Place:Rochford Rural, Essex, England

Watchers
NameRochford Rural
Alt namesRochford Rural District
TypeRural district
Coordinates51.59°N 0.74°E
Located inEssex, England     (1894 - 1974)
See alsoRochford District, Essex, Englanddistrict municipality which has covered the area since 1974
the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

Rochford Rural District was a rural district with an area of 146.01 square kilometres in the southeast the county of Essex, England. It was created in 1894, in 1897 the parish of Leigh was removed to create the Leigh on Sea Urban District. In 1926 the parish of Canvey Island was removed to create the Canvey Island Urban District. In 1929 the parishes of Hadleigh, South Benfleet and Thundersley were removed to create the Benfleet Urban District, at the same time the parishes of Rayleigh and Rawreth were removed to create the Rayleigh Urban District.

There were also two mergers of parishes. Great Stambridge and Little Stambridge became Stambridge in 1934, and Barling, Great Wakering and Little Wakering became Barling Magna in 1946.

Since 1 April 1974 the remaining parishes have formed part of the District of Rochford.

Parishes

Parish Duration Description Notes
Ashingdon 1894 - 1974 Ancient parish/Civil parish
Barling 1894 - 1946 Ancient parish/Civil parish merged to form Barling Magna in 1946
Barling Magna 1946 - 1974 Civil parish formed from a merger of Barling, Great Wakering and Little Wakering parishes
Canewdon 1894 - 1974 Ancient parish/Civil parish
Canvey Island 1894 - 1926 Civil parish became Canvey Island Urban District in 1926
Eastwood 1894 - 1974 Ancient parish/Civil parish
Foulness 1894 - 1974 Ancient parish/Civil parish
Great Stambridge 1894 - 1974 Ancient parish/Civil parish became part of Stambridge in 1934
Great Wakering 1894 - 1946 Ancient parish/Civil parish merged to form Barling Magna in 1946
Hadleigh 1894 - 1929 Ancient parish/Civil parish became part of Benfleet Urban District in 1929
Havengore 1894 - 1946 Extra parochial area/Civil parish
Hawkwell 1894 - 1974 Ancient parish/Civil parish
Hockley 1894 - 1974 Ancient parish/Civil parish
Hullbridge 1894 - 1974 Civil parish
Leigh 1894 - 1897 Ancient parish/Civil parish became Leigh on Sea Urban District in 1897
Little Stambridge 1894 - 1974 Ancient parish/Civil parish became part of Stambridge in 1934
Little Wakering 1894 - 1946 Ancient parish/Civil parish merged to form Barling Magna in 1946
North Shoebury 1894 - 1974 Ancient parish/Civil parish
Paglesham 1894 - 1974 Ancient parish/Civil parish
Rawreth 1894 - 1929 Ancient parish/Civil parish became part of Rayleigh Urban District in 1929
Rayleigh 1894 - 1929 Ancient parish/Civil parish became part of Rayleigh Urban District in 1929
Rochford 1894 - 1974 Ancient parish/Civil parish
Shopland 1894 - 1974 Ancient parish/Civil parish
South Benfleet 1894 - 1929 Ancient parish/Civil parish became part of Benfleet Urban District in 1929
South Fambridge 1894 - 1974 Ancient parish/Civil parish
Stambridge 1934 - 1974 Civil parish formed from Great Stambridge and Little Stambridge in 1934
Sutton 1894 - 1974 Ancient parish/Civil parish
Thundersley 1894 - 1929 Ancient parish/Civil parish became part of Benfleet Urban District in 1929

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
This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Rochford Rural District. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with WeRelate, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.