Dagenham Essex Family History Guide

Dagenham is an Ancient Parish in the county of Essex.

Other places in the parish include: Bacontree Heath and Chadwell Heath.

Alternative names:

Parish church: St. Peter and St. Paul

Parish registers begin:

Parish registers: 1598
Bishop’s Transcripts: 1629

Nonconformists include: Baptist, Independent/Congregational, Plymouth Brethren, Presbyterian, Roman Catholic, and Wesleyan Methodist.

Table of Contents

Adjacent Parishes

Parish History

The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870

DAGENHAM, a parish in Romford district, Essex; on an affluent of the Thames, and on the London and Southend railway, 2 miles WNW of Rainham r. station, and 3½ S by W of Romford.

It includes the hamlets of Chadwell-Heath and Beacontree-Heath; and has a post-office under Romford, London, E. Acres, 6,608: of which 180 are water. Real property, £16,607. Pop., 2,708. Houses, 550. The property is much subdivided. The area includes 1,359 acres of Hainault forest, and extends to the Thames.

An irruption of the Thames occurred here in 1703, inundating upwards of 5,000 acres of rich land, and washing nearly 120 acres entirely away. An embankment, for preventing any similar occurrence was formed by Captain Perry, at a cost of £40,473; and a stratum of bogwood, about 10 feet thick, with very little mixture of earth, was found, at the making of the embankment, to be about 4 feet below the surface of the soil.

The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Rochester. Value, £872. Patron, the Rev. John Farmer. The church is ancient and good.

There are two Wesleyan chapels, a Free Methodist chapel, a police station, a national school, an endowed school with £270 a year, and charities £193.

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

A Topographical Dictionary of England 1848

DAGENHAM (St. Peter and St. Paul), a parish, in the union of Romford, hundred of Becontree, S. division of Essex, 3½ miles (S. by W.) from Romford; containing 2294 inhabitants.

The parish comprises by computation 5640 acres, whereof 3350 are arable, 970 pasture, and about 1000 wood and waste. It is bounded on the south by the Thames, a very destructive irruption of which occurred here in 1707: the waters over-flowed 1000 acres of rich land, and washed nearly 120 acres into the river, where a sand-bank was formed almost half-way across its bed; and in this state the whole remained nearly fifteen years, when the breach was stopped, and the land recovered by Captain Perry, at an expense of £40,000.

The living is a vicarage, valued in the king’s books at £19. 10., and in the gift of the Rev. T. L. Fanshawe: the great tithes, belonging to Brentwood school, have been commuted for £1036, and the vicarial for £850; the glebe comprises 4½ acres. The church is a handsome edifice with a tower of stone, and contains some good monuments, among which is one to Sir Richard Alibon, Knt., who was appointed a judge by James II.

A school was founded and endowed by William Ford, Esq., in 1828; and there is another, endowed with £100 South Sea annuities.

Source: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis 1848

Parish Registers

Hampshire Allegations for Marriage Licences 1689 to 1837

The following have been extracted from Allegations for Marriage Licences in the county of Hampshire. Parishes without a named county are parishes within the county of Hampshire.

Goodall, Edward, of Dagenham, co. Essex, w., & Elizabeth Rolfe, of Twyford, 21, at T., 17 Sep., 1824. Aff.

Source: Hampshire Allegations for Marriage Licences Granted by the Bishop of Winchester. 1689 to 1837 Published 1893 Editor: William John Charles Moens