Southchurch, Essex Genealogy

England   Essex

Parish History
Southchurch Holy Trinity is an Ancient parish in Essex.

Southchurch is now part of Southend-on-Sea in Essex, England. However, it was an independent parish until 1894 and has a documented history going back to the ninth century AD.

In 824 AD, one Leofstan (after whom Lifstan Way in Southchurch is named) is recorded as presenting the manor of Southchurch (Sudcerca in Latin) to the monks of Southchurch. This shows that the church from which the manor takes its name was already in existence. Southchurch takes its name from a Saxon church which was south of a pre-Norman minster, probably situated at Wakering. The nave of the old church was retained as the south aisle of the present parish church, when it was substantially expanded in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

In the year 824, a Saxon thegn named Leofstan presented the manor of Sudcerca (Southchurch) to the monks of Canterbury. The name alone indicates that a church-in-the-south was then in existence. No trace of the original wooden church remains, but the oldest parts of the present church date back to the year 1150. The chancel probably dates from about 1250 AD. Entrance to what is called "the old church" is through the ancient porch and s Norman doorway which still reveals the mallet and chisel marks on the stonework made by the Norman craftsmen and contains the old oak door with its heavy ironwork. The bell, still calling people to worship, was installed in the 14th century and is inscribed "Johannes".

SOUTHCHURCH, a parish, in the union and hundred of Rochford, S. division of Essex, 3½ miles (S. E. by E.) from Rochford; containing 432 inhabitants. It is bounded on the south by the river Thames, and comprises 1882a. 1r. 31p., about one-sixth whereof is pasture, 15 acres woodland, and the remainder arable. A considerable portion of the shore is flat, and overflowed by the tide; large oyster-beds have for many years been preserved. The living is a rectory, in the gift of the Archbishop of Canterbury, valued in the king's books at £27. 0. 10.: the tithes have been commuted for £800, and the glebe comprises 60 acres. The church is a small edifice with a tower and spire.

From: 'Soughton - Southend', A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 139-149. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51288&amp;amp;strquery=southchurch Date accessed: 02 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.

Maps and Gazetteers
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 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain

Web sites
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