Hadleigh Essex Family History Guide
Hadleigh is an Ancient Parish in the county of Essex.
Alternative names:
Parish church: St. James
Parish registers begin:
- Parish registers: 1653
- Bishop’s Transcripts: 1639; 1800
Nonconformists include: Wesleyan Methodist
Table of Contents
Adjacent Parishes
Parish History
The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870
HADLEIGH, a village and a parish in Rochford district, Essex.
The village stands 1½ mile N of Hadleigh-Ray, 2 NE by E of Benfleet r. station, and 2½ S of Rayleigh; is an ancient place; was once a market town; and has a post-office under Chelmsford, and a fair on 24 June. Hadleigh-Ray is the strait on the N side of Canvey island.
The parish includes part of that island, and comprises 2, 689 acres. Real property, £2, 298; of which £18 are in fisheries. Pop., 451. Houses, 102. The property is much subdivided.
The manor belonged, in the time of Henry III., to Hubert de Burgh, Earl of Kent; and passed to the Riches and the Barnards. Remains of a castle, built by Hubert de Burgh, stand on an eminence, commanding an extensive view; occupy an oval area of 330 feet by 120; include buttressed walls and remains of two towers; and exhibit traces both of magnificence and of great strength.
The living is a rectory in the diocese of Rochester. Value, £400. Patron, Charles Metcalfe, Esq. The church is partly Norman, partly early English; and was recently restored.
There is a national school.
Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].
A Topographical Dictionary of England 1848
HADLEIGH (St. James), a parish, in the union and hundred of Rochford, S. division of Essex, 2¼ miles (W. by N.) from Leigh; containing 366 inhabitants.
In the reign of Henry II. a castle was built here by Hubert de Burgh, Earl of Kent, the remains of which are picturesquely situated on the brow of a steep hill, and consist chiefly of two dilapidated circular towers.
The living is a discharged rectory, valued in the king’s books at £11. 14. 7.; net income, £450; patrons, the Rector and Fellows of Lincoln College, Oxford. The church is an ancient structure, of which the eastern end is semicircular, and in the Norman style.
A school is endowed with £781 three per cent. consols.
Source: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis 1848
Parish Records
FamilySearch
Administration
- County: Essex
- Civil Registration District: Rochford
- Probate Court: Court of the Archdeaconry of Essex
- Diocese: Pre-1846 – London, Post-1845 – Rochester
- Rural Deanery: Rochford
- Poor Law Union: Rochford
- Hundred: Rochford
- Province: Canterbury