Pitsea, Essex Genealogy

England   Essex   Essex Parishes



Parish History
Pitsea, is a village and a parish in Billericay district, Essex. The village stands near a creek of the Thames and near the Southend railway, 5 miles W S W of Rayleigh; and has a station on the railway. The parish is mainly peninsulated by creeks, and includes part of Canvey island. The post-town is, Rayleigh, under Chelmsford.

Pitsea was an Ancient Parish in Essex. The 13th century church of St. Michael, situated on Pitsea Mount. The church is colloquially known as the Church on the Hill, Pitsea Mount, and even Snob Hill.

There is little known history about Pitsea but its earliest recorded name is Piceseia which was in 1086 and probably recorded as this in the Doomsday Book. This however has changed over the years to many different names including: Pichesey (e), Pikeseye, Pithesey, Petchesey (e), Pisseye, Pitchesey, Pytsay, Pittessey, Pytchey and finally to what it is now Pitsea. It is thought however that all the names are derived from the meaning of Pics' Island, which refers to the area now known as Pitsea Mount.

Chalvedon, which is part of Pitsea has also been known under different guises. In its earliest form it was known as Chauendona meaning Calves Hill this was first recorded in 1119. Other names include: Chaluedona, Chaluedene, Calueden and Callwedone before it ended up being Chalvedon.

Pitsea is a small town in the east of the Basildon district of south Essex, England. It comprises five sub districts: Eversley, Northlands Park Neighbourhood (Previously known as Felmores), Chalvedon, Pitsea Mount and Burnt Mills. Vange is located to the west of Pitsea, Bowers Gifford and North Benfleet to the east and Nevendon to the north.

Civil Registration
Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from July 1837 to the present day. The civil registration article tells more about these records. There are several Internet sites with name lists or indexes. A popular site is FreeBMD.

Church records
Contributor: Include here information for parish registers, Bishop’s Transcripts, non conformist and other types of church records, such as parish chest records. Add the contact information for the office holding the original records. Add links to the Family History Library Catalog showing the film numbers in their collection

Online images are available Seax - Essex Archives Online From the Essex Record Office

Census records
Index for the Census may be searched at FamilySearch Historical Records

http://www.1881pubs.com/ for details of public houses in the 1881 census

Poor Law Unions
Billericay Poor Law Union, Essex

Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Essex Probate Records to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction. Scroll down in the article to the section Court Jurisdictions by Parish.

Maps and Gazetteers
Maps are a visual look at the locations in England. Gazetteers contain brief summaries about a place.


 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain

Web sites
Contributor: Add any relevant sites that aren’t mentioned above.