1680-1808, 1862 Author: Birchanger (Essex)

Taxation

Parish chest material, 1680-1808, 1862 Author: Birchanger (Essex)

Maps

Vision of Britain historical maps

Administration

  • County: Essex
  • Civil Registration District: Bishops Stortford
  • Probate Court: Court of the Commissary of the Bishop of London (Essex and Hertfordshire Division)
  • Diocese: Pre-1846 – London, Post-1845 – Rochester
  • Rural Deanery: Newport
  • Poor Law Union: Bishop’s Stortford
  • Hundred: Uttlesford
  • Province: Canterbury