Wormingford, Essex Genealogy

England   Essex

Parish History
Wormingford St Andrew 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 ford from which the parish takes its name (originally Withermund's ford) was probably that in the river Stour by the watermill, at the bottom of Church Road, where there is a sand bank in the middle of the river. A ford further east near Garnons has also been suggested, but seems less likely. The Church Road ford was replaced before 1802 by a bridge, called a horse-bridge in 1812. About 1821 Messrs. Jones, who leased the river tolls, built a new bridge, apparently a narrow wooden footbridge. It collapsed in the winter of 1895-6 and was replaced by an iron bridge in 1898.

The modern form of the place name, recorded from 1254, gave rise to three stories of dragons, (worm meaning serpent or dragon). The first story says the village is the location where the patron saint of England, St. George, famously killed his dragon. A mound in the village is said to cover the body of the legendary dragon.

The second, apparently unsubstantiated, is that a crocodile escaped from Richard I of England's menagerie in the Tower of London and caused much damage in Wormingford before being killed by Sir George Marney. There is a stained glass window in the local parish church (St Andrew's) which depicts this event.

The third, written in 1405 by John de Trokelowe, a monk, told of a dragon who threatened Richard Waldegrave's territory near Sudbury but fled into the Mere when pursued.

RAF Wormingford was originally a relief airfield for bi-planes in the First World War. The airfield was expanded by Richard Costain Ltd and a number of sub-contractors during the period 1942/43. Earmarked for an Eighth Heavy Bomb Group, nothing ever came of this and at the end of November 1943 the yet to be completed station was handed to the Ninth Air Force for use by one of its Fighter Groups. On the 30 November, the 362nd Fighter Group arrived at Wormingford.

The Group was assigned to the 70th Fighter Wing. It did not fly its first mission until 8 February 1944. Its operational status at Wormingford was a short one and they left on 8 April 1944. During its stay, the 362nd mounted over 30 missions, losing five aircraft.

The next group to move in was the 55th Fighter Group with its P-38 Lightnings from Nuthampstead in Hertfordshire. The 55th's role as a fighter group was to be a short one due to some of the disadvantages of the aircraft. However, the 55th later become renowned for ground strafing and ground attack bombing. On D-Day, the P-38 groups were given the task of acting as convoy escorts for the armada of ships moving to and from Normandy. The 55th was selected to serve with the occupation forces in Germany and in July 1945 it left Wormingford for Gielbelstadt airfield in Bavaria. The old airfield is now used by the Essex and Suffolk Gliding Club.

The church of ST. ANDREW, on the west side of Church Road, is built of flint rubble with some brick, and has dressings of limestone and brick. The brick, which is mostly in the 12th- century work, includes re-used Roman roof tiles as well as larger wall bricks. The church comprises chancel with north vestry and organ chamber, nave with north aisle and south porch, and west tower. The nave and west tower are of the early 12th century and the tower retains several original windows. A north aisle was added to the nave in the 14th century and the south wall was given new windows and a new doorway. At about the same time the chancel was rebuilt and a new chancel arch was put in. The 14th-century piscina and sedilia in the chancel survive. The south porch was added in the 15th century. In 1589 the church was so decayed it let the rain in. In 1633 the porch needed tiling and the chancel whiting. The 'steeple' was repaired c. 1652. By 1684 the porch still needed tiling, and the chancel extensive repairs; the tower needed roughcasting and the spire shingling. The church fabric had deteriorated further by 1705. In 1709 the spire of the tower was removed and replaced by a turret. In 1766 the whole roof and walls were thoroughly repaired, and the clerestory may have been added. A vestry was built on the north side of the chancel c. 1815. There was a west gallery before 1848. Restoration of the church in 1869-70 increased the number of seats from 215 to 263. The clerestory was removed and all the roofs except that of the north aisle were renewed. The gallery was removed, a new stone tower arch built, and the tower opening fitted with seats for the children; a new north vestry and organ chamber were built, and the south porch was rebuilt with its early 15th-century archway reset. The chancel south window retains 14th- century stained glass. The children's seating was replaced in 1899 with a new vestry under the tower. The 16th-century chancel screen was converted into a reredos, presumably in the 17th century or 18th, moved to a position under the tower in 1902, restored to the chancel arch in 1910, and removed in 1970. After an appeal to the diocesan consistory court in 1977 the screen was replaced in the tower arch in 1981. Between 1461 and 1468 the old church bells were replaced by new ones, and two were recast by Richard Bowler in 1591. Four bells were recorded in 1705 and 1768. In 1859 three bells survived, one cracked; one from the 1460s by Joan Sturdy, and Bowler's two. In 1919 they were recast and three new ones added, in memory of Wormingford men killed in the First World War. The church plate included an Elizabethan silver communion cup, and a silver paten of 1718. The 19th-century octagonal font is a copy of the medieval one. Brasses include a civilian of c. 1460 with a livery collar, possibly Thomas Bowden, and a civilian and two wives of c. 1590; both brasses are mounted on the west wall of the tower.

From: 'Wormingford: Church', A History of the County of Essex: Volume 10: Lexden Hundred (Part) including Dedham, Earls Colne and Wivenhoe (2001), pp. 304-306. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=15293&amp;amp;strquery=wormingford Date accessed: 11 February 2011.

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.

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Web sites
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