Hockley, Essex Genealogy

England   Essex

Parish History
Hockley St Peter and St Paul is an Ancient Parish in Essex.

Hockley is an Anglo Saxon word meaning a small hill and today there is still a large wooded area named Hockley woods. Notable buildings in the village include the St Peter and Paul twelfth century church with octagonal tower and a Victorian spa pump room which is a listed building. It is also the site of the Bullwood Hall Men's prison (which was a women's prison until 2006).

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.

Hockley is a large village and civil parish in Essex, England located between Chelmsford and Southend-on-Sea, which for adminstrative purposes is within Rochford District. More specifically it lies between Rayleigh and Rochford. It came to prominence during the coming of the railway in the 1890s.

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
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.