Eastwood, Essex Genealogy

England   Essex

Parish History
Eastwood St Lawrence and All Saints is an Ancient Parish in Essex.

EASTWOOD (St. Lawrence and all Saints), a parish, in the union and hundred of Rochford, S. division of Essex, 2 miles (S. W. by S.) from Rochford; containing 596 inhabitants. This parish, which derives its name from its relative situation to the neighbouring woods, is intersected by the road from London to Southend, and comprises 3202 acres, of which 175 are waste or common. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £12, and in the patronage of the Crown; net income, £219; impropriator, Robert Bristow, Esq., who has considerable property in the neighbourhood. The church is an ancient structure with a tower and spire, and consists of two aisles and a chancel, separated by massive pillars.

From: 'Eastridge - Eaton-Constantine', A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 132-136. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50937&amp;amp;strquery=eastwood Date accessed: 31 January 2011.

Eastwood took its name from its situation on the eastern side of the woods and parkland of Rayleigh and Thundersley which were part of the Great Forest of Essex. The village is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 as "Estwa", and was held by Suen of Essex, whose father Robert had held it during the reign of Edward the Confessor. Suen's son, Robert d'Essex, founded Prittlewell Priory in 1100 A.D. but his descendant, Henry d'Essex, forfeited all his estates to the Crown in 1163, because of cowardice in battle. After this date the Manor was generally held by the Crown.

In the 13th century, the English Kings would often visit the district for hunting, making Hadleigh Castle their residence. Henry VIII was the last king known to have hunted here and Eastwood Lodge was the centre of the last reserved portion of hunting land. In 1536, during the Reformation, the Manor was given by Edward VI to Lord Rich whose descendants became Earls of Warwick, then by marriage it passed to the Earl of Nottingham.

The Bristow family purchased the estate and held it until 1866 when it was sold in lots: "Eastwoodbury", the large house which stood immediately to the east of the Church, was on the site of the original Manor house. It was demolished in 1954. Eastwood is a town four miles west of Southend-on-Sea in Essex, England. It is a suburb of Southend and part of the Southend-on-Sea unitary district. Eastwood is sometimes called Eastwood Park, such as for local elections.

It is bordered by Rayleigh to the west, Rochford to the north-east, and Belfairs, part of Leigh-on-Sea, to the south. To the north lies Edwards Hall Park, a large area of open countryside, part of which is farmland. This green space extends all the way to Hockley Woods, and Hockley. There are also several swing parks throughout Eastwood.

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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