Epping Essex Family History Guide
Epping is an Ancient Parish and a market town in the county of Essex.
Other places in the parish include: Ryehill, Epping Upland with Ryehill, and Epping Upland.
Alternative names:
Parish church: All Saints, St John The Baptist
Parish registers begin:
- Parish registers: 1539
- Bishop’s Transcripts: 1639; 1803
Nonconformists include: Independent/Congregational and Society of Friends/Quaker.
Table of Contents
Adjacent Parishes
- Waltham Abbey
- Theydon Bois
- Little Parndon
- Netteswell
- Nazeing
- North Weald
- Great Parndon
- Theydon Garnon
- Latton
Parish History
The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870
EPPING, a small town, a parish, a sub-district, a district, and a forest in Essex. The town stands in the forest, on a rising-ground, near the source of the river Roding, 5½ miles-NNE of Loughton; has now a station on the Ongar railway; is irregularly built; comprises one long wide street; is a seat of petty sessions, and a polling-place; and has a head post office, a chief inn, a town hall of 1865, a church, and three dissenting chapels. It is well supplied with water from land-springs; it attracts visitors and residents, in the summer months, on account of its pleasant and healthy situation; and it was famous, till recently, for sending much dairy produce to London. A weekly market is held on Friday; and fairs on Whit-Tuesday, the first Friday of July, and 13 Nov. The parish includes also the hamlet of Epping-Upland-with-Ryehill. Acres, 5,281. Real property, £11,640. Pop., 2,105. Houses, 465. The property is much subdivided. The manor belonged to Earl Harold; was given to Waltham abbey; and belongs now to the duchy of Lancaster. Copped Hall, a very fine residence, is the seat of the Hon. A. Ashley. Copped Park contains an ancient British camp. The living is a vicarage in the dio. of Rochester. Value, £729. Patron. H. J. Conyers, Esq. The p. curacy of St. John is a separate benefice. A fine suite of national schools, in the pointed style, was erected in 1861. Baker s charity has £168 a year; and other charities have £129. The sub-district contains also the parishes of Thoydon-Garnon, North-Weald-Bassett, Magdalen-Laver, and Nazeing. Acres, 16,940. Pop, 5,018. Houses, 1,074. The district comprehends also the sub-district of Chigwell, containing the parishes of Chigwell, Chingford, Loughton, and Thoydon-Bois; and the sub-district of Harlow, containing the parishes of Harlow, Roydon, Great Parndon, Little Parndon, Netteswell, Latton, Sheering, and Matching. Acres, 46,452. Poor-rates in 1862, £9,098. Pop. in 1851, 15,631; in 1861, 16,549. Houses, 3,383. Marriages in 1860, 84; births, 510, of which 25 were illegitimate; deaths, 316, of which 108 were at ages under 5 years, and 14 at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten years 1851-60, 761; births, 4,611; deaths, 2,885. The places of worship in 1851 were 21 of the Church of England, with 5,386 sittings; 7 of Independents, with 1,263 s.; 3 of Baptists, with 1,385 s.; 1 of Quakers, with 300 s.; and 1 of Lady Huntingdon’s Connexion, with 170 s. The schools were 22 public day schools, with 1,614 scholars; 31 private day schools, with 731 s.; 16 Sunday schools, with 1,254 s.; and 2 evening schools for adults, with 47 s. The workhouse is in Thoydon-Garnon. The forest is a wild chase; extends from the vicinity of London southward to Walthamstow; formerly included a great part of Essex; is divided from Hainault forest by the river Roding; is under a lord warden and four verderers, elected by the freeholders; possesses great beauty, and is diversified with plantations, mansions, and villas; and formerly was a favourite resort of the citizens of London for archery, and the scene of an annual festival on Easter Monday, when a stag was turned don’t for a hunt by the civics sportsmen.
Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].
A Topographical Dictionary of England 1848
EPPING (All Saints), a town and parish, and the head of a union, chiefly in the hundred of Waltham, but partly in that of Harlow, S. division of Essex, 17½ miles (W. by S.) from Chelmsford, and 16¾ (N. E. by N.) from London, on the road to Newmarket; containing 2424 inhabitants. This place, which is of some antiquity, was given by Henry II. to the monks of Waltham Abbey, but, reverting to the crown, became afterwards a part of the duchy of Lancaster. The town is pleasantly situated near the extensive forest to which it gives name, and consists of two parts, one near the church, called Epping-Upland, and the other almost a mile and a half to the south-east of it, called EppingStreet, in which the market is held: the latter is a spacious street, nearly a mile in length, having in the centre a building called the market-house, much decayed. The houses are irregularly built; but being a great thorough-fare and place of traffic, the town possesses some good inns. It is celebrated for its butter, of which large quantities are sent for the supply of the London market, where, from the excellence of its quality, it maintains a superiority in price; the pork and sausages of this place are also in high estimation. The market is on Friday: the fairs are, on the Tuesday in Whitsun-week, which is but thinly attended; November 13th, a very considerable fair for the sale of stock; and October 11th, a statute-fair for hiring servants. There are courts leet and baron annually, under the lord of the manor; and the petty-sessions for the division are held every Friday.
The parish is about 30 miles in circumference: the soil is generally a strong wet loam, and a large portion of the land is in pasture. Epping Forest is a royal chace, anciently called the Forest of Essex, subsequently Waltham Forest, and at present deriving its name from the town. Its original limits have been gradually contracted, many thousand acres having been thrown into cultivation, and numerous handsome villas erected, among which, Copped Hall, built on the site of a structure raised by the monks of Waltham Abbey when they had possession of the manor, is a noble edifice, in the centre of a fine park of nearly 4000 acres, planted with forest-trees, including a cedar of Libanus of extraordinary beauty. The forest is under the jurisdiction of a lord warden, whose office is hereditary in the family of the late Sir James Tylney Long, Bart., and four verderers, who are elected by the freeholders of the county, and retain their office for life: the forest rights vary according to the particular tenure prevailing in the different manors included in the district. The living of Epping is a vicarage, valued in the king’s books at £17. 13. 4., and in the gift of Henry John Conyers, Esq.: the tithes have been commuted for £1216. 18. 6., of which £400 are payable to Mr. Conyers, and £816. 18. 6. to the vicar, who has 11 acres of glebe. The church is situated on elevated ground, commanding an extensive view of the surrounding district, and is an ancient edifice consisting of a nave and chancel. At Epping-Street is a chapel dedicated to St. John the Baptist, which has been enlarged by 370 sittings: the living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £120; patrons, certain Trustees. There are places of worship for the Society of Friends and Independents, the former of which, though bordering on the town, is in an adjoining parish. The poor law union comprises 18 parishes or places, and contains a population of 15,987.
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.
Haslam William, Epping, Essex, draper, March 12. 1841.
Hummerstone George, Epping, Essex, shoe maker, July 17, 1829.
Neall Charles, Epping, Essex, cheesemonger, Sept 25, 1838.
Palmer George, Epping, Essex, schoolmaster, Feb. 25, 1831.
Rankin Thomas, Epping, Essex, draper, April 18, 1837.
Taylor Charles White, Epping, Essex. draper, May 4, 1841.
Parish Records
FamilySearch
Administration
- County: Essex
- Civil Registration District: Epping
- Probate Court: Court of the Commissary of the Bishop of London (London Division)
- Diocese: Pre-1846 – London, Post-1845 – Rochester
- Rural Deanery: Pre-1845 – Waltham, Post-1844 – Epping
- Poor Law Union: Epping
- Hundred: Waltham
- Province: Canterbury