History of South Weald - 1855 Post Office Directory

South Weald, which signifies “the south wood”, is an extensive Parish, containing 5.037 acres, and bisected by the London Road at Brook Street,  2 from Brentwood station, 5 north east from Romford and 17 from London, and seems to have existed in the time of King Harold II, by whom it was given to Waltham Abbey. It is a parish in the Billericay Union and Hundred of Chafford, with a population in 1851, of 1,383, exclusive of Brentwood. The Church is seen from the turnpike road, with handsome tower and 6 bells, and containing some monuments. The living is a vicarage, value £656 yearly, in the gift of the Bishop of Rochester; the Rev C A Belli is incumbent. The impropriator of the great tithes is Christopher Thomas Tower esq, of Weald Hall. The whole parish is entitled to a right of education at Brentwood school. Near the Hall is a chalybeate spring, to which the public are allowed free access. Weald Hall is the residence of Christopher Thomas Tower Esq, remarkable for being the birth place of Queen Mary, and formerly the residence of Sir Anthony Brown, the founder of the Grammar school at Brentwood and almshouses of South Weald; and is a beautiful residence, with a richly timbered park, in which is a flock of Cashmere goats, and a prospect house, commanding a fine view over the surrounding country. Near the park are traces of a single-ditched circular camp. Situated on a fine eminence, about three-quarters of a mile from the Brentwood station, stands the County Lunatic Asylum, seen from the Eastern Counties railway as you approach within half a mile of Brentwood. This building, with the tapering spire of its beautiful little chapel, forms one of the most picturesque objects on the whole line. A full account of the architecture is to be found in the report of Messrs Kendal and Pope, the architects. It is built in the Elizabethan style, richly decorated, and will contain about 500 patients; there are in it at the present time nearly 300. The wards are all of them spacious and airy, and many of them command one of the most extensive and beautiful prospects in the county of Essex. This must be calculated in a higher degree to soothe the mind and charm the fancy of its inmates. The building is approached from the Warley Road by a handsome carriage drive. The grounds by which it is surrounded present, on a small scale, a park-like appearance, by which all ideas of restraint seem as much as possible to be banished from it. There are upwards of 80 acres of land connected with the asylum, a part of which is appropriated as a cemetery for those who die in the asylum, and part laid out as farm and kitchen garden. The farm and garden are cultivated by the patients, under the superintendence of proper attendants. The principal officers of the asylum are – Donald Campbell, Esq, MD, superintendent physician; __ Niven Esq, surgeon; the Rev J Sowter, Theological Association, KCL, chaplain; Mr Shipcote, steward; Mrs Townsend, matron.

At Coxtye Green there is a considerable population