Magdalen Laver, Essex Genealogy

England Essex

Parish History
Magdalen Laver St Mary Magdalen is an Ancient parish in Essex.

The parish church of ST. MARY MAGDALEN consists of nave, chancel, west tower, and south porch. The walls are of flint rubble, those in the nave including also some Roman brick. The tower is of timber. The nave was built early in the 12th century. The flints are set in herring-bone courses in the lower part of the walls, while above there are indications that the Roman brick was arranged in decorative bands. The north wall retains a blocked single-light window of the original date. A window has been filled in on the south side and it is possible that this was also of the 12th century. Two blocked bull's-eye windows in the west wall were noted in 1919 but are not now visible. It is possible that the west doorway, which has brick jambs, chamfered imposts and a segmental-headed tympanum is also original. The door itself, of heavy oak battens with zigzag ornament to the strap hinges, is evidently of great antiquity.

From: 'Magdalen Laver: Church', A History of the County of Essex: Volume 4: Ongar Hundred (1956), pp. 107-108. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=15588&amp;amp;strquery=magdalen laver Date accessed: 26 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.

Magdalen Laver is a village and a civil parish in the Epping Forest district, in the county of Essex.

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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 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain

Web sites
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