EAST DONYLAND & ROWHEDGE
White's History, Gazetteer & Directory of Essex ~ 1848
Submitted and Transcribed by Essex Villages
DONYLAND, (EAST) a small village, 3 miles S. S. E. of Colchester, has in its parish about 1400 acres, 793 inhabitants, and the fishing village of ROWHEDGE, on the west bank of the river Colne, opposite Wivenhoe, where there are some valuable oyster beds, and about fifty fishing boats. It adjoins Berechurch or West Donyland, and at the Domes-day survey it belonged to the Earl of Boulogne and others. Most of it was afterwards held by St. John's Abbey, Colchester, and after the dissolution of that house it was sold to Sir Francis Jobson.
Philip Havens, Esq., is now lord of the manor, and owner of most of the soil. He resides at the Hall, a neat mansion, with woody pleasure grounds, near the confluence of the small river Roman with the Colne. The Hall and gardens were much improved about 1735, by Daniel Gausel, Esq., who enclosed the park.
The old Church (St. Laurence) being much decayed, and inconveniently situated, part of its materials were used in the erection of the present Church, at Rowhedge, which was consecrated in 1838, and has a singular appearance, being of an octagon shape, in imitation of the Chapter House of York Cathedral. It contains a handsome marble monument, removed from the old church, in memory of one of the Greys, formerly seated here.
The rectory, valued in K.B. at £10, and in 1831 at £215, has 49 acres of glebe, which is let with the parsonage house,-a small old building. P. Havens, Esq., is patron, and the Rev. Vicessimus McGie Torriano, of Colchester, is the incumbent.
The tithes have been commuted for £220 per annum. The parish has an old cottage, given by one Kingsbury, about 1718, for the poor.
EAST DONYLAND AND ROWHEDGE
Adam Edward, grocer &c.
Collison James, parish clerk
Crickmore John, jun. carpenter
Everitt Joseph, butcher
Gonner J S. registrar, &c.
Havens Philip and Wm. Rawdon, Esqrs., East Donyland Hall
Harris James, shipwright & beerhouse
Houlding Samuel, jun., collector
Levett George. Gent. ll Sycamore Wm.
Mason Wm. blacksmith
Parker Philip, beerseller
Rayner John, maltster
Turffrey Robert, shopkeeper
Wasp James, wharfinger
Inns and Taverns
Ship, Robert Pitt, (bricklayer)
Three Crowns, Wm. Cheek
Whalebone, David Martin
White Lion, Geo. Turner, (& coal mert.)
Bakers
Martin John
Pitt John
Farmers
Blomfield Robert, (& Colchester)
Crickmore John, Glebe Farm
Houlding Samuel
Mustard Mrs L.
Purkis James
Wright John, (and Wivenhoe)
Smack owners at Rowhedge (* Ship Owners)
Allen Thomas
* Barnard Thos.
*Cheek Wm.
Clark James
Deeks Robert
*Easton Jeremiah
Everitt Samuel
James Daniel
Lawrence J.
Martin Daniel
Mothersole James
*Willett Joseph, (& merchant)
Post from Colchester, daily
The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales...., by John Marius Wilson. circa 1866
DONYLAND (EAST), a parish in Lexden district, Essex; on the river Colne, at the influx of the river Roman, adjacent to the Wivenhoe railway, 3½ miles SSE of Colchester. It has a post-office under Colchester. Acres, 1067. Real property, £2,845. Pop., 1052. Houses, 258. The property is much subdivided. Donyland Heath is a meet for the Essex and Suffolk hounds. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Rochester. Value, £209. Patron, P. Havens, Esq. The church is good. Charities, £10.
DONYLAND (WEST), a place in Colchester district, Essex; 2 miles S by W of Colchester.
Transcribed by Noel Clark
KELLY'S DIRECTORY OF ESSEX 1933
is a parish opposite Fingringhoe, with which it is connected by a bridge over the river Roman, near the confluence of the river Roman with the navigable Colne, half a mile from Wivenhoe station, across the Colne, 3½ miles south-east from Colchester, and 54 from London, in the Colchester division of the county, Lexden and Winstree petty sessional division and rural district, Lexden hundred, Colchester, Clacton and Halstead joint county court district, Colchester rural deanery and archdeaconry and Chelmsford diocese. This parish includes the hamlet of Black Heath, which for ecclesiastical purposes is partly in the parish of Fingringhoe. The church of St. Lawrence is an octagonal edifice of white brick built in imitation of the chapter-house of York minster, and consecrated in 1838: it contains an alabaster monument, removed from the old church, to Mary Gray, ob. July, 1627, a member of a family formerly seated here circ. 1595: there are 570 sittings, of which 500 are free. The register dates from the year 1731. The living is a rectory, net yearly value £375, with residence and 8 acres of glebe, in the gift of Miss Hawens, and held since 1927 by the Rev. Henry George Lewis Brice A.K.C.L. There is a Baptist chapel at Black Heath, built in 1905. A few smacks are here employed in fishing, and some yachts are kept: these furnish employment to a number of the inhabitants during the summer months. The Roman Hill property has been bought by the War Office, and now forms part of the Middlewick Rifle Ranges. Beaumont & Sons, of Coggeshall, are lords of the manor and chief landowners. The soil is principally light; subsoil, generally gravel. The chief crops are wheat, barley and turnips; grazing is also carried on. The area is 1,374 acres of land, 3 of water, 2 of tidal water and 13 of foreshore; the population of the civil parish in 1931 was 1,511, and of the eccle siastical in 1921, 1,267.
ROWHEDGE is a fishing village in this parish, on the west bank of the river Colne, opposite Wivenhoe; the village contains the largest portion of the inhabitants of the parish, and has a Methodist chapel, and a Mission chapel, which is undenominational. Shipbuilding is carried on and there are also two clothing factories. There is a ferry from this village across the river Colne to Wivenhoe. This place is supplied with water from works, erected in 1903, the property of the Lexden and Winstree Rural District Council: the water is derived from artesian wells about 150 feet in depth, from which it is pumped into a water tower 60 feet in height, with a capacity of 36,000 gallons.
Post, M. O. & T. Office, Rowhedge. Letters received through Colchester
Post & Tel. Call Office, Black Heath. Letters through Colchester, nearest M. O. office. The nearest T. office is at Abberton
Police Station
Shipwrecked Fishermen & Mariners’ Royal Benevolent Society; Hon. Representative, L. J. Benson, Ildergonda, Regent street, Rowhedge. See Advt. Index
Omnibuses run to Colchester several times daily