Burnham on Crouch, Essex Family History Guide

Burnham on Crouch is an Ancient Parish in the county of Essex.

Other places in the parish include: Ostend.

Alternative names: Burnham

Parish church: St Mary the Virgin

Parish registers begin:

Parish registers: 1559
Bishop’s Transcripts: 1629

Nonconformists include: Baptist, Christians, Particular Baptist, and Wesleyan Methodist.

Table of Contents

Adjacent Parishes

Parish History

The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870

BURNHAM, a village and a parish in Maldon district, Essex.

The village stands on the river Crouch, opposite Wallasea island, 8½ miles NNE of Southend r. station, and 10 SE of Maldon. It has a post office under Maldon; dates from old times; includes a good street; is a seaport and a coastguard station; and has two chief inns, a custom house, a convenient quay, and a ferry.

Fairs are held at it on 25 April and 24 Sept.; and oyster-fishing, boat-building, and sail-making are carried on.

The parish includes also the hamlet of Ostend. Acres, 5,523. Real property, £11,821; of which £2,072 are in fisheries. Pop., 1,870. Houses, 388. The property is divided among a few. The land is marshy.

The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Rochester. Value, £558. Patron, not reported. The church is good; and is so situated as to serve as a landmark.

There is a Wesleyan chapel.

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

A Topographical Dictionary of England 1848

BURNHAM (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Maldon, hundred of Dengie, S. division of Essex, 12 miles (S. E.) from Maldon; containing 1735 inhabitants.

It takes its name from a small stream running near the church, and comprises 4277a. 3r. 16p.

The village is situated on the northern bank of the river Crouch, near its estuary, and has a commodious quay, to which vessels of 250 tons’ burthen can come up: there are vessels of 1000 tons’ aggregate burthen belonging to Burnham, employing 100 seamen.

The oysterbeds, both in the river and on the coast, are extremely productive; they are held under lease from Lady St. John Mildmay by a company, and in addition to the home consumption, a considerable quantity of oysters is exported to Holland and Belgium: about 300 persons are engaged in the fishery.

The living is a vicarage, endowed with a portion of the rectorial tithes, and valued in the king’s books at £22. 13. 4., with a net income of £558: it is in the patronage of Lady St. John Mildmay, to whom also the impropriation belongs.

The church, built in 1525, stands about a mile from the village, on an elevated site; its altar-piece is embellished with a good painting of the Lord’s Supper, and the pulpit and font are elaborately carved. Divine service is also performed in a national schoolroom, by license of the bishop; the school is endowed with about £80 per annum.

There is a place of worship for Baptists.

Several Roman coins, fragments of ancient masonry, and urns containing burnt ashes, have been found on a farm at the edge of the marsh.

Burnham formerly conferred the inferior title of Baron on the Fitzwalter family.

Source: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis 1848