RIVENHALL
KELLY'S DIRECTORY OF ESSEX 1933
RIVENHALL is an ancient parish on the Crossing brook, 2 miles north from Witham Junction station on the main line of the London and North Eastern railway, 8 south-east from Braintree and 39 from London, in the Maldon division of the county, hundred and petty sessional division of Witham, Braintree rural district, Braintree and Dunmow county court district, rural deanery of Witham, archdeaconry of Colchester and Chelmsford diocese. The church of St. Mary and All Saints is an edifice of rubble and stucco, in a modern Gothic style, consisting of chancel, nave, south porch and an embattled western tower with pinnacles containing one bell: it was restored in 1839-40 and new pews were provided in 1878: the east window is enriched with 12th century stained glass, obtained from Normandy by the Rev. Bradford Denne Hawkins M.A. rector 1853-82, and presented by him: there is a very fine monument to Sir Ralph Wiseman kt. and his lady, dated 1594, and several costly tombs to members of the Western family, including that of William Western esq. d. 22 Sept. 1729: there are 200 sittings. The register dates from the year 1639. The living is a rectory, net yearly value £665, with 139 acres of glebe and residence, in the gift of A. E. Western esq. D.Sc. and held since 1921 by the Rev. Andrew Allan Hunt M.A. of Exeter College, Oxford, hon. C.F. A Congregational church was built in 1894 by Mrs. A. Porter in memory of her husband, and has seating for 170. By the main London road is a stone cross, erected by public subscription as a war memorial: inscribed on it are the names of the men of the parish who gave their lives in the Great War, 1914-18. A Workmen’s Hall was erected in 1870 and will hold 120 persons; a Church hall, situated near the church, was erected in 1924 through the munificence of Dr. A. E. Western. There are charities amounting to £12 for fuel, left in 1654 by Sir Thomas Wiseman and in 1784 by William Bollan. The remains of a Roman villa were found near the church in the year 1846, and at that date a tesselated pavement could be traced for four hundred yards. Rivenhall Place is a rectangular mansion standing on rising ground in a park of 100 acres, containing ornamental water about 500 yards in length: over this is a stone bridge of three arches by which the mansion is approached from the south; it is the property of the Western family and is now occupied by Mrs. Bradhurst. The parishes comprises five manors. The land is principally arable; subsoil, loam. The chief crops are wheat, barley, turnips, peas, beans and seeds. The area is 3,418 acres of land and 10 of water; the population in 1931 was 2,353 in the civil and of the ecclesiastical parish in 1921, 672. Detached parts of this parish were added to Cressing and a detached part of the latter to Rivenhall for civil purposes by statute 51 and 52 Vict. c. 41, Local and Personal, 1888.
SILVER END is a model village in the civil parish of Rivenhall. The Mission church of St. Francis was dedicated in 1930. The building is an ancient Essex barn, converted to its present use: there are 100 sittings. The church is served from the parish church. There is a Roman Catholic church here. In 1930 a Congregational church was built seating 199, the site being given by the Silver End Development Co. Ltd. The Silver End Development Co. Ltd. are the principal landowners.
Post, T. & T. E. D. Office, Rivenhall End. Letters through Witham, which is the nearest M. O. office
Post, M. O. & Tel. Call Office, Silver End. Letters through Witham. White Notley nearest T. office
Carrier to Chelmsford.—Basil W. Moore, on mon. tues. thurs. & fri
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