Roydon, Essex Genealogy

England   Essex

Parish History
Roydon St Peter is an Ancient Parish in Essex.

The church of ST. PETER, High Street, is built of flint and rubble with ashlar dressings. It has a chancel, nave with north aisle, and a west tower surmounted by a pyramidal roof, topped by a weathervane. The walls of the nave probably date from the 13th century, and a much restored lancet survives near the south doorway. The nave roof contains a crown post system thought to date from c. 1260, inserted into an earlier roof. In the earlier 14th century the three-bay north arcade and aisle were added. The aisle, almost as wide as the nave, has survived virtually unaltered. A new window was put into the south wall of the nave in the 14th century, and another in the 15th. The tower was probably added late in the 14th century. The chancel, which has no arch, appears to have been completely rebuilt in the 15th century. It is not certain whether the arch was removed then, or whether the earlier chancel was also without an arch, as the length of the screen suggests. The church was restored in 1854 and again in 1957. It was damaged by fire in 1968, and in 1969 the interior was reoriented, with a new altar on the north wall, leaving the chancel as a separate chapel. In 1971 an extension was built on the south, forming a church hall. The font of c. 1300 has an octagonal bowl with four carved heads of men, probably workmen, wearing hats with rolled brims. A window by John Hayward, depicting the Last Supper, was inserted above the new altar in 1972. In the early 18th century there were six bells, cast between 1625 and 1776. All but that of 1776 were recast in 1888. The church plate includes a fine silver cup and a silver paten, both of 1564. There are brasses in the chancel to Thomas Colte (d. 1471) and his wife Joan, John Colte (d. 1521) and his wives Elizabeth and Mary, John Swift (d. 1570), and Elizabeth, wife of John Stanley (d. 1589). Also in the chancel are 17th-century monuments to the Swift family, and six funeral hatchments with the arms of the Mornington, Butler, Palmer, and Booth families. Church House, which adjoins St. Peter's to the south-east, was given to the church in 1490 by John Radcliffe, Lord FitzWalter. In the early 18th century the church received rents of £1 10s. for the house and £2 11s. for four pieces of land given for church maintenance. In 1837 the total income of £10 17s. was paid to the churchwardens. The house was used in the 19th century as an annexe to Manning's school. The land was sold in the late 19th century, and Church House in 1973. (fn. 249) The house had been partly demolished by 1608, and all that survives from before then is the south cross wing, which probably dates from the late 16th century. The main weathereboarded block was probably built in the late 17th and early 18th century. St. Christopher's hall, Dobbs Weir Road, was built by subscription c. 1939. It was used for worship until 1964, when it was leased to the residents' association. In 1979 it was reopened for monthly services and a Sunday school to serve the increasing population of the area.

From: 'Parishes: Roydon', A History of the County of Essex: Volume 8 (1983), pp. 227-240. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=63857&amp;amp;strquery=roydon Date accessed: 27 January 2011.

The diocese of Chelmsford was created in 1914, prior to this Essex parishes were in the jurisdiction of the Bishops of London until 1845 when they transferred to the diocese of Rochester. The diocese of Chelmsford has 474 parishes and 600 churches and is the second largest region in the church of England outside London.

Roydon is a small village and civil parish located in the Epping Forest district of the County of Essex, England. It is located 1.5 miles (2.4 km) west of Harlow, 3.5 miles (5.7 km) east of Hoddesdon and 4.6 miles (7.4 km) north-west of Epping.

It lies on the Stort Navigation and River Stort. The village is recorded in the Domesday Book as Ruindune and appears later as Reidona in c. 1130, as Reindon in 1204, and as Roindon in 1208.

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
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Census records
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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
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Web sites
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