Little Bardfield, Essex Genealogy

England Essex

Parish History
Little Bardfield St Katherine is an Ancient parish in Essex. The parish of Little Bardfield comprises the village of Little Bardfield and two hamlets: Hawkspur Green and Oxen End, which are all surrounded by farmland. Little Bardfield is a small scattered village on the South West side of the vale of the river Pant.

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.

BARDFIELD, LITTLE (St. Catherine), a parish, in the union of Dunmow, hundred of Freshwell, N. division of Essex, 3 miles (E.) from Thaxted; containing 375 inhabitants. This parish, which comprises 1654a. 2r. 33p., and is finely situated in a fertile and well-cultivated district, was granted in the reign of Edward III. to the abbey of St. John in Colchester. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £11, and in the patronage of the Rev. Mordaunt Barnard: the tithes have been commuted for £465, and there are 63 acres of glebe, with a handsome parsonagehouse. The church is a small ancient edifice, with a low tower, and contains some monuments to the Walford family. A school, now conducted on the national plan, was endowed in 1774, with £18 per annum, by Sarah Barnard, who also endowed an almshouse for five widows.

From: 'Bampton - Bardsea', A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 136-141. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50776 Date accessed: 19 February 2011.

Little Bardfield is a village and civil parish 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
Contributor: Include here information for parish registers, Bishop’s Transcripts and other types of church records, such as parish chest records. Add the contact information for the office holding the original records. Add links to the Family History Library Catalog showing the film numbers in their collection

Census records
Contributor: Include an overview if there is any unique information, such as the census for X year was destroyed. Add a link to online sites for indexes and/or images. Also add a link to the Family History Library Catalog showing the film numbers in their collection.

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
Maps are a visual look at the locations in England. Gazetteers contain brief summaries about a place.


 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain

Web sites
Contributor: add any relevant sites that aren’t mentioned above.