CANEWDON,
See also Rochford
The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales...., by John Marius Wilson. circa 1866
CANEWDON, a village and a parish in Rochford district, Essex. The village stands on the river Crouch, 3 and ½ miles NNE of Rochford, and 6 and ½ N of Southend r. station; and has a post-office under Chelmsford, and a fair on 24 June. Canute, the Dane, held his court here; and the name Canewdon is a corruption of Canute's Town. A Roman station also was here; and several Roman urns and a torso have been found. The parish includes part of Wallisea island. Acres, 4,071, of which 100 are water. Real property, £7,858. Pop., 664. Houses, 140. The property is much subdivided. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Rochester. Value, £495. Patron, the Bishop of Peterborough. The church is later English, has a massive tower, and is very good. There are an Independent chapel, and charities £132.
Post Office Directory of Essex - 1871
Submitted and Transcribed by Essex Villages
CANEWDON is a parish, in the Southern division of the county, Rochford hundred, union and county court district, Canewdon rural deanery, Essex archdeaconry, and Rochester diocese, 4 miles north-north-east from Rochford, and 8 miles from Southend, situate on high ground, commanding a fine view over the river Crouch, the rich meadows on its banks, and the battle-field of Ashingdon, where Canute the Great and Edmund Ironsides contended. Here is a Danish entrenchment. There is a ferry across the Crouch to Dengie hundred for horses and carriages from Wallasea Island. The ancient church of St. Nicholas stands on Canewdon Hill, a considerable eminence, and has a massive stone tower, 74 feet high, and 5 bells. The register dates from 1636.
The living is a vicarage, in the gift of the Bishop of Peterborough, and held by the Rev. Thomas Anthony Manning. The vicarial tithes have been commuted for �579. 15s. 3d., and the great tithes amount to �1,001. 3s. 6d. with 60 acres of glebe. W. H. Little, esq., is impropriator. Here is a chapel for Independents. The charities by various benefactors, amount to about �100.
A fair is held yearly on the 24th of June. Canewdon seems to have been anciently a Roman station on the banks of the river Crouch, from a camp, of which there are some remains, and from the Roman antiquities found here. At the time of the �Domesday Survey� the place belonged to Sweyne. - Fell, esq., is lord of the manor, and J. W. Stallibrass, esq., is lord of the other (that of Scott�s Hall).
The soil is clayey; subsoil, clay. The crops are general. The parish contains 5,500 acres, and the population in 1861 was 617, and 47 in that part of Wallasea Island belonging to Canewdon; gross estimated rental, �8,446; rateable value, �7,421.
Wallasea, formerly an island, is now joined to the mainland, and is bounded on the north by the river Crouch, on the south and east by the Bromhill, and by creeks on the west; it is in the parishes of Great Stanbridge, Canewdon, Paglesham, Eastwood, and Little Wakering. There is a public road across it, still very bad, which leads to Foulness Island. The water in this island was formerly brackish, but, by the introduction of artesian wells of great depth, it is obtained of good quality. The island is 3 miles long by about a mile and a half broad. The area is 3,656 acres, including the water area, and the population in 1861 was 114.
Ringwood is a hamlet in Wallasea, one mile south-east from Burnham by water.
Parish Clerk, John Clark
Post Office - William Newman, receiver. Letters arrive from Rochford at 8.50am; dispatched at 3.45pm. The nearest money order office is at Rochford
Manning Rev. Thomas Anthony, [vicar]
Allen William, blacksmith
Auger John, farmer
Austin Charles, shoemaker
Baker John, farmer
Barnard Thomas, shopkeeper
Bright Charles, Ferry Boat, & coal merchant
Clark Edward, baker & shopkeeper
Clark John, cooper
Claxton Thomas, farm bailiff to J. W. Stallibrass
Codling William, Chequers
Guiver Henry, farmer
Harris Elizabeth (Mrs.) Anchor
Harris William, shopkeeper & baker
Hart William, carpenter
Neill James, farmer & landowner
Newman William, shoe maker
Orford John, farmer, Loftmans
Potton John William, jun. miller
Turner John, harness maker
Whittingham James, blacksmith
Whitwell Ann (Mrs.), farmer
Windmill Mrs, farmer, Apton hall
Wright Joseph, farmer, Boxes
KELLY'S DIRECTORY OF ESSEX 1933
CANEWDON is a village and parish in the South Eastern division of the county, Rochford hundred. petty sessional division and rural district, Southend county court district, Canewdon and Southend rural deanery, Southend archdeaconry and Chelmsford diocese; it is 4 miles north-north-east from Rochford station, on the Southend-on-Sea branch of the London and North Eastern railway and 8 north from Southend, on high ground, commanding a fine view over the river Crouch, the rich meadows on its banks and the battlefield of Ashingdon, where in 1016 it is said Canute the Great and Edmund Ironside contended; here is a Danish entrenchment. There is a ferry from Wallasea across the Crouch to Dengie hundred for horses and carriages. The ancient church of St. Nicholas, standing on Canewdon Hill, is an edifice of stone of Perpendicular date, consisting of chancel, nave, north aisle, separated from the nave by an arcade of four bays, south porch and massive embattled western tower 75 feet high and containing 5 bells; outside the tower are the quartered arms of France and England and the shields of Bohun, Mowbray and Warren: in the chancel (restored in 1894) are sedilia, and there was a hagioscope in the north wall of the chancel arch: the pulpit is of finely carved oak: the church contains several mural tablets to members of the Kersteman family: in 1902 the interior was reseated with chairs, and a new altar table, choir seats and reading-desks of oak presented by Mr. J. H. Little: two niches and a piscina have been disclosed at the east end of the north aisle: there are 300 sittings. The register dates from the year 1636, The living is a vicarage, net value £500, with 48 acres of glebe and residence, in the gift of the Dean and Chapter of Westminster, and held since 1924 by the Rev. James Woodward B.A. of University College, Durham. King’s College, Cambridge, are impropriators of the great tithes, amounting to £299 net. Here is a Congregational chapel, erected in 1833, and holding 150 persons. The charities left by various benefactors amount to £140; after paying the cost of management, repairs, and the sum of £10 to the deserving poor, any balance available is, by a scheme of the Charity Commissioners of 1897, to be employed for the maintenance of the village school, arising in part from lands left at different times by Agnes Finch, widow, William Hawshill and Thomas Hawkins, in 1495, and others; there are also seven tenements with gardens, occupied by the poor, and a benefaction by William Totham and Richard Woodes, of Scaldhurst, in the hamlet of Pudsey, left in 1688, to provide bread for the poor. There are some remains here of a camp, and from the Roman antiquities found here the place is supposed to have been the site of a Roman station. At the time of the Domesday Survey it belonged to Sweyne. Apton Hall, now (1933) unoccupied, is situated in grounds of 410 acres. C. M. Fell esq. is lord of one manor and Allen Stallibrass esq. J.P. is lord of that of Scotts Hall. The landowners are A. W. Squier esq., J. Cottis & Sons, Thomas Coates esq. Mrs. Ramsay, P. B. H. Seabrook esq. Frederick Britton esq., the trustees of the late Edmund Marriage, and the trustees of the late Zachary Pettit and others. The soil is clayey; subsoil, clay. The crops are general. The area is 5,234 acres of land and inland water, 433 of tidal water and 169 of foreshore; the population in 1931 was 630.
WALLASEA, formerly an island but now joined to the mainland, is a peninsula, 3 miles long by about 1½ broad, bounded on the north by the river Crouch, on the south and east by the Roach and on the west by creeks and the mainland; it is in the parishes of Great Stambridge, Canewdon, Paglesham, Eastwood and Little Wakering; a public road crosses the peninsula, and leads to Foulness Island. By the introduction of artesian wells of great depth water is now obtained of good quality.
RINGWOOD is a hamlet in Wallasea, 1 mile south east from Burnham by water.
Post, M. O. & Tel. Call Office. Letters from Rochford, Essex, which is the nearest P. office
County Police Station
Is the following Myth, Legend or Fact?
"Canewdon: Legend says that as long as the tower of St. Nicholas Church stands, there will be seven witches in Canewdon. The last known master-witch was George Pickingill, who died in 1909; he used to extort beer from farmers by threatening to stop their machinery by magic. A headless witch occasionally materialises near the church and drifts down to the river. Anyone who meets her is whirled into the air and deposited in the nearest ditch!"
Provided my Ann Major