BLACKMORE
The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales...., by John Marius Wilson. circa 1866
BLACKMORE, a parish in Ongar district, Essex; 3 and ½ miles ESE of Chipping-Ongar, and 4 NW by N of Ingatestone r. station. It has a post-office under Ingatestone, and a fair on 21 Aug. Acres, 2,576. Real property, £4,802. Pop., 644. Houses, 144. The property is divided among a few. An Augustinian proiry was founded on the site of the manor house, by the De Sampfords, in the time of Henry II.; passed, under Cardinal Wolsey, to his colleagues at Oxford and Ipswich, and afterwards to Waltham abbey; and was given at the dissolution, to John Smith. The living is a p. curacy in the diocese of Rochester. Value, £83. Patrons, the Representatives of the late C.A. Crickett, Esq. The church belonged to the priory; and is ancient, small, and good. Charities, £54.
Transcribed by Noel Clark
KELLY'S DIRECTORY OF ESSEX 1862
BLACKMOREis a parish in the Ongar Union, Chelmsford hundred, 4 miles east of that town, 8 south-west of Chelmsford, and 4½ north-west of Ingatestone station, in Rochester diocese, Essex archdeaconry, and rural deanery of Ingatestone, in the Brentwood county court district. It contains 2,576 acres, and a population in 1851 of 704, and in 1861 had decreased to 644, the numbers of each sex being 322. Here was anciently a priory, founded by Adam de Sandford, in the time of Henry II., for Augustine canons, the revenues of which at the Dissolution were valued at £85 0s. 7d. per annum; some remains of it now exist. It was granted by Henry VIII. to Cardinal Wolsey, and applied by him in aid of his foundations at Ipswich and Oxford. Blackmore was one of the secret houses of pleasure of Henry VIII., and was called by courtiers "Jericho," who used the phrase, "He has gone to Jericho," to express that the King had retired to this place for his pleasures: the Cam rivulet flowing through the village being still called Jordan by the old inhabitants. The church, dedicated to St. Lawrence, is very ancient, and has been partially restored; it has a square wooden tower and shingled spire, with 5 bells. The living is a vicarage, value £70, in the patronage of Mrs. Hodgson, London, and held by the Rev. William Callender, B.A. Here is a dame school; also an infant school for Baptists' children.