North Benfleet, Essex Genealogy

England   Essex

Parish History
North Benfleet All Saints is an Ancient Parish in Essex.

The Church of All Saints, is to the north of the village, nearly 2 miles off the main road. However, it has fallen into a state of disrepair and is not currently in use.

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.

BENFLEET, NORTH (All Saints), a parish, in the union of Billericay, hundred of Barstable, S. division of Essex, 2½ miles (S. S. E.) from Wickford; containing 364 inhabitants. This district, previously to its subdivision into the North and South parishes at present recognized, was the usual landing-place of the Danish pirates during their incursions into this part of the country in the 9th century; and towards the close of that century, Hesting, one of their chiefs, erected a strong castle here, in which was deposited the plunder he obtained from the inhabitants, and which was, in 894, demolished by Alfred the Great, who took Hesting's wife and two of her sons prisoners, with all their booty, to London. The parish of North Benfleet comprises about 2200 acres of flat land, of which about 700 form a portion of the isle of Canvey. The living is a rectory, valued in the king's books at £16; present net income, £600; patron and incumbent, the Rev. C. R. Rowlatt. The church has a small wooden tower with two bells, and a spire.

From: 'Bempton - Benthall', A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 207-210. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50792&amp;amp;strquery=South Benfleet Date accessed: 02 February 2011.

The village and civil parish are part of the Basildon District for local government purposes.

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.