TOLLESHUNT DARCY AND NEIGHBOURHOOD
Pigot's Essex 1832-3 Trade Directory
TOLLESHUNT DARCY, TOLLESHUNT KNIGHTS and TOLLESHUNT MAJOR are villages and parishes, in Thurstable hundred. The first-named village is situated between Maldon and Colchester, seven miles from the former and ten from the latter town : this parish is more extensive than populous, being five-miles in length and three in breadth. TOLLESHUNT KNIGHTS parish adjoins to it, and is of much less extent. Each parish has its church, but neither possessing any peculiarity to engage notice.
By the official returns for the year 1831, the population of the parishes was respectively - TOLLESHUNT DARCY, 690; TOLLESHUNT KNIGHTS, 376; and TOLLESHUNT MAJOR (or Beckingham) 428 inhabitants.
POST OFFICE, TOLLESHUNT DARCY, Isaac Harvery, Post Master. - Letters from MALDON arrive (by foot-post) every forenoon (Mondays excepted) at eleven, and are despatched every afternoon at four.
Transcribed by CG
KELLY'S DIRECTORY OF ESSEX 1933
TOLLESHUNT D'ARCY is a parish and large village, pleasantly seated on an eminence near the estuary of the Blackwater, and on the Kelvedon and Tollesbury light railway, 7 miles south-east from Kelvedon and 9 south-east from Witham stations on the London and North Eastern railway, 49 from London, 7 north-east from Maldon, and 7 east from Langford, in the Maldon division of the county, Thurstable hundred, Witham petty sessional division, Maldon rural district and county court district and in the rural deanery of Witham, archdeaconry of Colchester and Chelmsford diocese. There is a station in the village, on the Kelvedon and Tollesbury light railway of the London and North Eastern Company. The church of St. Nicholas is an edifice chiefly of stone, in the Perpendicular and Decorated styles, and consists of chancel, nave, north aisle, part of which constitutes the D'Arcy chapel, south porch and an embattled western tower containing 6 bells: in the D'Arcy chapel is the stately figure, in brass, of a knight in armour, with an inscription to John de Boys esq. formerly lord of this manor, ob. 15 Aug. 1419; there is also a brass inscription within an ornamental border to Anthony D'Arcy J.P. ob. 18 Oct, 1540, and to this inscription apparently belongs a large nondescript armed figure, which is a 16th or 17th century copy of an early 15th century brass, perhaps that of John de Boys, already mentioned; the inscription is palimpsest, and has on the reverse another inscription in raised black letter to Robert and Maud le Wale, ob. 28 July, 1362; this is now nailed to the wall of the D'Arcy chapel, where also is the palimpsest figure of a lady, possibly representing Katherine, wife of Thomas D'Arcy esq, ob, 7 July, 1535; the reverse of this shows a portion of the lower part of the figure of an abbot or bishop; also nailed to the wall of this chapel is the lower portion of the border of a large Flemish brass, C. 1375, displaying on a background of vine leaves and grapes a series of scrolls, containing clauses from the Apostles' Creed, figures of the Virgin and Child, St. Bartholomew and St. Philip and the emblems of St, Mark and St. Luke; the reverse of this is in part palimpsest and exhibits a similar design, with figures of St. James the Less and St. Thomas and like emblems; in this chapel there is also a large mural 16th century memorial of marble and alabaster, to Sir Thomas D'Arcy and Camylla, his wife, and their three sons and six daughters: there are also four brass shields, two bearing the arms of D'Arcy ; three cinquefoils pierced, another the same impaling FitzLangley and one much broken, apparently D'Arcy impaling two chevrons, perhaps for Tyrrell: in the windows are some shields of arms: in 1880 the church was restored by subscription, at a cost of £450, and has a stained window presented by Joshua Nunn esq. to the memory of the Perry family: the church has about 300 sittings. The register of baptisms dates from 1560, of marriages from 1582, and of burials from 1583. The living is a vicarage, net yearly value £283, with 2 acres of glebe and residence, in the gift of and held since 1879 by the Rev. Robert Vernon Ottley Graves O.B.E., M.A. of St. John's College, Oxford, J. C. Hill esq, is lay impropriator of the great tithes. Here is a Congregational chapel, erected in 1888, seating 200 persons. The poor have the benefit of about £22 yearly, from a charity left by Henry Smith esq. of Tolleshunt D'Arcy, in the year 1626. A horse fair is held on Whit-Monday. The ancient manor of Tolleshunt D'Arcy, otherwise Virley, in which all the copyholds are enfranchised for annual quit-rents amounting to £11, is the property of the Rev. F. W. Bussell D.D. Col. Jeffrey Grimwood Grimwood, Winston Eve esq. the trustees of Smith's charity and the New England Company are the principal landowners. The soil is various; subsoil, loam and gravel. The chief crops are wheat and barley. The area is 4,438 acres of land, 4 of inland and 19 of tidal water and 577 of foreshore; the population in 1931, was 827; the population of the ecclesiastical parish in 1921, was 664.
By Local Government Board Order 22,354, March 24, 1889, Tiptree was transferred from Tollesbury to this parish for civil purposes.
Post, M. O., T. & T. E. D. Office. Letters arrive from Maldon
Railway Station
Conveyance.-Osborne & Sons' omnibuses to Tollesbury, Colchester, Maldon & Witham, daily
TOLLESHUNT KNIGHTS is a scattered parish and seems to be in the line of an ancient Roman way from Maldon to Colchester, as, near Barnwalden, Roman pavements have been dug up; it is 5 miles south-east from Kelvedon station on the main line of the London and North Eastern railway, and has a station on the London and North Eastern Company's light railway from Kelvedon to Tollesbury, 45 miles from London, 9 north-east from Maldon, and 8 east from Witham, in the Maldon division of the county, Thurstable hundred, Witham petty sessional division, Maldon rural district and county court district, and in the rural deanery of Witham, archdeaconry of Colchester and diocese of Chelmsford. The church of All Saints is a building of flint and rubble in the Early English style, consisting of chancel and nave and a western belfry of brick with brick spire, and containing 2 bells: in the chancel is the effigy of a knight in the armour of Richard II. : the church was thoroughly restored in 1878 and a stained west window presented by the late Sir William Neville Abdy, 2nd bart. (d. 1910) ; the stained east window was also a gift: the church has about 250 sittings. The register of baptisms and burials dates from the year 1695 and of marriages from 1696. The living is a rectory, net yearly value £454, with residence, in the gift of the Lord Chancellor, and held since 1923 by the Rev. Francis Ryan Montgomery Hitchcock D.D. of Trinity College, Dublin. Abdy's charity of £10 yearly, arising from lands in Tollesbury, is for bread, and is distributed by the rector and trustees appointed by the Parish Council. Charles John Wilkin J.P. is lord of the manor, and the principal landowners are Wilkin and Sons Ltd. Col. Grimwood, James Campbell esq. and Charles Brown esq. The soil is heavy; subsoil, the same. The chief crops are fruit, strawberries being produced in large quantities owing to the suitability of the soil. The area is 2,246 acres; the population in 1931 was 1,128 ; the population of the ecclesiastical parish in 1921 was 222.
By Local Government Board Order 22,364, March 24, 1888, a detached part of Great Wigborough, known as Paternoster Heath, was added to this parish.
Letters through Maldon, Tiptree is the nearest M. O. & T. office
Omnibuses run daily to & from Maldon & Colchester, & to Chelmsford market on friday
TOLLESHUNT MAJOR (or Magna), an appellative corrupted from one Malger, who held it at the time of the Domesday survey, and sometimes known as "Beckingham," is a parish, 5 miles north-east from Maldon station, 2 miles west of D'Arcy station on the light railway, 8 south-east from Witham and 471 from London, in the Maldon division of the county, Thurstable hundred, Witham petty sessional division, Maldon rural district and county court district and in the rural deanery of Witham, archdeaconry of Colchester and Chelmsford diocese. The church of St. Nicholas, situated half a mile south-east of the village and formerly belonging to the priory of Caldwell Beds, is a building of pudding stone and rubble with Caen stone facings, in the Norman and Early English styles, consisting of chancel, nave, south porch and a western embattled tower of brick, containing 3 bells, one of which bears the legend: VOX EDVARDI SONAT IN AVRE DEI; the 15th century memorials of the Higham family formerly in the church were removed about 1840: there was once a chapel on the north of the chancel, finished 15th Sept. 1609, and containing a stately monument to Stephen Beckingham of Tolleshunt D'Arcy and Avis his wife, daughter of Sir Henry Tyrrel kt. of Therne: the church was restored in 1888 from designs by the Rev, Ernest Geldart, rector of Little Braxted, 1881-1900, at a cost of about £600, when a new vestry and handsome oak porch were added: there are 120 sittings. The register of baptisms dates from 1559; burials, 1559; and marriages, 1561. The living is a vicarage, net yearly value £350, with glebe and residence, in the gift of Sir Charles Anthony King-Harman K.C.M.G. and held since 1927 by the Rev, Arnold Octavius Palmer B.A, of London University. Here is a Congregational chapel, An ancient brick gateway, with four embattled turrets, is all that remains of the Manor House, formerly the seat of the Beckingham family. The New England Company, who are lords of the manor, and Messrs. Bunting Bros. are the principal landowners. The soil is various; subsoil, loam and gravel. The chief crops are wheat, beans and barley. The area is 2,264 acres of land, 1 of inland and 8 of tidal water and 131 of foreshore; the population in 1931 was 370.
Letters through Maldon. Tolleshunt D'Arcy is the nearest M. O. & T. office
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