Here at ERO we offer an in-house search service, wherein researchers can request archival material to be examined and reported on. This can be ideal for those keen to access historical Essex records that cannot otherwise visit the archives in person. This service can assist with:
Genealogical enquiries We can search our records to help you with your family history, utilising our parish register collection, marriage license bonds, poor law records, estate records, hospital records, school records, manorial court rolls, or any other records which hold details of your ancestors. ERO also has access to services like Ancestry and FindMyPast and so can cross-reference with national indices such as the 1841-1921 census returns and civil registration birth/marriage/death entries. See our guide on starting your Family History for more details.
House history We can search our records for information on the history of properties within Essex. The ERO holds a large collection of pre-1946 building plans, as well as historic maps, pre-registration deeds, electoral registers, and sale catalogues. See our guide on starting your House History for more details.
Transcribing Handwriting We can transcribe wills, deeds, or any other documents from our collection comprised of antiquated script, or otherwise mystifying handwriting. Please note however that we do not offer a translation service so cannot transcribe documents in Latin or any other language.
Any other historical interests If you have interests in other aspects of Essex history, not included in the above categories, there may still be interesting material we can search for you, so please do get in touch for a discussion.
If you are interested in a search, email us at ero.searchservice@essex.gov.uk and we can send a request form over to you. Searches are currently charged at a rate of £43.75 per hour.
Once searches are complete, you will be contacted to make payment either over the phone, or you may wish to pay in advance with a cheque or postal order. We will then email over a written report, outlining everything that was compiled and examined, along with all the information was collected from them*. Where appropriate we can also include photographs of documents. We advise all researchers to first have a look over our online catalogue Essex Archives Online to identify material of potential interest. You can then include the relevant document references on the application form.
*It is always worth remembering that we cannot guarantee positive information from a search, and it may well be that search results are minimal or negative.
Stay tuned for our upcoming monthly series showcasing a selection of case studies that our search service team have worked on. Next month we will be exploring sixteenth century will transcriptions.
To celebrate LGBT+ History Month 2026, Archive Assistant Rhiannon Bush has uncovered some possible lesbian relationships which had a connection to Essex.
Anne Bateman and Elizabeth Tripp
Dowager Viscountess Bateman (born Lady Anne Spencer) was the daughter of Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland and Lady Anne Churchill. She was born in 1702 and baptised at St James, Westminster. Anne married William Bateman in 1720; however, their marriage was reported to be loveless, and they separated in 1738 due to William’s homosexual practices.
It is difficult to find information about Elizabeth Tripp’s birth, but according to the Great Yeldham monumental inscription, she was 74 years old when she died in 1785, making her birth year 1710 or 1711.
Monumental inscriptions of the memorials of Anne Bateman and Elizabeth Tripp located at the parish church of St Andrew, Great Yeldham (T/Z 151/79)
Anne and Elizabeth’s relationship followed William Bateman’s death in 1744. According to Elizabeth’s memorial plaque at Great Yeldham, the two “lived in an uninterrupted course of friendship upwards of forty years”. They both resided in London; Anne lived at Cleveland Row, Westminster and Elizabeth lived at Clarges Street, Piccadilly.
Copy of Anne Viscountess Bateman’s will dated 1751 and proved 1769 (D/DU 204/21)Copy of Anne Viscountess Bateman’s will dated 1751 and proved 1769 (D/DU 204/21)
Anne died in 1769, and she bequeathed £200 to Elizabeth in her will. Sixteen years later in 1785, Elizabeth died and at her request she was buried as close as possible to the remains of Anne. They were both buried at St Andrews church in Great Yeldham.
Great Yeldham, St Andrew burial register entries (D/P 275/1/2)Great Yeldham, St Andrew burial register entries (D/P 275/1/2)
Anne built a house called Spencer Farm (now known as Spencers) in Great Yeldham in 1760 which was funded by her grandfather John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough. However, it is not clear what their connection to Great Yeldham was.
Black and white photograph of Spencer Grange, Great Yeldham (I/Mb 420/1/3)
Zoe Procter and Dorothea Rock
Edith Dorothea Merlet Rock was born in 1881 in Buckhurst Hill to Edward and Isabella Rock. Her sister Madeleine Caron Rock was born in 1884.
Zoe Procter was born 10 September 1867 in Uttar Pradesh, India. Her parents were Montagu Mitchell and Ann Procter. She had three sisters Annie, Mary and Alice and a brother Harry who died before she was born.
Photograph of Dorothea and Madeleine Rock and an unknown woman. This photograph has been digitally restored (T/P 193/13)
In 1891 census, Dorothea was listed at Station Lane, Ingatestone with her family. In the 1911 and 1921 censuses and 1939 register, Dorothea lived at Red House, Station Lane, Ingatestone. Dorothea spoilt the 1911 census entry, but the enumerator appears to have completed the census return at the bottom of the page after that.
Zoe spent her childhood in England. She and her sister Alice stayed with a Mrs Wilson in Bury St Edmunds while their parents were in India, where their father served in the British Indian Army. They moved with Mrs Wilson to Clapham in 1881. She attended school in England and lived in France after her father retired in 1885.
Zoe was private secretary for the writer John Oliver Hobbes which was the pen name of Pearl Mary Teresa Richards (often referred to as “Mrs Craigie”). She later worked for Henrietta Leslie (pseudonym of Gladys Henrietta Schütze) who was a suffragist, pacificist and writer.
Dorothea and Zoe were both members of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) and were committed to the suffrage movement. The pair met in Holloway Prison after their involvement in the 1912 window-smashing campaign in London. In 1916, they joined the Independent Women’s Social and Political Union (IWSPU), a splinter group of the WSPU, where Dorothea served as Assistant Secretary.
According to Zoe’s autobiography, they both moved into 81 Beaumont Mansions in June 1920. They spent summers living at Shepherd’s Corner, Gregory Road, Beaconsfield and winters living in Chelsea (81 Beaumont Mansions).
Zoe died in 1962 aged 94, leaving a substantial estate to Dorothea. Dorothea passed away in 1964, leaving bequests to Grace Chappelow and to Marjorie Potbury.
Katherine Mina Courtauld and Mary Gladstone
Katherine [Katharine] Mina Courtauld was born on 13 July 1856 in Braintree to Mina and George Courtauld. Mary Gladstone was born on 13 November 1856 in Birmingham to Mary and Thomas Gladstone. Katherine and Mary lived together for over fifty years at Knights Farm, Colne Engaine.
Mary and Katherine were first documented together in the 1881 census. Mary was listed as a visitor at Cut Hedge Manor, Gosfield. This was Katherine’s father, George Courtauld’s, property, where Katherine lived with her siblings and their governess. Mary and Katherine were both 24 in 1881.
When Katherine turned 21, her father bought Knights Farm in Colne Engaine for her. In the 1891 and 1901 censuses Katherine and Mary were both listed at Knights Farm, with Katherine listed as the Head and Mary as a Boarder. In the 1911 census, Katherine was listed as the Head of the property, while Mary was listed as Joint Occupier.
Katherine managed the 243-acre Knights Farm independently. She gained her skills assisting with the management of her father’s farm as there were no agricultural schools for women. She kept cattle, pigs and poultry and also had an orchard. She employed several men and women on her farm and housed her employees in cottages on the farm. She also tenanted other land.
“The dairy classes began today and MG and I went down”. Extract from the diary Katherine Courtauld kept to document the year 1900 at Knights Farm (T3269)
Katherine was a notable farmer, appearing in various publications including the Ladies’ Field and was listed in the “farmers” section of the 1908 Home Counties Post Office Directory at Knights, Colne Engaine. She was on several boards and committees and regularly attended meetings. She was President of the Essex Agricultural Show and on the committee of the Essex War Agricultural Committee. She also served on the council of The Women’s Agricultural and Horticultural International Union (later the Women’s Farm and Garden Association). This Association advised women of training and employment opportunities in the agricultural sector. Katherine provided funding so that the Association could buy land near Surrey which was let to female tenants who had agricultural experience and private income. She also provided agricultural education to women at Knights Farm.
Katherine was a dedicated suffragist and was Secretary of the North-West Essex branch of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Society. She spoilt her 1911 census entry, writing “As a householder and ratepayer I deeply resent being denied the privilege of a citizen in the exercise of the parliamentary franchise”. In this census, Alice Geraldine Cooke was listed as a visitor at Knights Farm. Alice’s occupation was noted as “Woman’s Suffrage Organiser” at the National Union Women’s Suffrage Society.
Katherine Courtauld donated The Common Cause suffrage publication to the Halstead Literary and Mechanics’ Institute (D/Z 468/5)Katherine Courtauld donated The Common Cause suffrage publication to the Halstead Literary and Mechanics’ Institute (D/Z 468/5)
Katherine was also involved in local politics. She was parish councillor for Colne Engaine parish council and councillor for Essex County Council.
In the 1920s, Katherine funded several buildings around Colne Engaine, including the village hall which she dedicated to her father and is now called Courtauld Memorial Hall. The Essex Women’s Commemoration Project placed a blue plaque commemorating Katherine Courtauld on the village hall in 2022.
It is not clear how Mary spent her time. Her occupation was listed as “Private Means” in each of the censuses. According to an 1891 Chelmsford Chronicle article, Mary competed at The Essex Agricultural Society Great Show at Maldon in the dog, poultry and pigeon show. She competed with a Scottish terrier dog which could be the dog Katherine is pictured with in an article of Ladies’ Field called Derry.
Katherine died on 5 June 1935 at Knights Farm and Mary appears in her will. Mary died on 15 November 1941, also at Knights Farm. Mary Gladstone gifted a stained-glass memorial for Katherine Courtauld in St Andrew’s Church, Colne Engaine. There also is a memorial dedicated to Mary Gladstone in St Andrew’s Church which was provided by the Courtauld family.
Mary Gladstone’s memorial in St Andrew’s church reads:
“In loving memory of Mary Gladstone who for many years lived at Knights Farm with her lifelong friend Katharine Mina Courtauld and died November 15th 1941. This tablet is placed here by the Courtauld family”
Due to the censorship of LGBT+ people throughout history, we must often make inferences about queer relationships. While each of these couples could have been very good friends, it is equally as possible that they were in a romantic relationship. There is evidence of women in romantic relationships naming their partners in their wills as a means to show their dedication to each other. For example, Lady Eleanor Butler, one of the ladies of Llangollen, bequeathed everything she owned to Sarah Ponsonby in 1829, and Anne Lister bequeathed her entire estate to Ann Walker in 1840. The women above also showed their commitment to each other in their memorial plaques which described lifelong friendships.
To mark the anniversary of the execution of Charles I on 30 January 1649, Archive Assistant Desmond Crone researched the Broomfield Bible which was created for King Charles I and presented to his librarian, Patrick Young.
A document in a sumptuous, embroidered cover showing the Royal Arms, donated to the parish of Broomfield by Sarah Atwood, a granddaughter of Patrick Young, the superintendent of the King’s library, in 1723.
The Bible was almost lost – Richenda Christy in the EssexReview of 1907 quotes a letter of 1892 from Colonel William James Lucas of Witham, member of the Essex Archaeological Society, relating how he had arranged for the font to be restored from the vicarage yard to the church, and also how he had picked up from the floor a volume in a dirty old brown paper cover and feeling the embossed cover through the paper realised that it was not rubbish.
According to Christy’s article, during the years of the Commonwealth Patrick Young lived with his daughter Elizabeth and her husband John Atwood at the Parsonage house in Broomfield, a house that was later inhabited by Philip Morant, the Essex historian.
Note from Sarah Atwood, grandaughter of Patrick Young D/P 248/28/1“This Bible was King Charles the First’s afterwards was my Grandfathers, Patrick Young Esq, who was Library Keeper to His Majesty, now given to the church at Broomfield by me. Sarah Atwood Aug’t the 4th, 1723.”
The Burgess Roll of Dundee in Scotland has been transcribed and annotated by the Friends of Dundee City Archives. It states that Patrick was given the freedom of the Burgh in 1618 having shown “zeal in the service of the commonweal, and for the mode in which he has munificently increased the library of the Burgh.” He was one of the top Greek scholars of his time, and was Librarian to Prince Henry, King James VI and I and King Charles I.
Patrick was born in 1584 and was awarded his MA by the University of St Andrews in 1603. In addition to his role as royal librarian he held various church appointments during his career: he was a chaplain at All Souls College, Oxford and held rectories in Middlesex and Denbighshire as well as the posts of Prebendary and Treasurer of St Paul’s Cathedral in London.
He died at Broomfield in 1652 and is buried in the chancel of the parish church.
There are House of Lords records showing that he was paid a substantial amount for his work for the King to prepare an edition of the Codex Alexandrinus (which he did not complete), one of the earliest and most complete texts of the Bible which came to England in 1628 as a gift to the King from Cyril Lucaris, the Patriarch of Constantinople, presented to Thomas Roe, the English ambassador at the court of the Ottoman Sultan.
‘King Charles I’s Bible at Broomfield’, Richenda Christy. Essex Review 16, 1907, pp. 89-93.
Archive Assistant Desmond Crone describes his selection for this year’s Christmas Curiosity Cabinet – the 1923 Little Baddow Nativity Play, The Guiding Star, by Jesse Berridge.
All over the country parents and families have been enjoying end of term school productions of the story of the Nativity. For many, their school nativity play is their first experience of drama on a stage.
In the UK, the start of the modern tradition – successor to the medieval mystery plays – has been attributed to Laurence Housman. A younger brother of the poet A. E. Housman, the playwright and illustrator wrote a nativity play Bethlehem based on a Coventry mystery play which was first performed in 1902 at the University of London. It was subsequently published by Macmillan and by the 1920s a London production was touring the country and inspiring local productions of the story.
In our display you can see a copy of the text of a nativity play from 1923, performed in Little Baddow Church. It can usually be found in the local studies pamphlet box collection in the searchroom.
The Guiding Star nativity play by Jesse Berridge, 1923 (LIB/E/BADL21)
It was written by Jesse Berridge, Rector of Little Baddow from 1916 until 1947. Berridge was a close friend of Edward Thomas, the writer and poet who died on the Western Front in 1917. They met in 1901, when Jesse was a clerk in a bank in the City of London and Edward (who had recently graduated from Oxford University) was a book reviewer and author. Both had married young and both were writers.
Jesse was born in Warwickshire in 1874, the son of master mariner Captain Henry Berridge. As the family fortunes took a precipitous dive on the captain’s retirement from the sea, Jesse had to leave school before he had turned 16 and joined a bank as a clerk. He was dismissed in 1895 when the bank discovered he had married (junior staff not being permitted to marry), and then spent ten years working for the London agency of the Deutsche Bank. He and his wife had most likely met at the art school which he attended for a time. By 1904, he was running a Christian mission in the Royal Albert Docks and had enrolled as an evening student at King’s College, London to study for the Anglican priesthood. He left the City in 1905 and in 1906 was ordained as a deacon in the diocese of St Albans (the Diocese of Chelmsford was created in 1914). He was curate in Harrow Green, Colchester, Witham, Leyton and Wanstead. In 1915 he was chaplain at the Essex County Asylum in Warley, and in 1916 he became rector of Little Baddow, where he remained until 1947.
Two-page spread of ‘The Guiding Star’ nativity play by Jesse Berridge LIB/E/BADL21
At Little Baddow Jesse introduced the monthly parish magazine, the sharing of Remembrance Day, carol services with the local Congregational church and the annual Nativity play. In the church he uncovered the 14th century wall painting of St Christopher, the Norman north door and the medieval beams in the nave roof. Beyond the parish, he was a member of the council of the Essex Archaeological Society and helped with setting up the Essex Record Office as well as being Cathedral Librarian.
You can find his five historical novels – all set in Essex – in the searchroom.
Curiosity cabinet in the Essex Record Office Searchroom
Grateful acknowledgement: the notes on Jesse Berridge and Edward Thomas come from a volume in the local studies library, The letters of Edward Thomas to Jesse Berridge edited and introduced by Anthony Berridge, London: Enitharmon Press, 1983 (LIB/B/BERR).
This year our volunteers have catalogued over 1000 building plans, primarily from Canvey Island and Southend-on-Sea. Thanks to Annabelle, Ashley, Elizabeth, Freya, Issy, Patrick, Olivia, and Sophie for this monumental achievement!
What are these building plans?
At the ERO we look after hundreds of thousands of building plans, created and collected by architects, owners, and local authorities. The building plans we’re currently cataloguing were submitted to local authorities in the early 1900s. During this period, councils were responsible for making sure that buildings conformed to local bye-laws (for the more detail, see Roger Harper’s Victorian Building Regulations (LIB/690 HAR)). To build a new building – or alter an existing one – you had to send in an application form and your plans to the surveyor of the local council. These were then kept by the council and eventually made their way to us.
What can the records tell us?
Each application will usually include an application form and at least one plan. The application forms are different for each local authority. In this example, from Rochford Rural District Council, the form asks the applicant:
Where the building is: the street name and sometimes the property name, but not always a number
What it is: a bungalow, hotel, casino, or even a simple tool shed
The name and address of the owner, architect, and builder
Various dimensions
The number of rooms
The materials used to build the property
Application form for Eugene E. Lawrence’s bungalow on Trevia Avenue, Canvey Island, 1921 (D/UCi 2/1A/3008)
The forms can also tell us about the application process – on the reverse of this form, the surveyor reminds the applicant that all plans must be drawn “on tracing linen”to a scale of not less than one inch to every eight feet, and submitted “seven days at least”before they are examined by the council.
The plans usually feature:
Elevations and sections: drawings of the building from the front, side, or back
A floor plan: a drawing of the building from above, showing the different rooms
A block or key plan: a drawing of the site from above, showing nearby properties and roads
Plan submitted for Lawrence’s bungalow
Alongside the form and plan(s), sometimes the packet also includes letters between the council surveyor and owner, architect, or builder, and certificates documenting the inspection or completion of the building.
Letter from Miss Jessie McNaughton of Arcadia Tearooms to ‘the surveyor’ stating that the kiosk would “enable me to sell my sweets and tobaccos outside the tea room as they are affected with the steam of cooking inside… I was quite ignorant of the fact that I had to submit a plan being as it is portable and only for the summer months…” (D/UCi 2/4/1981)
If you’re trying to find out more about the building you live in, or the building your ancestors lived in, a building application is a great way to start.
Together, the plans can also reveal a huge amount about how Essex developed over time. Take Canvey Island as an example…
Tell me more about Canvey!
Captivating Canvey: An Isle of Delight in the Mouth of the Silvery Thames c.1927 (LIB/E/CANV55)Plan of Canvey Island by P.G.W. Stokes, c.1930 (D/SZ 32)
People have lived on Canvey Island since the Roman times, when it was home to a large salt-making industry. The Saxons then introduced sheep farming, with the sheep taking refuge from flooding on the ‘red hills’ left by the salt industry. In the 1600s, Canvey’s landowners instigated a Dutch-led project to build a sea wall around the island, making the land more productive. The population of Canvey really took off, though, in the early 1900s, when it became a popular place to visit. Plots of land were sold off to Londoners wanting to escape the city – for the weekend, or for life – and the island community grew from there, reaching several thousand by 1931.
We look after over 70 boxes of building plans for Canvey alone, with each box including 50 to 150 plans. These document the construction of modern Canvey on an incredibly granular level.
Types of buildings
Many of the properties built on Canvey from the 1900s to the 1930s were bungalows (which, sadly, is partly why Canvey was so badly affected by the 1953 North Sea Flood).
We especially loved the range of names people gave them – some of our favourites included The Nook, Maybemaydo, Itsowers, Tarry-A-While, and Waiting.
The Haven on Haven Road, for Mr and Mrs Delviso, 1931 (D/UCi 2/4/1293)Bungalow on Smartt Avenue, for W. Shephard, 1936 (D/Uci 2/4/3483)Alterations to Dickensia on Urmond Road, for Mrs Dickens, 1931 (D/UCi 2/4/1309)
In amongst the many applications for bungalows are applications for other buildings – shops, kiosks, huts, sheds, pubs, and (a rare treat!) cinemas and hotels. There are even some applications for caravans, like The Maple Leaf, pictured here.
Coffee stall on the high street, 1931 (D/UCi 2/4/1325)Plan for ‘Canvey Tavern and Hotel’ for Albion Brewery, 1935 (D/UCi 2/4/2784)Photograph of The Maple Leaf, 1933 (D/UCi 2/4/1994A)
Canvey’s architects and builders
We will be sharing more blog posts about the characters we found in the records, but in the meantime, here are a few of the names we became familiar with. Many of the people listed below are explored in more detail on the Canvey Community Archive website, a wonderful resource for all things related to Canvey’s history.
Architects
Captain W.H. Gregson, who worked on Canvey from at least 1902, and was based at the Lake House (later the Dr Feelgood Music Bar)
Alfred G. Loe, who worked on Canvey from around 1912, initially from his home in Walthamstow and later at his bungalow Carradene
Eugene E. Lawrence, who self-built his bungalow on Trevia Avenue in 1919 (shown above) and went on to design over 200 properties on the island
A.G. Millns, who self-built on Roggel Road in 1920, and ended up designing over 100 properties on Canvey
Thomas McLaren, who worked from the Clock House, where he also ran an emporium selling stationery, photographs, fancy goods, and maps of the island (some of which he drew up himself)
Advert for A.G. Millns, surveyor, valuer, & architectAdvert for The Clock House, run by Thomas McLaren‘Bird’s Eye View of Canvey Island’ by Thomas McLarenAdverts and map from Captivating Canvey, c.1927 (LIB/E/CANV55)
Builders
Alfred Wainwright, master builder, who built properties on Canvey from around 1907
Roland George Francke (based at Inglenook, on Fairlop Avenue) and William Johnstone (at Rudyard, on Arcadia Road, and then the Clock House), both active from the mid-1920s
H. Price Powell and Hubert Redman, who worked as builders and estate agents from the 1920s
Frederick Fisk, who specialised in brick buildings in the early 1920s and went on to own and build a number of properties, including the Maison Wyck estate
Susan Fielder and her son Horace Fielder, who bought land on Canvey and, from the mid-1920s, went on to build over 1,000 properties on the island
Adverts from Captivating Canvey, c.1927 (LIB/E/CANV55) and The Guide to Canvey Island, c.1930 (LIB/E/CANV56), as well as a letter from Frederick Fisk, 1937
A special mention also goes to…
The surveyors of Canvey Island Urban District Council – H.J. Sidwell, C.R. Butcher, and especially P.G.W. Stokes, whose rigorous enforcement of the bye-laws goes against the assumption that Canvey Island was like the wild west of planning at this time. In one letter regarding a bungalow on Van Diemens Pass (D/UCi 2/4/1359), Stokes wrote that:
“…the whole position [of the building] is unsatisfactory and I suggest you call at this Office as soon as possible and put the matter in order.”
That doesn’t mean that the owners and architects didn’t push back – in another letter, the architect Eugene E. Lawrence argues against Stokes’ “unreasonable” disapproval of some of his plans, “given his representatives had seen exactly what they constituted” (D/UCi 2/4/1154).
There were also an unusually high number of applications, especially in the early 1900s, from individuals who owned, designed, and built their own properties – including the enterprising friends Henry Perkins and Alfred Barnes, who bought two ex-army huts at Hornchurch in 1921 and applied to re-erect them on Hornsland Road, Leigh Beck.
Letter from Alfred Barnes on behalf of himself and Henry Perkins, and plans of the army huts, 1921 (D/UCi 2/1A/2936)
What information can be found on the catalogue?
When cataloguing archive material, it is always difficult to decide what information to include on the catalogue, and what to leave out – bearing in mind that, in Canvey’s case, there are over 70 boxes to get through.
Using the application for Twilldoo, on Lottem Road, as an example, the information we have put on the catalogue includes:
Dates: Submitted 27 Jul 1931; disapproved 31 Jul 1931 (poor Mrs Mate – some of the plans were indeed disapproved)
Packet, application, and plan for addition to Twilldoo, 1931 (D/UCi 2/4/1209)
How can I find a specific plan?
To search for a specific plan, go to Essex Archives Online and search for ‘building plan’ and the street name you’re interested in.
The results will be organised by the ERO reference. If you know when the building you’re interested in was built, you can organise the search results by date, which might make it easier to find if there are a lot of results.
If you search the catalogue and don’t find what you’re looking for, we might still have the plan – it might just not have been catalogued yet.
For Canvey Island, we have catalogued:
All of the individual plans relating to Canvey Island that were submitted to Rochford Rural District Council between 1902 and 1926:
21 January 1902 – 16 February 1915 (reference D/UCi 2/1)
3 October 1916 – 30 March 1912 (reference D/UCi 2/1A)
2 October 1923 – 23 March 1926 (reference D/UCi 2/1B)
Some of the individual plans submitted to Canvey Island Urban District Council from 1927 onwards (all reference D/UCi 2/4):
2 March 1927 – 19 October 1927
23 June 1931 – 18 January 1932
29 May 1933 – 15 July 1933
21 January 1935 – 12 February 1935
7 July 1936 – October 1936
We are in the process of cataloguing more boxes, so this will be updated in due course. In the meantime, if you’re looking for another year, or a specific street, you might be able to check the council’s registers of plans. You could also use our search service to look into it for you.
What if I’ve found the catalogue record for the plan I’m interested in, but want more detail?
You would be more than welcome to view the building plan in person, in our searchroom. Find out more about visiting us on our website.
Alternatively, if you’ve found the catalogue record for the plan, you can order a digital copy. This can be done through an online form.
Would you like to find out more about the history of your house? Take a look at our guide to house history!
We recently shared more information about over 2,000 settlement papers on Essex Archives Online for the parishes of Boreham (D/P 29), Dedham (D/P 26), Coggeshall (D/P 36), and Hatfield Broad Oak (D/P 4). Archive assistant Hannah Crunden-Jones tells us more…
Like all historical research, there is a sense working at ERO that the work is never done. There is always something more to add, or catalogue, or read about, to further enrich the information that we can provide visitors to our Searchroom. The continual work to individually catalogue our settlement papers is one such example, and an ongoing project. In what could be viewed as the third instalment to our settlement series (see the first two, ‘‘The secrets of settlement papers’ and ‘An introduction to settlement papers’ by David Perkins), this post aims to both provide an update as to what has been going on and emphasise the value of this cataloguing and the possibilities it provides.
As a recap, settlement papers were documents relating to one’s right to legal settlement in a certain parish. These are made up of settlement certificates which proved that someone had settlement and so could receive poor relief, removal orders which ordered individuals to be removed from a parish to where they had settlement, and examinations which recorded the lives of those applied for poor relief but did not have legal settlement.
St Mary the Virgin, Hatfield Broad Oak, 1819 (I/Mb 171/1/17)
These documents are hugely valuable in helping us gain at least a partial insight into poor relief from the 17th to the 19th century. However, the volume of these materials is enormous; at the ERO we hold records for hundreds of parishes throughout Essex and subsequently thousands of settlement papers. While the records for some parishes have been catalogued, for others it has been impossible to search specifically for individuals who feature in these documents, with searchers needing to go through multiple documents to find what they are looking for. Now, as part of an ongoing project that aims to improve our pre-existing catalogue, it is becoming increasingly easy to look through our settlement papers and find individuals, who are starting to be catalogued – and named – individually. We have also been working to ensure that wives and children, where possible, are identified and named.
Alongside the papers from Rayleigh and Hadleigh that had previously been added to our catalogue, searchers can now explore those from Boreham (D/P 29), Dedham (D/P 26), Coggeshall (D/P 36), and Hatfield Broad Oak (D/P 4), with more parish settlements due to be added in the coming months. The volume of newly searchable records is great: a total of 2041 settlement papers, making research at the Essex Record Office increasingly streamlined. It also provides further ease for searchers working on family histories to track ancestors over time more precisely rather than looking through a multitude of uncatalogued documents. Used in tandem with our parish registers, it is now possible to uncover a rich history of movements and relationships.
As discussed in previous posts, the settlement papers do not provide historians with a personable or emotional account of one’s life, but they do provide a window into the factual movements and whereabouts of more ordinary folk. This also contributes to a diversification of the archive, and consequently a richer source of information for the past. Already visitors have been utilising our updated catalogue to aid research into family histories and have discovered a great amount of information through the settlement papers, and we are excited to watch this continue.
Exploring these records during the cataloguing process has been an illuminating experience, shedding light on the stories and movements of those living in Essex between the 1600s and 1800s. It is particularly interesting to spot the same names appearing multiple times in removal orders. An example of this can be seen in the removal orders for Hatfield Broad Oak, where Israel Searle, his wife Louisa, and their children had been removed from parishes of Middlesex to Hatfield Broad Oak (D/P 4/13/3B/133, 135, 136).
In both December 1836 and July 1838, the family was removed from Little Stanmore and Staines respectively and returned to Hatfield Broad Oak where Israel was legally settled. As his wife, Louisa obtained settlement status from her husband, and their children inherited their father’s place of settlement from their father, so this example of the whole family moving together is a common one. In 1838, Israel Searle was removed alone from Enfield, where he was residing in the Union Workhouse in Edmonton, back to Hatfield Broad Oak. This individual removal order provides further interesting details, mentioning that eighteen months previously he had been removed from the parish of Edgware. Not only are our settlement papers useful for research into individuals, but also for social or economic research.
Removal order of Israel Searle from Enfield Workhouse to Hatfield Broad Oak (D/P 4/13/3B/135)
One of the largest parishes currently catalogued is Coggeshall, with nearly 1000 settlement documents. Given Coggeshall’s reasonable proximity to the road into London, and its connections to the wool trade, one could suggest that movements in and out of the parish to other areas of London and Kent were more common than that from smaller parishes, and the opportunity to become established and successful elsewhere a more realistic possibility. For instance, in 1825 was the removal of “Caroline wife of Robert Hume… (who has deserted her) with their three children” from Bromley in Middlesex to Coggeshall (D/P 36/13/3/95). Like the situation of Lousia above, Caroline’s settlement status was obtained by her husband, returning her and her children to Essex to receive poor relief despite Robert’s unknown whereabouts. This situation was not uncommon and demonstrates further examples of the benefits of settlement papers in documenting the role and rights of women throughout history.
Removal order of Caroline Hume and children from Bromley, Middlesex to Coggeshall (D/P 36/13/3/95)
New information about settlement papers is being added to Essex Archives Online on a regular basis. Please enquire with staff for updates and further information, or if there is a certain parish you would like us to catalogue next!
“During the Second World War, there must have been more than a hundred community efforts up and down the country, each with their own little group of folk, each building their own Jerusalem. Their histories have not been written, but one day, diaries and journals might be available, and when they are, we can learn much of the effort and idealism poured out by groups of all kinds.”
‘Community Life’, Joe Watson, c.1949
The Essex Record Office is proud to announce the launch of a new archive that sheds light on one of Britain’s largest and longest-running pacifist communities:Frating Hall Farm, active from 1943 to 1954.
Harvest festival in the barn at Frating Hall Farm, 1947, taken by Douglas Went Studios, Brightlingsea (D/DU 3663/5)
About Frating Hall Farm
Featured in Ken Worpole’s acclaimed book No Matter How Many Skies Have Fallen (Little Toller Books, 2021), Frating Hall Farm was one of many pacifist communities established in Britain during the Second World War.
The origins of the community lay in the Adelphi Centre at Langham, which became a hub for socialist and pacifist thinkers in the 1930s under the leadership of the writers John Middleton Murry and Max Plowman. After the centre disbanded, a small party led by the charismatic Consett steelworker Joe Watson left to build ‘their own Jerusalem’ at Frating Hall Farm.
Over the next decade, the farm became a home, sanctuary, and gathering place for dozens of people, from those who lived and worked there to the many pacifists, refugees, writers, poets and musicians who visited. As member Leila Ward wrote in 1946, it was a place of ‘comradeship amongst the frozen cabbages’, which drew people together through their shared commitment to cultivating a new way of life on the land.
“From north, south, east and west we come to Frating… The politician is here and the intellectual; the musician and the poet; the worker and the-one-who wants-a-bit-of-a-push-now-and-then; in fact, we are a seemingly haphazard collection of individuals, with all the usual failings of humans and with their capacity for being great at odd times.”
Frating Hall Community (1949)
About the archive
The newly assembled archive gathers together a wide range of material, including:
Frating Hall Farm Society reports, accounts and publications; a yearly record of the joys and challenges of managing the farm and the contributions of individuals involved
Over 750 letters, offering an intimate window into the people and relationships that shaped the community, as well as their connections to the wider world
Dozens of photographs, capturing everyday life at the farm in addition to the busy – and much-loved – calendar of festivals, celebrations, and performances
Biographical writing, including the papers of Joe Watson
Ken Worpole’s interviews with people who grew up in the community at Frating
Together, the archive offers a deeply personal insight into the lives of members of the community and the broader currents of pacifism, co-operative farming, and communal life in the mid-twentieth century.
“We wanted to found a pacifist, socialist and Christian community and demonstrate to the world that cooperation, and sharing could produce greater happiness and blessedness than individual strivings – that all you threw into the melting point would be returned to you sevenfold.”
Letter from Trevor Howard to his daughter Katherine, 1962
The archive includes contributions from the families of:
Joe and Doris Watson, whose papers span their early married life in County Durham in the 1930s to their time at Prested Hall, near Colchester, in the 1950s. Includes a significant collection of correspondence, with letters from John Middleton Murry, Frank Lea, Jack Common, Shirley Williams, and the composer William Wordsworth. Reference: D/DU 3663
Joe and Doris Watson at the harvest festival at Frating Hall Farm in 1947; this photograph was published in an article on Frating in Peace News, titled ‘Community From Within and Without’ (D/DU 3491/2/3/1)
Derek Crosfield and Marian Thomas, who met in the community and took over the management of the farm in the 1950s. Highlights include reports and letters from Frating Hall Farm Society, family photographs, and a detailed map of the farm. Reference: D/DU 3491
Marian’s son, Martyn Thomas, at Frating Hall farm in the late 1940s (D/DU 3491/5/2/4)
Trevor Howard and Enid Whitmore,a young couple who married at Frating in 1943 and raised their family there. Includes family photographs and over 50 letters between Trevor and Enid while Trevor was helping to establish the community. Reference: D/DU 3492.
Trevor and Enid Howard on their wedding day at Frating Hall Farm, 1943 (D/DU 3492/6/2)
Helen Johnson, a Cambridge student who volunteered at Frating during university holidays. Comprises 8 letters about her time at the farm in 1950, sent to her future husband Arthur Fox. Reference: D/DU 3493.
L-R: Shirley Williams, Derek Crosfield, Ray Smith, and Helen Johnson with a potato planter at Frating Hall Farm, 1947. In a letter to his brother, Noel, Ray wrote that the day the photograph was taken was especially cold, with Shirley – down at Frating for Easter with her mother, Vera Brittain – in borrowed clothes, including Ray’s raincoat and Irene Palmer’s boots.
“Jeanne showed me up to my room after supper, a nice one only recently vacated by the marriage of its occupant, with a clean white cloth on the dressing table, a pot of geraniums in the window, a vase of sweet peas on the cloth and a ring bowl of some sort of red blossom with shiny dark green leaves on the other chest of drawers… It’s very pleasant to have a sort of second home to come to, even if one does have to work rather hard.”
Letter from Helen Johnson, 13 June 1950
Accessing the archive
You can search the Frating archive on our online catalogue, Essex Archives Online. The catalogue gives a description of each item in the archive and includes digital images of key reports and publications, as well as some photographs and letters.
Original material can be accessed in the searchroom at the Essex Record Office, on Wharf Road in Chelmsford. It is free to visit the searchroom and there is no need to book an appointment in advance, but you do need an Archives Card to order items to look at.
The archive exists thanks to the generosity of the depositors – Pat Smith, Katherine Weaver, Martyn Thomas, and Andrew Fox – and the dedicated research and ongoing support of Ken Worpole.
It was catalogued by Rielly Kitchener, an MA Placement student funded by the University of Essex and the Friends of Historic Essex, and Essex Record Office volunteers.
Frating archive depositors and Ken Worpole at the Essex Record Office, October 2025
“We have grown in stature and I believe our roots are taking firm hold in this plot of earth we call ours. Joy we have had in full measure, trials and tribulations to keep us humble, but also to bind us together. Children to comfort and plague us, new members to strengthen our bulwarks, old friends to be glad to join us – and good crops to maintain us.”
‘There are old men yet dwelling in the village where I remain which have noted…three things too much increased. One is the multitude of chimneys lately erected, whereas in their young days there were not above two or three…but each one made his fire against a reredos in the hall where he dined and dressed his meat’. So wrote William Harrison in ‘The Description of England’ in 1587.
But why were chimneys becoming more common in this period, and how did the design and style of the chimney change over time?
Exterior of Chadwell Farm, Birdbrook (I/Ha 19/1/3)
According to the Oxford England Dictionary, the word ‘chimney’ is thought to derive from the latin word ‘caminus’ meaning furnace or oven. Historically, the word ‘stalk’ was used to describe the part of the chimney visible above the roof, with a group of chimney stalks being known as a ‘stack’.
Fires were an essential element of the home from the earliest dwellings, for providing both heat and light, and for the preparation of food. By the medieval period, most houses in Essex would have had the fire in the centre of the home or hall, where the smoke would leave through an opening in the roof. These were not usually that effective, and one can only imagine the smoky atmosphere in living dwellings at this time.
Exterior of Sparrow’s Farm, Terling (I/Ha 196/1/14)
It was during the medieval period that there was a move from fireplaces in the centre of a room to being at a side wall, which would make it easier to channel the resulting smoke through a funnel or hood. These are likely to have initially been made of wood and plaster. This would have been more effective than the simple hole in the roof previously used. As smoke was more successfully removed from the building, rather than much of it remaining in the upper areas of the building, it meant further rooms could become functional closer to the roof giving an increase to a second floor of rooms. The increase of internal walls meant the fireplace(s) would often still be in the centre of the building during this period. By the chimney being placed here it meant the heat would be carried to the rooms on the upper floor, as well as providing a support for the structure. The Chimney shafts visible above the roof during the late medieval period were octagonal or circular and these stylistic fashions can help date chimneys still visible today.
Exterior of Boynton Hall, Finchingfield (I/Ha 83/1/15)
The chimneys in the Tudor period remained in the centre of the building. Brick chimney shafts were being added to high status dwellings by the mid-fifteenth century. These would have been highly decorated in the interior of the house and during the sixteenth century this appears to have extended to outside of the house, leading to some of the beautiful decorative brick chimneys we can still see. Brick was an expensive material during the Tudor period, so if you could display a large and ornate chimney it was a real display of wealth.
Exterior of house at Tindon End, Great Sampford (I/Ha 176/1/3)
After the hearth tax was introduced in 1662, householders were charged 2 shillings per year for every hearth in their property. This further reinforced the importance of the chimney as a visible status symbol. Some houses had chimney stalks that were never even connected to a fireplace, purely for the illusion of housing multiple hearths. The Hearth Tax was incredibly unpopular, and was repealed in 1689 as promised by William of Orange, at the beginning of his reign. By the end of the 17th century the popular style of chimneys had changed to square chimneys, set ‘diamond-wise’ or concertina style. As the design of larger houses changed to accommodate a central staircase, chimneys began to be placed at the ends of the property.
Exterior of Upper Hall, Matching (I/Ha 133/1/6)
The rise in the prominent use of coal as a fuel for the fire in the 18th and 19th centuries led to the need for more efficient channelling of smoke out of the living areas. Chimney pots, which sit on top of the chimney stalk were found to be effective for this by increasing the height of the chimney stalk which enhances the natural draught.
During the Victorian era, with the increase of large quantities of identical terraced housing, there was a desire to personalise property exteriors, especially chimney pots. There are literally thousands of different chimney pot designs, which range from the simple to the truly elaborate; with a variety of shapes and styles.
With the dawn of alternative heating systems such as electricity and gas, the popularity of the traditional chimney declined during the twentieth century. In some cases chimneys were removed entirely. In recent years there has been a resurgence in the chimney once more.
It’s fascinating how the humble chimney is intrinsically entwined with the design of dwellings and that the chimneys that survive to this day give clues as to the date and history of their buildings.
There are many and varied chimneys shown in the photographs of the Hayllar Collection, a collection of more than 2000 photographs, mostly showing architecture and buildings across more than 250 parishes in Essex taken between 1920 and 1950. Throughout this post are a small selection of these showing some truly beautiful and interesting chimneys.
If you’re interested in finding out more about chimneys:
Ferguson, Catherine, Thornton, C. and Wareham, A. (ed) 2012, Essex Hearth Tax (British Record Society)
Edelen, G. (ed) 1994, William Harrison: The Description of England (Folger Shakespeare Library)
Priestley, H. 1970, The English Home (Frederick Muller Ltd.)
Today happens to be international chess day. Chess is a strategy game with a long and abstract past which is difficult to trace with historical accuracy, though scholars often classify it as a common ancestor of Chaturanga, an Indian strategy game which emerged around the 7th century. The game spread through the Arab world, eventually finding its way to Europe. Chess has long been practiced on the British Isles: the earliest known surviving chess-sets are the 12th century Lewis Chessmen, a set of 78 ivory carved pieces found on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland in 1831. English Folklore depicts John, King of England (1199-1216), as a prodigious yet highly emotional chess player, and we know from surviving archives that English monarchs, Charles I and Henry VIII chief among them, personally owned boards and pieces.
In this vein, we turn to a will from our own collections. This is a will from 1557, for a Robert Cocke of Dedham (D/ABW 8/265). His profession is not provided, and the main body of the will follows the standard legal formula, but there are several indications that this is a well-educated man of some wealth. Most interestingly, as we proceed down his list of bequests, something unusual appears.
Item I gyve & bequeathe unto Matthew Cock & Robert Cock my Virgynall* & ____ chesse board & chesse men…
Extract from the will of Robert Cocke “chesse board & chesse men” highlighted with yellow star
It is really interesting to see a chess set mentioned in this context. Clearly it is something of great value, financially and psychologically. Perhaps Robert practiced openings and end game strategies with his two sons in their leisure time, instructing on the values of patience and sacrifice. Were the pieces the work of a carpenter or a stonemason? At what point were they lost? or do fragments of their visage persist in dusty garrets and vaulted tombs?
Close-up of “chesse board & chesse men”
*A Virgynall is a kind of early harpsichord, often embellished with finery and gold trimmings, with a sound characteristic of the Baroque period. Essex’s first county archivist, F.G. Emmison, was a champion of this obscure instrument – more on this will follow in future blog posts…
A post by David Perkins, who catalogued the settlement papers for Rayleigh and Hadleigh last year as part of an MA Placement, funded by the University of Essex and the Friends of Historic Essex. Read about his experience in his previous blog post.
The Essex Record Office holds a vast collection of settlement papers covering the majority of parishes from across the county. The settlement papers for these parishes contain documents relating to an individual’s or family group’s right to, or place of, legal settlement. Ranging from the late seventeenth century to the early nineteen century, settlement papers offer unique details and a window into the lived reality of the common person who is otherwise lost to history.
A brief history of settlement papers
Prior to the English Reformation, care for those who were unable to support themselves was, in the main, provided for through the Catholic Church. However, with the closing of many religious houses in the sixteenth century, and with them the manpower, facilities, and above all the finances, the care and relief of those in need fell to the residents of the local parish.
From 1536 the Act For Punishment of Sturdy Vagabonds and Beggars (27 Henry VIII c. 25) stated that the churchwardens of each individual parish were required to collect voluntary alms from the parishioners to then be used to relieve the poor of the same parish, with the giving of casual alms then becoming legally banned, save a few exceptions.
The 1552 Act For the Relief of the Poor (5 & 6 Edw. VI c. 2) required that a collector of alms, rather than the churchwardens specifically, was to be chosen from amongst the parish to be responsible for managing the finances of the parish’s poor relief. Also, that a register of the impotent poor – those who were unable to work through injury, illness, or old age – should be recorded and kept.
Although many people in every parish across the country were willing, as part of their Christian duty of charity, to give alms and support to those in need, there were many who were not as willing to actively give donations. The state did not have the funds to take direct control of poor relief, so to ensure that there was money available at the parish level the 1563 Act For the Relief of the Poor (5 Eliz. I c. 3) ensured that those who did not voluntarily contribute financially were to be examined by the Justices of the Peace on their ability to donate, and then forced to do so if they were found to be able.
Since it was the parishioners who were giving their own money to their fellow parishioners, there was a clear delineation by society on who was deserving and who was not. Once a deserving person had been identified there then came the question of whether that deserving person was from the parish. If so, they were then considered eligible as a recipient of relief from the parish.
A means to act as confirmation of which parish an individual belonged to was created following the 1662 Act For the better Relief of the Poor of this Kingdom [Act of Settlement] (13 & 14 Car. II c. 12), whereby an individual was examined by two Justices of the Peace of the parish to assess whether they had legal settlement in that parish. Those found not to have legal settlement could either be removed to their parish of legal settlement, or the hosting parish could collect poor relief from the other parish and distribute it to the guest parishioner.
Legal settlement in a parish could be acquired at birth or gained through actions. Settlement was patriarchal, and so a girl or unmarried woman’s legal settlement would be that of her father, and a married woman’s that of her husband. A child born to a mother away from her home parish, for example, would still have had their place of legal settlement as being where their parents had their place of legal settlement, not the parish being visited. Legal settlement could otherwise be gained by completing an apprenticeship, working in the parish for one continuous year (as is commonly seen in the settlement examination documents as being counted from the hiring at Michaelmas (29 September) through to the Michaelmas following), or by renting a property, or properties, for £10 or more per year.
The settlement papers held at the Essex Record Office are then what remains of each parish’s collection of the legal and official settlement documents created following the aforesaid 1662 Settlement Act.
What types of documents are there?
Settlement certificates were issued to individuals and family groups as proof of that person’s place of legal settlement. That parish was then liable to give that person or group poor relief should they become in need of it. If a holder of a settlement certificate moved to work in another parish, the certificate would give the new parish the legal peace of mind that they would not become liable for that person poor relief. If a person was found seeking poor relief in a parish that was not their place of legal settlement, or if they did not possess a settlement certificate, they could be denied poor relief and returned to their place of legal settlement. Settlement certificates can include: the name(s) of who is being given settlement; their age(s); the place where they are coming from; and in the case of pregnant unmarried woman, a note on the child’s paternity.
Settlement certificate for Martha Dawson and her son, 1730 (D/P 332/13/1A/67)
Settlement examinations were testimonies, sworn on oath, given by an individual to ascertain their place of legal settlement, and therefore which parish was liable for providing them with poor relief. They were conducted by two Justices of the Peace. Settlement examinations can include: the name(s) of who is being examined; their age(s); their place of birth; their parents’ names and place of legal settlement; apprenticeship details (such as how long the apprenticeship was, whether they completed it, if they were indentured, who they were indentured to, and the name and parish of the apprentice master); their employment history (including when, who employed them, their wage, and length of service); the history of any property or land they may have owned, rented, or leased (including when, who from, and the cost); when they were married, where they were married, and who they married (often only the first name of the wife is given in a settlement examination for a man, but the full name of the husband is always given in a settlement examination of a woman); when their spouse died; and the names and ages of any children that would be living with the examined person. The settlement status of any older children that had left home may also be noted.
Settlement examination of William Martin, 1774 (D/P 332/13/4/43)
Removal orders were issued by a parish to remove a person or persons away from the parish to the place of their legal settlement. Removal orders can include: the name(s) of who is being removed; the age(s) of who is being removed (children in particular); and the parish to where they are being removed to. In cases where the person is unable to be removed due to sickness or injury, a removal suspension order can be attached. It is also noted when the person sufficiently recovered, or if the person died during the time of the removal suspension order being in place.
Removal order for Mark Pansey from Beaumont to Rayleigh, 1834 (D/P 332/13/3/90)
What can I use settlement papers for?
Settlement papers are historically important documents that are highly informative and provide windows into the lives of many people. The personal and familial information given in settlement papers is an invaluable source for both historians of family history and genealogists alike. Unlike, say, baptismal or marriage records, settlement papers not only give the empirical information, such as name and date, but provide information about a person’s working life, their wages, their expenditure on rent, or their movements between different parishes – information that is otherwise not recorded anywhere else.
Aside from the information about the people stated in the documents, the documents themselves can also be used by the historian or researcher in a myriad of different ways. As informative as the prima facie information on the documents is, they also reveal information about the mechanism of legal settlement and poor relief. The physical attributes and manufacture of the documents themselves can be of benefit to the historian of material culture, too. The very fabric from which the paper is made, the watermark, who printed and sold the document, or even in some cases clear evidence of the recycling of paper, be that pages cut from a tax ledger or using the reverse side of a lost dog poster, can provide information extrinsic of the document purpose but nevertheless valuable in its own right.
Although the details contained within the settlement papers is information given by the named person, it is important to bear in mind that that information was not written down by the person giving that information, but rather by the parish officials. Settlement papers, although accurate in what they record, do not give a true voice to the person named therein. As they are official, legal documents, they are to some degree formulaic and regular, and seldom allow for a more detailed account of a person’s existential existence. We cannot hear the individual’s voice in settlement papers; we only read the pertinent facts. The only occasion when we can see the physical presence of the named person is with their sign or signature. And although a small detail, the inscribed mark, whether that be an X or a well-formed signature, provides a tangible link to that person in that document at that time.
John Poynter’s signature on his settlement examination, 1806 (D/P 332/13/4/247)
