Castle Hedingham, Essex Genealogy

England   Essex

Parish History
Castle Hedingham St Nicholas is an Ancient Parish in Essex.

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.

The church of St. Nicholas is late Norman and Gothic, building having commenced around 1180. The fine double hammerbeam roof is attributed to Thomas Loveday, who was responsible for work on St John's College, Cambridge. Its Romanesque wheel window and cemetery cross are remnants of the Norman church.

HEDINGHAM, CASTLE (St. Nicholas), a parish, in the union of Halstead, hundred of Hinckford, N. division of Essex, 5 miles (N. W. by N.) from Halstead; containing 1343 inhabitants. This place was the head of an extensive barony belonging to the Norman family of de Vere, one of whom, Aubrey de Vere, Earl of Oxford, is supposed to have built the castle of Hedingham in the reign of Stephen. During the war between King John and the barons, this fortress was taken by the king, in 1216; in the following year it was surrendered to the Dauphin of France, who had been invited to England by the insurgent barons; and soon after the death of John it was recovered by the Earl of Pembroke, regent under Henry III. Many additional buildings were erected during the civil war in the fifteenth century, by John de Vere, Earl of Oxford, a distinguished partizan of the house of Lancaster, who gave a most sumptuous entertainment at Hedingham Castle to Henry VII. A succeeding earl committed great waste on the castle-hill, and most of the buildings were razed to the ground; but the keep, or great central tower, is still standing, and forms an object of considerable interest. The parish comprises by measurement 2424 acres, of which 1912 are arable, 197 pasture, 63 woodland, 24 acres hop plantations, and the remainder roads and waste. The village is beautifully situated in the midst of a wide agricultural district in the highest state of improvement, and contains some well-built houses. Many females are employed in platting straw for bonnets. A weekly market, granted in the reign of John, and renewed by charter of Henry VII., was formerly held. Fairs take place for toys and for cattle, on May 14th and July 25th; and the petty-sessions for the division of North Hinckford are held here every Tuesday. The living is a donative; net income, £120; patron, Ashurst Majendie, Esq. The church is an ancient edifice in the early English style, with a mixture of Norman, except the tower, which was erected about 1616; in the chancel is a superb monument to the memory of John, fifteenth earl of Oxford, and his countess, with recumbent figures and armorial bearings. Here is a place of worship for Independents; and some small bequests have been left by different persons for the benefit of the poor. In the parish was a Benedictine convent for nuns, established by the de Vere family, in the twelfth century, and the revenue of which at the Dissolution was £29. 12. 10.; on the south-east side of the castle was an hospital, founded by one of the same family about the middle of the thirteenth century, and which has been long destroyed. The renowned soldier, Sir Horace Vere, Baron of Tilbury, and brother of Sir Francis Vere, was born at Kirkby Hall, in the parish.

From: 'Heavitree - Hednesford', A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 462-466. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51021&amp;amp;strquery=castle hedingham Date accessed: 16 February 2011.

Castle Hedingham is a village and civil parish in the Braintree district of Essex County Coucil, located four miles west of Halstead and is situated in the Colne Valley on the ancient road from Colchester, Essex, to Cambridge.

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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