Place:Lexden and Winstree Rural, Essex, England

Watchers
NameLexden and Winstree Rural
TypeRural district
Coordinates51.88°N 0.82°E
Located inEssex, England     ( - 1974)
See alsoColchester (district), Essex, Englandborough into which it was merged in 1974
Lexden and Winstree Rural District was created by the Local Government Act 1894 from the rural sanitary district or districts covering part of the northeast corner of Essex. It was semi-circular in shape, surrounding the County Borough of Colchester and stretching north, west and south to the borders of Halstead, Braintree and Maldon Rural Districts. To the east of Colchester was Tendring Rural District and to the south was its "water boundary" with the Blackwater Estuary. To the north was the County of Suffolk.

Lexden and Winstree Rural District was abolished in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972 and now forms part of the Borough of Colchester.

Image:Lexden and Winstree Rural 1900 15pc.png

Parishes

Map No Parish Duration Description Notes
1 Abberton 1894 - 1974 Ancient parish/Civil parish
2 Aldham 1894 - 1974 Ancient parish/Civil parish
3 Birch 1894 - 1974 Civil parish
4 Boxted 1894 - 1974 Ancient parish/Civil parish
5 Chappel 1894 - 1974 Chapelry/Civil parish
6 Copford 1894 - 1974 Ancient parish/Civil parish
7 Dedham 1894 - 1974 Ancient parish/Civil parish
8 East Donyland 1894 - 1974 Ancient parish/Civil parish
9 Easthorpe 1894 - 1974 Ancient parish/Civil parish
10 East Mersea 1894 - 1974 Ancient parish/Civil parish
11 Eight Ash Green 1894 - 1974 Civil parish
12 Fingringhoe 1894 - 1974 Ancient parish/Civil parish
13 Fordham 1894 - 1974 Ancient parish/Civil parish
merger Great and Little Wigborough 1953 - 1974 Civil parish merger of Great Wigborough and Little Wigborough occurred in 1953
15 Great Horkesley 1894 - 1974 Ancient parish/Civil parish
16 Great Tey 1894 - 1974 Ancient parish/Civil parish
17 Great Wigborough 1894 - 1953 Ancient parish/Civil parish merged with Little Wigborough in 1953
18 Inworth 1894 - 1934 Ancient parish/Civil parish merged with Messing in 1934
19 Langenhoe 1894 - 1974 Ancient parish/Civil parish
20 Langham 1894 - 1974 Ancient parish/Civil parish
21 Layer Breton 1894 - 1974 Ancient parish/Civil parish
22 Layer de la Haye 1894 - 1974 Ancient parish/Civil parish
23 Layer Marney 1894 - 1974 Ancient parish/Civil parish
24 Little Horkesley 1894 - 1974 Ancient parish/Civil parish
25 Little Tey 1894 - 1974 Ancient parish/Civil parish
26 Little Wigborough 1894 - 1953 Ancient parish/Civil parish merged with Great Wigborough in 1953
27 Marks Tey 1894 - 1974 Ancient parish/Civil parish
28 Messing 1894 - 1934 Ancient parish/Civil parish merged with Inworth in 1934
merger Messing cum Inworth 1934 - 1974 Civil parish merger of Messing and Inworth occurred in 1934
30 Mount Bures 1894 - 1974 Ancient parish/Civil parish
31 Peldon 1894 - 1974 Ancient parish/Civil parish
32 Salcot 1894 - 1974 Ancient parish/Civil parish
33 Stanway 1894 - 1974 Ancient parish/Civil parish
34 Tiptree 1894 - 1974 Civil parish
35 Virley 1894 - 1974 Ancient parish/Civil parish
36 Wakes Colne 1894 - 1974 Ancient parish/Civil parish
37 West Bergholt 1894 - 1974 Ancient parish/Civil parish
38 West Mersea 1894 - 1926 Ancient parish/Civil parish became West Mersea Urban District in 1926
UD Wivenhoe 1894 - 1898 Ancient parish/Civil parish became an urban district in 1898
40 Wormingford 1894 - 1974 Ancient parish/Civil parish

Research tips

  • Essex Record Office handles Essex archives within the county. The address is Wharf Road, Chelmsford, Essex CM2 6YT.
  • The Essex Society for Family History covers topics of genealogical interest throughout the present County of Essex (i.e. excluding the western area now in Greater London). Subscription necessary.
  • GENUKI provides a list of towns and parishes leading to pages for individual parishes with useful local information for genealogists and family historians.
  • Wikimedia Commons has a set of maps of the old hundreds of Essex. These do not show the individual parishes within the hundreds.
  • For very detailed investigation Wikimedia Commons also has a series of 176 part maps of the Ordnance Survey 1st series 1:10560, Map of Essex
  • FamilySearch lists its collections of church records and vital records along with those provided by other organizations, both commercial and voluntary.
  • The commercial website FindMyPast also has a collection of wills and newspaper transcriptions, as well as the "1939 Register" (an equivalent to the census gathered at the beginning of World War 2).
  • A Vision of Britain through Time is a website produced by the Department of Geography of the University of Portsmouth. It outlines all parishes as they were in the 19th century.
  • British History Online has transcribed eight volumes of the Victoria County History project for Essex. Seven of these cover the history of parts of the county in great detail, although the project is incomplete for Essex as a whole. Ownership of land through the centuries can often be traced here. The volumes of note are as follows:
Volume 4, Ongar Hundred, including Chipping and High Ongar, Chigwell, Stondon Massey and Theydon Bois (26 parishes in all).
Volume 5, Becontree Hundred outside Greater London. A thematic account of the growth of metropolitan Essex since 1850. Also contains topographical accounts of Barking, Ilford, Dagenham and other areas of Essex now within Greater London.
Volume 6, parishes of Becontree Hundred now within the London boroughs of Newham, Waltham Forest and Redbridge. These include West and East Ham, Walthamstow and Wanstead.
Volume 7, Covers the ancient parishes, formerly within the Liberty of Havering-atte-Bower and now within the London borough of Havering, and those in Chafford hundred in western Essex now bordering London. It includes accounts of Hornchurch, Romford, Havering.
Volume 8, accounts of the parishes of Chafford and Harlow Hundreds, including Brentwood, Harlow and Thurrock.
Volume 9, the Borough of Colchester, describes the life of the oldest and for long the largest town in Essex from the Iron Age to 1990.
Volume 10, Lexden Hundred (part), includes Dedham, Earls Colne and Wivenhoe and other parishes to the north and west of Colchester.
  • As of June 2019 Ancestry (Worldwide subscription required) includes Essex, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812, these early records are from parish registers of baptisms and burials during the years 1538–1812, and marriages during the years 1538-1754. These are in addition to their previous holdings:
  • Essex, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1918: 3,937,941 records
  • Essex, England, Church of England Marriages, 1754-1935: 1,968,439 records
  • Essex, England, Church of England Deaths and Burials, 1813-1994: 730,118 records