Nevendon, Essex Genealogy

England   Essex

Parish History
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Nevendon St Peter is an Ancient Parish church in Essex. The church is now subsumed into Basildon ne town but was previously at the heart of the old village of Nevendon. Yhe church is built of hard chalk covered with Kentish rag stone which must have been brought across from Kent. The walls are pierced with lancet windows on the north and south walls, from the 13th and 14th Centuries. The east window having been damaged by a mine during WWII was of the Decorated Period and is now of a stained glass. The roof is supported upon crown posts seated on tie beams and dates from the 15th Century.

One of the unique items within St. Peter's one that is not noticed by many, is the stone Easter Sepulchre in the Chancel. This is built within the north wall and is probably one of only seven churches in England to contain such a permanent stone recess, others had wooden containments, and these were probably being used until the time of the Reformation in the 16th Century. Not all Parish churches had a right to possess such a Sepulchre.

Within the south wall of the Nave is a Piscina, this was presumably for an altar which may have stood just outside the Chancel screen. The purpose may have been to serve an altar by a priest for the parishioners whilst the older altar in the Chancel may have been used by the chaplain of the Fitz Lewis family. Many churches in the Middle Ages had more than one altar, needless to say, only one altar exists today and the screen has long disappeared.

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.

NEVENDON (St. Peter), a parish, in the union of Billericay, hundred of Barstable, S. division of Essex, 5¾ miles (S. E. by E.) from Billericay; containing 216 inhabitants. The parish is small, and pleasantly situated in a valley, from which circumstance it is supposed to have derived its name. The living is a discharged rectory, valued in the king's books at £10. 13. 4., and in the patronage of the Rev. V. Edwards: the tithes have been commuted for £254; there are 7 acres of glebe. The church is a small ancient edifice.

From: 'Nevendon - Newborough', A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 374-379. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=51170&amp;amp;strquery=nevendon Date accessed: 03 February 2011.

The parish was formerly in Basildon Urban District (from 1934 to 1955 Billericay Urban District) which was a local government district in south Essex, England from 1934 to 1974.

The district was created in 1934 consisting of the following parishes (all from Billericay Rural District):

Basildon Bowers Gifford Great Burstead Laindon Lee Chapel Little Burstead (until 1938, to Thurrock Urban District) Nevendon North Benfleet Pitsea Vange It also gained 1,282 acres (5 km²) from Chelmsford Rural District and 1,627 acres (7 km²) from Orsett Rural District.

In 1937 all the parishes were abolished and used to create a Billericay parish which occupied the same area as the district. In 1955 the district was renamed Basildon, still consisting of the Billericay parish.

The parish is now within the Basildon new town for admiinistrative 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
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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
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
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