Felsted, Essex Genealogy

England   Essex

Parish History
Felsted Holy Cross is an Ancient parish in Essex. The village has links to Lord Riche who founded the public school, The Felsted School, in 1564, and is buried in Holy Cross Church. Lord Riche was an important benefactor of the Felsted church. The school also has links to Oliver Cromwell, who sent his sons there. The valley between Little Dunmow and Felsted was the location for the only sugar beet factory in Essex, which is now being redeveloped for housing in a community called Flitch Green.

Felsted is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Felesteda, Felstede and Phensteda in the Hundred of Hinckford, where it was held by Earl Ælfgar as five hides in the time of King Edward. In 1086, Felstead was part of the land of La Trinité of Caen, who held four hides. The fifth hide was no longer in this manor as King William gave three virgates to Roger God-save-the-ladies and the fourth to Geoffrey fitzSalomon

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.

FELSTED (Holy Cross), a parish, in the union of Dunmow, hundred of Hinckford, N. division of Essex, 4 miles (E. S. E.) from Dunmow; containing 1798 inhabitants. This parish, the name of which signifies "the hilly place," is separated from Dunmow by the river Chelmer; the soil is generally a strong wet loam, resting on a whitish clay marl. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £13. 16. 8.; net income, £396; patron and impropriator, the Earl of Mornington. The church, situated on elevated ground, is an ancient edifice, with a square embattled tower surrounded by a lantern of elegant design, and contains a superb monument to the memory of Lord Rich, who, by letterspatent in the reign of Philip and Mary, founded an almshouse for three men and three women, under the superintendence of a chaplain: the chaplain, churchwardens, and parishioners form a body corporate. In the reign of Elizabeth, a free grammar school was founded in connexion with the charity, and this respectable school reckons among its alumni Oliver, Richard, and Henry, sons of Cromwell, the Protector; and Drs. John Wallis and Isaac Barrow.

From: 'Felsham - Fenstanton', A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 228-230. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50960&amp;amp;strquery=felsted Date accessed: 18 February 2011.

Felsted (sometimes spelt 'Felstead') is a village that lies in the north west of Essex in England, south of the A120 and is located near Braintree, Great Dunmow and Chelmsford. It lies on the north bank of the River Chelmer as it leaves Great Dunmow and turns south towards Chelmsford.

It is a village and civil parish in the Uttlesford district of Essex County Council.

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, non conformist 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
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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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