LATCHINGDON
The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales...., by John Marius Wilson. circa 1866
LATCHINGDON, a village and a parish in Maldon district, Essex. The village stands 1 mile N of the river Crouch, and 6 SEE of Maldon r. station; and has a post-office under Maldon, and a fair on 2 June. The parish comprises 3,672 acres. Real property, £4,975. Pop., 430. Houses, 81. The manor belongs to C. Pulley, Esq. The parish includes the quondam chapelry of Lalling; and it is one with Snoreham for the relief of the poor. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Rochester. Value, £710. Patron, the Archbishop of Canterbury. The present church was built in 1857; and is in the decorated English style. The old church still stands. There are a national school, and charities for the church poor £13.
Transcribed by Noel Clark
KELLY'S DIRECTORY OF ESSEX 1933
LATCHINGDON and SNOREHAM were originally separate parishes, but are now united both for civil end ecclesiastical purposes; they are bounded on the north by the Blackwater, and on the south by the river Crouch, and are in the Maldon division of the county, Dengie hundred and petty sessional division, Maldon rural district and county court district, rural deanery of Dengie, archdeaconry of Southend and Chelmsford diocese. Snoreham is on the road from Maldon to Burnham, 2½ miles east from Cold Norton station on the Maldon branch of the London and North Eastern railway, south-east from Maldon by road, and 6 north-west from Burnham. Christchurch, at Latchingdon, is a structure of Kentish rag in the Decorated style, consecrated November 14th, 1857, and consists of chancel, nave, south porch and a turret at the west end containing 2 bells: there is a stained east window of five lights, erected by C. O. Pulley esq. to the memory of his parents, and memorial windows to the Rev. R. E. Formby, late rector (1859-95), and his wife: the church affords sittings for 220 persons: part of the old church of St. Michael is still standing and has been restored, and is occasionally used for services. The register dates from the year 1725 and is in good condition. The living is a rectory, net yearly value £500, with residence, in the gift of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and held since 1929 by the Rev. Lewis Hermann Tiarks M.A. of St. John’s College, Cambridge. The rectory house, about a mile and a quarter south of the present church and close to the old one, stands on a pleasant eminence, commanding extensive views. The Parish Hall, erected in 1890 is under the control of the Parish Council. The Parish Library, kept at the National Schools, contains about 2,000 volumes. Lord Rayleigh, who is lord of the manor of Snoreham, and W. Howard-Flanders esq. are the principal land owners. The soil is a strong clay; subsoil, clay. The crops are wheat, beans and peas, but the land is chiefly pasture. The area of the parish is 3,997 acres of land, 8 of inland and 76 of tidal water and 147 of foreshore; the population in 1931 was 419.
At SNOREHAM was formerly a church, dedicated to St. Peter, and erected by the noble family of Grey of Wilton, its attached parish consisting only of one farm house, called Snoreham Hall; the inhabitants now attend Latchingdon church: a sermon was formerly preached annually under a tree in the parish, but the custom has long been discontinued.
LALLING (or Lawling), now a farm, 1 mile north on a creek of the Blackwater, was given by Brithnoth, Earl of Essex, to the church of Canterbury, in 991, the year in which be was killed at Maldon, in a conflict with the Danes. Here was formerly a chapel, of which the foundations are still traceable. Frederick Henry Bright esq. is lord of the manor.
Post, M. O., T. & T. E. D. Office. Letters through Chelmsford. Telegraph office open sundays, 9 a.m. to 10.30 a.m
Motor buses pass through to Maldon, Southend, South minster & Burnham, daily, & Chelmsford, fri