Sheering, Essex Genealogy

England   Essex

Parish History
Sheering St mary the Virgin is an Ancient Parish in the county of Essex.

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.

The church of ST. MARY THE VIRGIN is built of flint rubble with some Roman and early medieval brick. It has a chancel with north vestry and organ chamber, nave with north aisle, south porch, and embattled west tower with pyramidal roof. Fragments of 12th-century diaper work formerly noted in the church suggest that the church already existed then. The tower and the west wall of the nave date from the late 13th century. The nave and chancel were largely rebuilt in the late 14th century, when the two storeyed north vestry and the south porch were added. The chancel roof and the brick parapet of the tower are probably of the 16th century. A timber staircase was put into the tower in the 17th century. In 1855 the church was restored and fitted with open pews. A further restoration was carried out c. 1875, when a triple chancel arch was built. Herbert Williams, rector 1900–36, in 1903 added the north aisle and organ chamber, designed by G. E. Pritchett, as a memorial to Canon Edward Hill, rector 1849–1900. At the same time two galleries were removed from the nave. The south porch was restored in 1905 and the tower in 1906. The east window tracery contains 14th-century glass depicting the coronation of the Virgin. A window in the tower, designed by John Hayward in 1974, portrays St. Nicholas, to whom the free chapel (below) was dedicated. The 12th-century font, formerly in pieces, has been restored. The rector's stall, repaired and replaced in the chancel c. 1924, has carved and painted heads of c. 1400 on the arms. It was one of a number of similar stalls noted in the church c. 1710. There are four bells, including two of 1619. The plate includes a silver cup and paten of 1561. There is a brass to Robert Hurst (d. 1583), and an armorial marble floor slab to Richard Sayer (d. 1711), rector, and his wife. Church House, adjoining the church, is said to have been given as an endowment for church repairs. In 1713 it was let to the parish overseers for 6s. 8d. a year, probably as a poorhouse. From c. 1725 the rent of £1 6s. 8d. was paid to the vestry clerk. In 1734 the vestry proposed to move the house to a more convenient site. No more is known of it. The free chapel of ST. NICHOLAS, which stood in the courtyard of Sheering Hall, was founded in 1275 by Christine de Maule, lady of the manor, who endowed it with a house, 42 a. of land, and 5s. annual rent in Sheering, and £11 6s. 8d. annual rent from lands in Norfolk, to maintain two chaplains. The house, which was moated and had a grove of trees, stood 200 m. north-west of Sheering Hall. The advowson of the chapel passed with Sheering Hall manor. There seems usually to have been only one chaplain. In 1535 the chapel was valued at £4 13s. 4d. a year. By 1548, when it was dissolved, it was said to be worth only 42s. a year. The chapel was granted in that year to Walter Farr and Ralph Standish. The chapel and the house have not survived, but the rectangular moat remains.

From: 'Parishes: Sheering', A History of the County of Essex: Volume 8 (1983), pp. 240-249. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=63858&amp;amp;strquery=sheering Date accessed: 27 January 2011.

Sheering is a village in Essex, located on the outskirts of Harlow. It, along with the neighbouring village of Lower Sheering, forms the Civil Parish of Sheering, part of the Epping Forest District.

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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Web sites
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