MALDON with the villages of HEYBRIDGE, LANGFORD, GOLDHANGER & NEIGHBOURHOODS
Pigot's Essex 1832-3 Trade Directory
MALDON is a seaport, market town and borough in the hundred of Dengie, 37 miles from London, 16 from Colchester, and 10 from Chelmsford: it is situated upon the slope of an eminence which rises to the south-west of the estuary, formed by the Blackwater a river known to the Romans by the name of Idumanum. The first historical notice we have of this town is in the year 913, when the elder Edward encamped here. Henry II seems to have been the first to grant a charter to this place; a second was granted by Queen Mary in the year 1553, by which its government was regulated. The corporate officers are a mayor, 8 aldermen, 18 capital burgesses, a recorder, town clerk and water baliff. It sends two members to parliament, which it has done ever since the reign of Edward III; the right of election is confined to those who obtain their freedom by birth, marriage or servitude; the first election took place in the year 1329 : in 1826 the number who voted was 3,113, the total number is supposed to be about 4,000. The mayor is the returning officer, and the present representatives are Thomas Barrett Lennard and Quintin Dick, Esqrs. The corporation are lords of the manor. Courts of quarter session are regularly holden; and a court of record for pleas of debt to any amount. The custom of borough English, by which the youngest and not the eldest son succeeds to the burgage tenement of his father, is in force at this place. This is not a manufacturing town, but it has a good home trade, and its exports and imports are somewhat considerable; the former comprise coals, iron, tin, deals, &c. the latter consist of flour, peas, beans, wheat, oats and salt; there is also a very extensive fishery on the Blackwater belonging to the corporation. The harbour here is convenient for ships, the channel having sufficient draught of water at spring tides for vessels of from 1 to 200 tons; the colliers, however, remain in the deep water below the town, and lighters are employed to bring up their cargoes.
The borough of Maldon includes the three parishes of All Saints, St. Peter's, and St. Mary's; of these, however, the two first have long since been consolidated, and St. Peter's church converted into a school room with a public library over it, but the church-yard still continues to be appropriated to the use of the parish. All Saints is the principal church, and is an ancient and spacious edifice, with a square tower, terminated by an equilateral triangular spire. In the lower part of the town stands St. Mary's, a spacious pile, with a massive tower, said to have been founded in the tenth century. The tower and church was re-built in the reign of Charles I. The living of the united parishes is a vicarage, as well as those of St. Mary's; the latter is a peculiar of the dean and chapter of Westminster; and the Rev. C. Matthew is the incumbent of the whole. The charities are a grammar school, founded by Ralph Breeder, and further endowed by Dr. Plume, who also founded a library here, and the Plumean professorship at Cambridge. There are three chartered fairs held here, viz. Lady day, the 1st of May, & the 13th & 14th of September: the market, which is on Saturday, is a good one for corn. The borough of Maldon (including the three parishes) contained, by the official returns for 1831, 3,831 inhabitants, having increased its population 1,403 since the census of 1801.
HEYBRIDGE is a village, and parish, in the hundred of Thurstable, about one mile from Maldon, on the Colchester road. It is said to have taken its name from an old bridge of five arches, through which a principal branch of the river anciently ran, but which now passes at some distance. The inhabitants of the parish are chiefly employed in agriculture, and their number, by the last census, was 1,064, being treble the population since the year 1801.
LANGFORD is a small parish and village, adjoining to Heybridge, in the same hundred, and is only noticed from having in its vicinity Langford hall, a beautiful seat, standing in a finely wooded park, once the property of the celebrated Dr. William Harvey. The number of inhabitants, by the last parliamentary returns, was 273.
GOLDHANGER is a parish and village in the same hundred as Heybridge, situated about four miles from Maldon, on the Colchester road. The church is a strong building, with a tower. A small fair or revel is held here, for toys, &c. on Whit-Monday. The population, by the last returns, was 496.
POST OFFICE, MALDON, John Polley, Post Master. - Letters from CHELMSFORD arrive (by mail-cart), every morning, at seven, and are despatched every evening at eight. - Box opens every morning at 8, and closes every evening at half-past 7; but letters are received until 8 by paying 1d. with each.
COACHES. To LONDON, the Telegraph, from the King's Head, every morning (Sunday excepted) at six; and another coach, goes from the same Inn, every Sunday, Wednesday and Friday morning at nine - the Tally-ho! From the White Horse, every Monday morn. at a quarter before five, Sunday morning at a quarter before nine, and other mornings at half-past six; all go through Chelmsford, Ingatestone, Brentwood and Romford.
To BURNHAM, the Telegraph, from the King's Head, every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday evening at five.
CARRIERS. To LONDON, George French's Van from his office, every Friday morn. at 12.
To BRADWELL, William Creasey, from the Swann Inn, every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday afternoon at four.
To BURNHAM, William Keys, from the Swann Inn, every Monday, Thursday & Saturday afternoon at four.
To COLCHESTER, William Keys, from the Swann Inn, every Wednesday afternoon at one, and Sat. morning at eight.
To TOLLESBURY, Banyard, from the Swann Inn, every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday afternoon at two.
CONVEYANCE BY WATER Sailing Vessels
To LONDON, John Payne, every Saturday, and John Sadd & Co. every Wednesday and Saturday.
Transcribed by CG
The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales...., by John Marius Wilson. circa 1866
GOLDHANGER, a village and a parish in Maldon district, Essex. The village stands on the N side of the Blackwater's estuary, 4 miles NNE of Maldon town an r. station; and has a post-office under Maldon, and a fair on Whit-Monday. The parish comprises 2,134 acres of land, and 590 of water. Real property, £4,255. Pop., 545. Houses, 119. The property is divided among a few. The land is low and marshy; and salterns on it are mentioned in Domesday book. The living is a rectory, united with the rectory of Little Totham, in the diocese of Rochester. Value, £589. Patron, the Rev. C.B. Leigh. The church has an embattled tower, and is very good. There are a Wesleyan chapel, and a national school.
HEYBRIDGE, a village and a parish in Maldon district, Essex. The village is suburban to Maldon town; stands opposite to it, on the N bank of the Blackwater river, and the Chelmer navigation, adjacent to Maldon r. station; was known to the Saxons as Tidwaltintune, and given by king Athelstan to St. Paul's cathedral, in London; acquired its present name from the construction of a five-arched bridge over the Blackwater, in the time of Henry VI.; derives trade from the Chelmer navigation and the Maldon railway; and has a post-office under Maldon, a fair on Whit-Tuesday, malt works, a large iron foundry, and extensive agricultural implement and machine manufactories. The parish comprises 2,012 acres of land, and 124 of water. Real property, £5,377. Pop. in 1851, 1,330; in 1861, 1,476. Houses, 315. The property is not much divided. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Rochester. Value, £159. Patrons, the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's, London. The church is ancient, but good. There are chapels for Independents and Baptists, and charities £33.
LANGFORD, a village and a parish in Maldon district, Essex. The village stands on the river Blackwater, near its confluence with the Chelmer, and adjacent to the Maldon railway, 1½ mile NW by N of Maldon; and has a station on the railway, and a post-office under Maldon. The parish comprises 1,076 acres. Real property, £2,002. Pop., 279. Houses, 49. The property is subdivided. Langford Grove is a chief residence. The Blackwater here was anciently much broader than now; and was crossed by a long ford which gave name to the parish, and which was in use in the time of Edward the Confessor. The alluvial grounds formed by deposit of the river, and now meadow, are very fertile. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Rochester. Value, £294. Patron, the Hon. F. Byron. The church is early Norman, in good condition; and has a wooden spire.
Transcribed by Noel Clark