AVELEY
Pigot's Essex 1832-3 Trade Directory
Is a neat little village, in the parish of its name, and hundred of Chafford; 20 miles from London, 10 from Brentwood, about seven and a half from Romford, and four from Gray's Thurrock. It is situated on a pleasant elevation, about two miles from the Thames, the views over which river and the country around are fine and extensive. In the parish is Bell House, a large mansion, in an agreeable park, now occupied by Sir Thomas Leonard, Bart.; this house was built in the reign of Henry VIII. Amongst the privileges annexed to the manor of Aveley is one by which are excluded all persons, of however high rank, from entering in search of game.
The church is an ancient building, having a tower and ring of bells; the living is a rectory, in the incumbency of the Rev. John Holmes; the present curate is the Rev. John Taylor. The population of the parish, in the year 1821, was 733; and by the last census the number was ascertained to have increased to 758 persons.
POST OFFICE, Crown and Anchor Inn, James Cook, Post Master, - Letters from all parts arrive every morning at half-past eight, and are despatched every afternoon at half-past four.
COACHES
To LONDON, the Perseverance, from (Horndon-on-the-Hill) calls at the Crown and Anchor, every morning at half-past eight; goes through Barking.
To HORNDON-ON-THE-HILL, the Perseverance, (from London) calls at the above Inn, every evening at half-past eight.
Transcribed by JoThe Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales...., by John Marius Wilson. circa 1866
AVELEY, a village and a parish in Ongar district, Essex. The village stands adjacent to the Purfleet station of the Tilbury railway, near the Thames, 7 miles SE of Romford. It has a post-office under Romford, and a fair on Easter-Monday; and was formerly a market town. The parish comprises 2,934 acres of land and 105 of water. Real property, £5,944. Pop.,930. Houses, 195. The property is not much divided. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Rochester. Value, £266. Patron, the Bishop of Rochester. The church has a canopied brass of 1390, and is good.
Transcribed by Noel ClarkKELLY'S DIRECTORY OF ESSEX 1933
AVELEY is a parish, seated on the Mardyke brook, and the road from Barking to Orsett, 2 miles north-east from Purfleet station on the London, Midland and Scottish railway, 4 miles north-west from Grays, south from Romford and 16½ from London, in the South eastern division of the county, Orsett petty sessional division, Grays county court district, Chafford hundred, Orsett and Grays rural deanery, West Ham archdeaconry and Chelmsford diocese. The church of St. Michael is a building of flint and stone in the Norman and Early English styles, consisting of spacious chancel, with north chapel, clerestoried nave, aisles, north porch and an embattled western tower of stone, surmounted by a modern dwarf timber spire: the tower was restored in 1910, and in 1930 a two-dial clock was installed: according to Morant, the church had formerly a lofty spire, blown down in a great storm in Nov. 1703: there are 5 bells, first and second and fourth and fifth respectively dated 1712, 1712, 1618 and 1692; the third has no date, but is by William Cleverden, of London, about 1515: the chancel is separated from the nave by a 15th century oak screen in good preservation, consisting of ten open compartments with a square-headed entrance: the west window retains a little old glass with the arms of Chichester impaling Barrett Lennard: on the south side of the chancel is a trefoil-headed piscina, with a small square basin set on one side of the niche, which seems originally to have been divided by a shaft: the reredos includes a small painting on panel in a gilt frame, representing the “Crucifixion,” and said to have been, presented to the church by the Baroness Dacre; a chair, with the Dacre crest and badge, brought from Belhus, and probably the gift of the same lady, is also placed here: the south aisle has also a piscina, and in the wall of the chancel chapel is a well-defined little niche: the font, of Purbeck marble, is Norman, and the pulpit, which dates from 1621, has a massive carved sounding board: a new lectern, of carved oak of great age, procured from Winchester Cathedral, was presented in 1888 by the women of Aveley; the north doorway retains a holy water stoup: there is a small Flemish brass to Ralph de Knevynton, ob. 1370, with his effigy in armour beneath a canopy; another in the north chapel to Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Edward Bacon esq. ob. 1583, and to Helen (Littel), his wife: there are other effigies and two shields of the Barrett family, 1520, and an inscription to Charles Barrett, son and heir to Edw. Barrett esq.; he married Christian, daughter of Sir Walter Mildmay kt. and died 8 Aug. 1584: this inscription in 1903 was in two pieces, one being in the hands of the vicar and the other in the Colchester museum: the original slab is still on the chancel floor and retains a shield with the arms of Barrett, “per pale, arg. and gu. bars counterchanged;" on the reverse of the inscription is a portion of a marginal inscription from a large Flemish brass, c. 1420: a slab of black marble incloses the ancient brass of Isolda de Belhus and her children, with four armorial shields; another venerable tomb, temp. Edw. I. is supposed to be that of Nicholas de Belhus: there are modern memorials to Thomas, 17th Baron Dacre, d. 12 Jan. 1786, and Anna Maria (Pratt), his wife, d. 1800, and Dacre Barrett Lennard, 1730, and one in carved oak to the men of the parish who fell in the Great War, erected in 1920: the chancel was thoroughly restored and reseated in 1885 by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, a new organ was opened May 2nd, 1886 at a cost of £200, and in 1888 was enlarged at the cost of Mr. Tristram Tempest pest: the interior of the church was carefully restored in 1888 at a cost of nearly £900, when the flooring was relaid, the nave and aisles reseated, the tower arch opened by the removal of the western gallery, and a massive timber ceiling erected above the west window; the whole work being carried out under the supervision of Mr. Ewan Christian, architect, of London: in 1893 a carved oak reredos was presented by Mr. George Brown, parish churchwarden, who was also the donor of the stained east window: the altar frontal is a painting on wood panels by Sir C. Holroyd, director of the National Gallery: the church affords 300 sittings. The register dates from the year 1563, and is in good preservation, but there is a blank from 1618 to 1720. The living is a vicarage, net yearly value £380, with residence, in the gift of the Bishop of Chelmsford, and held since 1924 by the Rev. Joseph Stanton, of St. Paul’s College, Burgh, Lincoln. The Ecclesiastical Commissioners are the impropriators of the great tithes. The Congregational chapel here was erected in 1877, and there is an Institute in which meetings and public entertainments are held. The South Essex Water Works Company have two reservoirs here, with a capacity of one million gallons; the pumping station at Grays supplies the reservoirs. The almshouses, originally erected in 1639 by James, 1st Earl of Newburgh, were rebuilt by Anne, Baroness Dacre, in 1745. The endowed charities are £2 12s. yearly, in bread, left by John Lowty in 1639, arising from land, and £100 in Consols, left by Richard Thomas Wood in 1847, the interest of which is annually distributed to poor widows. Belhus, the property of the Thames Land Co. and the residence of the Hon. Mrs. Fitzgerald, is a large and stately edifice in a semi-castellated Domestic style, built in the reign of Henry VIII.; it is surrounded by a park about 3 miles in circumference, adorned with fine old oaks and other timber, and affords extensive views over the Thames into Kent: the mansion contains an unbroken series of family portraits, from Henry VIII. up to the present time, and a remarkable genealogy, made by order of Sampson Lennard esq. of Chevening, Kent, and high sheriff of that county in 1590-1, on his marriage with Margaret, Baroness Dacre, 18 feet by 6, on vellum, forming an exquisite specimen of the writing and illumination of the 16th century. The chief landowners are St. Thomas’s Hospital, the Thames Land Co. and Sir Richard Fiennes Barrett-Lennard bart. J.P. The soil in general is of a light sandy nature; subsoil, gravel and chalk. The chief crops are wheat, barley and peas and other vegetables for the London market. There is also a quantity of marsh land bordering on the Thames. The area is 2,968 acres of land and inland water, 97 of tidal water and 18 of foreshore; the population in 1931 was 2,003.
Under the provisions of the West Thurrock (Constitution of Urban District) Order, 1928, the parish of Aveley in conjunction with the parishes of South Ockenden and West Thurrock now form the Purfleet Urban District.
Post, M. 0., T. & T. E. D. Office. Letters through Purfleet, Essex
Police Station
Aveley 1871
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AVELEY, named in “Domesday Book” is a parish, seated on the Marditch brook, in the southern division of the county, Orsett union, Romford county court district, Chafford hundred, Chafford rural deanery, Essex archdeaconry, and Rochester diocese, 2 miles northeast from Purfleet station, 5 south west from Orsett, 9 east from Barking, 16½ from London, and 7 south from Romford. The church of St. Michael is very old; it has nave, chancel, aisles, a gallery, and a tower with 5 bells, two of which are only now used; it contains several monuments with ancient brasses, and there is a handsome stained window erected in memory of Mr. and Mrs Woodthorpe. The register dates from the year 1563, and is in good preservation, but there is a blank from 1618 to 1720. The living is a discharged vicarage, yearly value £300, with residence, in the gift of the Bishop of Rochester, and held by the Rev. John Finley, M. A., of Trinity College, Cambridge. The Dean and Chapter of St. Paul’s are impropriators of the great tithes. The National school was opened in 1846. There is an Independent Chapel; also an almshouse. Belhus stands in a large and well timbered park, having extensive views over the Thames into Kent; it is the seat of Sir Thomas Barrett Lennard, bart., J.P., who is lord of the manor and principal landowner. The soil is loamy; subsoil, gravel. The chief crops are wheat, barley and peas. The area is 2,934 acres, and in 1861 the population was 930; gross estimated rental, £6,705; rateable value, £5,908. Wennington is 1 mile north-west Parish Clerk, Isaac Finch Post Office - William Thomas Jackson, postmaster Letters arrive from Romford at 6.30am.; dispatched at 5.30pm.;box closes at 5.20pm. The nearest money order office is at Rainham National School, Alfred Francis, master; Mrs. Harriet Selina Francis, mistress Carrier - William Pavitt, to “Saracen’s Head” Aldgate, London, Tuesday, Thursday & Saturday, from his own house, returning the same nights Botts Charles Glen Clarke Rev. Robert [Independent] Couldery Henry Finley Rev. John M.A. [vicar] Lennard Sir Thomas Barrett, bart, J.P. Belhus Parrott Miss Benton Aaron, farmer Blair Peter, Old Ship Blows James, butcher Botts Charles Glen. surgeon Brown George, baker Cook George, farmer Cook Mary (Mrs.), Crown & Anchor Cox & Palmer, grocers & drapers Dunn George, bricklayer Dyster William, blacksmith Hardy Samuel, grocer Jackson William Thomas, saddler Joslin Henry, farmer, Parsonage farm Joslin Walter, farmer Kelley William, tailor Kittle Fredrick, baker Martin Charles, plumber Parnell Henry, gardener Robertson David, farmer, The Hall Self Thomas, beer retailer Shepheard Thomas, beer retailer Smith Percy, farmer Woodthorpe Edward, farmer |