Woodford, Essex Genealogy

England   Essex   Essex Parishes



Parish History
Woodford St Mary is an Ancient Parish in the county of Essex. Other places in the parish include: Woodford Green and Woodford Wells.

The parish church of St. Mary's is known to have existed by the 12th century and is located on the High Road in what is now South Woodford. The medieval church was substantially rebuilt in brick in the Gothic style in 1816. The interior is modern, the church having been gutted by arsonists in 1969. In 1874 a new church, All Saints' Woodford Wells, was built to serve the rapidly developing area of the north of the parish.

Woodford appears in the 1086 Domesday Book as Wdefort, although its earliest recorded use is earlier in 1062 as Wudeford. The name is Old English and means 'ford in or by the wood'. The ford refers to a crossing of the River Roding, which was replaced with a bridge by 1238; this led to the renaming of part of the district as Woodford Bridge by 1805. Similarly, part of the district gained the contemporary name of Woodford Green by 1883.

The ancient parish of Woodford, also known as Woodford St Mary, formed part of the Becontree hundred of Essex. It was suburban to London and formed part of the Metropolitan Police District from 1840. For administration of the Poor Law it was grouped into the West Ham Union in 1835. The parish adopted the Local Government Act 1858 in 1873, setting up a local board of nine members. The Local Government Act 1894 reconstituted its area as Woodford Urban District, governed by Woodford Urban District Council. In 1934 the urban district was abolished under a county review order and its former area became part of the Wanstead and Woodford Urban District. Wanstead and Woodford was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1937. The population of the Woodford parish was 2,774 in 1851, and had grown substiantially to 37,702 in 1951. In 1965 Wanstead and Woodford, together with Ilford, were grouped together to become the London Borough of Redbridge.

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

Online images are available Seax - Essex Archives Online From the Essex Record Office

Essex Online Parish Clerks (OPC)

St Mary High Rd Woodford Baptisms 1638-1978 Marriages 1638-1974 Burials 1638-1899: ERO Burials 1638-1812: EoLFHS Publications

All Saints Woodford Wells Baptisms 1874-1888 Marriages 1876-1902: ERO

Holy Trinity Hermon Hill South Woodford Baptisms 1887-1964 Marriages 1888-1975: ERO

St Andrew Chingford Rd Woodford Wells Formed 1888

St Barnabas Snakes Lane East Woodford Green Baptisms 1904-1969 Marriages 1911-1970: ERO

St Paul Manor Rd Woodford Bridge Baptisms 1854-1940 Marriages 1855-1958 Burials 1854-1960 ERO

St Philip &amp; St James Grove Hill South Woodford Marriages 1952-1970: ERO

St Thomas of Canterbury (Roman Catholic) High Rd Woodford Green Formed 1894

Dr Barnardo's Homes (Boys) Manor Rd Woodford Bridge Baptisms 1911-1967: Barnardo

Wesleyan Methodist Chapel Derby Rd South Woodford Baptisms 1877-1953: ERO

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.

Index for the Census may be searched at FamilySearch Historical Records

http://www.1881pubs.com/ for details of public houses in the 1881 census

Poor Law Unions
West Ham Poor Law Union, Essex

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.