CRANHAM>
The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales...., by John Marius Wilson. circa 1866>
CRANHAM>, a parish in Romford district, Essex; 3½ miles NE of Rainham r. station, and 4½ SE by E of Romford. Post-town, Upminster, under Romford, London, E. Acres, 1,875. Real property, £3.184. Pop., 385. Houses, 76. The property is much subdivided. Cranham Hall is a chief residence. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Rochester. Value, £560. Patron, St. John's College, Oxford. The church is good.>
Transcribed by Noel Clark>
KELLY'S DIRECTORY OF ESSEX 1933>
CRANHAM > (formerly called Bishop's Ockendon) is a parish, pleasantly situated 1 mile east of Upminster station on the London, Midland and Scottish railway, and 4½ miles south-east from the Romford station on the London and North Eastern railway, in the Romford division of the county, Brentwood petty sessional division north of the London and Tilbury line, and Romford petty sessional division south of the same, Chafford hundred, Romford rural district and county court district, rural deanery of Chafford, archdeaconry of West Ham and Chelmsford diocese. The church of All Saints, rebuilt by Richard Benyon esq. at his sole cost, on the site of the older church, was re-opened December, 1874, and is an edifice of stone in the Early Engilsh style, consisting of chancel, nave, south porch and on the north side a tower with spire, containing 3 bells: all the windows in the chancel and four in the nave are stained: in the chancel is a monument to Maj.-Gen. James Edward Oglethorpe, of Westbrook Place, Surrey, who obtained the manor of Cranham Hall by his marriage with Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of Sir Nathan Wright bart. whose predecessor, Sir Benjamin Wright, 1st bart, bought it of the Petre family: he was the founder, in 1733, of the colony of Georgia, North America, for which he obtained a Royal charter; he died 30th June, 1785, at the age, it is said, of 102, and is buried here with his wife: there is a piscina in the south wall and a reredos with a sculptured representation of "The Last Supper "; the old oaken communion table was restored by the Rev, L. L. Sharpe, rector 1884-9. The register dates from the year 1558. The living is a rectory, net yearly value £600, with residence, in the gift of St. John's College, Oxford, and held since 1923 by the Rev. Leslie St. Aubyn Wright D.D. of that college. Cranham Hall, formerly the residence of General Oglethorpe, is now occupied by Henry Furze esq. George Rastrick esq. is lord of the manor. James Herbert Benyon esq DL., J.P. is chief landowner. The soil is a very heavy loam; subsoil, gravel. The chief crops are wheat, beans, peas &c. The area is 1,879 acres; the population in 1931 was 1,240.>
Post, M. O. & Tel. Call Office, Moor lane. Letters through Romford. Upminster nearest T. office>