HENHAM
The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales...., by John Marius Wilson. circa 1866
HENHAM a village and a parish in the district of Bishop-Stortford, and county of Essex. The village stands on a hill, 2 miles NE by E of Elsenham r. station, and 6 NE of Bishop-Stortford; and has a post-office under Bishop-Stortford. The parish also includes the hamlet of Pledgdon, and comprises 2,958 acres. Real property, £4,671. Pop., 875. Houses, 186. The property is divided among a few. The manor belongs to Joseph Baxendale, Esq. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Rochester. Valie, £390. Patron, the Rev. J. Taddy. The church consists of nave, aisles, and chancel, with tower and spire; and is large and good. There an Independent chapel, a national school, and charities £48.
Transcribed by Noel Clark
Post Office Directory of Essex ~ 1871
Submitted and Transcribed by Essex Villages
HENHAM (or HENHAM ON THE HILL) was so named before the reign of King Edward the Confessor: it is a parish of the Western division of the county, Bishop's Stortford union and county court district, hundreds of Clavering and Uttlesford, Newport rural deanery, Colchester archdeaconry, and Rochester diocese, 1 miles north-east from Elsenham, 3 north east from Stansted Mountfitchet, 39 from London and 6 north-east from Bishop's Stortford.
The church of St. Mary the Virgin, standing on a hill, is a large ancient structure, with nave, aisles, chancel, south porch, and tower containing five bells, and surmounted by a short spire; the font is ancient and octagonal: the pulpit is oak, and had formerly a sounding board, which has been taken down, and converted into a reading desk: an ancient oak screen divides the chancel and nave: in the chancel there is a marble monument to the memory of Samuel Feake, esq., formerly President and Governor of Fort William, Bengal, East Indies.
The register dates from the middle of the sixteenth century. The living is a vicarage, yearly value £390, with residence, in the gift of, and held by, the Rev. Arthur Horatio Bellman, >m. a., of Caius College, Cambridge.
Here is a National School.
The Independent chapel, capable of seating 500 person's, was erected here in 1864, at the cost of £1000, which was left by will for this purpose by the late Edward Sandford, esq., of Bolling Hall, in the parish of Ugley, who died in June, 1863. There is also a room built by voluntary contributions, and opened at the same time, which is used for lectures and a Sunday school.
Charities amounting to £44 yearly are distributed in kind. Joseph Baxendale, William Canning and William Charles Smith, esqrs., are the principal landowners: the former is lord of the manor, but there are several small owners.
The soil is chiefly a strong clay and loam; subsoil, clay. The crops are wheat, oats, barley and roots. The area of the entire parish is 2,958 acres, and the population in 1861 was 875; rateable value £6,351.
LITTLE HENHAM is a hamlet, in Clavering hundred, a mile and a half to the north, containing one farm and a few cottages.
PLEDGDON, is a hamlet of Henham, in the Clavering hundred, of about 1,190 acres, is about a mile and a half southeast from Henham, adjoining Elsenham. The population in 1861 was 143.
Parish Clerk, Charles Turner
POST OFFICE - Henry Gardiner, receiver
Letters, by way of Bishops Stortford, arrive at 9am; dispatched at 6pm. weekdays; on Sundays, at 10am.
The nearest money order office is at Stansted. Here is also a letter box near the Crown, Pledgdon; cleared weekdays at 6.30pm. & 10.30.am. on Sundays.
CARRIER - Rice has a small conveyance for parcels to & from Bishops Stortford on Mondays, Thursdays & Saturdays
Bellman [Rev. Arthur Horatio, >m. a.] Vicarage
Butcher Samuel, Pledgdon
Canning William, Old Mead
Grisby Rev. David, [Independent]
Halsted Thomas, Pledgdon
Harrison Thomas
Phipps William
Commercial
Bowtell Henrietta (Mrs.), Crown, Pledgdon
Bush George, shoemaker, Green
Bush James, shoemaker, Green
Caston Hannah (Mrs), shopkeeper, Pledgdon green
Chipperfield Henry, wheelwright
Cole Brothers, coal, tile & brick merchants, Pledgdon
Collin George Franklin, farmer, Parsonage farm
Cowell Ebenezer, farmer, Lodge farm
Dixon Eve (Mrs.), beer retailer
Dixon James, blacksmith, Pledgdon
Francis Joseph, shoemaker & beer retailer
Freeman George, general second hand dealer, Green
Gardiner Henry, wholesale grocer, draper, ready made clothes & boots warehouse
Hayden John, blacksmith
Heard Thomas, wheelwright
Hodges Samuel, beer retailer
Houghton Joseph, farmer, Sand pits
Johnson William, pig jobber
Knight John, shoemaker
Little James, carpenter, Pledgdon
Markwell Joshua, farmer, Broom
Marshall Charles, farmer, Little Henham hall
Mynott Ezra, miller
Newman John, Cock
Newport Thomas, maltster & farmer, Pledgdon, & at Newport, Bishops Stortford
Norris Lucy (Mrs.), shopkeeper
Orger George, butcher, Pledgdon
Orger James, farmer, Pledgdon
Parish George, farmer, Pledgdon
Robinson John, shoemaker, Pledgdon
Robinson Ritty (Miss), shopkeeper, Pledgdon
Salmon John, Star
Smith James, farmer, Green
Sweeting Josiah, farm bailiff to Samuel Scruby
Turner Charles & George, carpenters
Ward Thomas Hutton, veterinary surgeon
Wright Thomas, shoemaker