HINCKFORD HUNDRED.
HINCKFORD is the largest Hundred in Essex, averaging about 15 miles in length and breadth, but of an irregular figure. It is bounded on the north and north-east (except for about three miles) by the winding stream of the river Stour, which divides it from Suffolk; on the west, by Freshwell and Dunmow Hundreds ; on the south, by Witham Hundred; and on the south-east, by Lexden Hundred. The rivers Stour, Colne, Pant (or Blackwater), and Brain, flow here through fertile and picturesque valleys, and receive in their courses many tributary streams. The Hundred is fertile, well wooded, and beautifully undulated, and it contains many neat villages and handsome seats, and the market towns of Braintree and Halstead; and those of Sudbury, Clare, and Haverhill, in Suffolk, adjoin its northern borders. It is traversed by good turn-pike and parish roads, and has Branch Railways extending from Yeldham and Halstead, from Sudbury, and from Braintree, to the Eastern Counties Railway. An Act was obtained in 1861 for a railway from Braintree to Bishop Stortford. In various parts of it are about 300 acres of hop plantations. The Hundred is all in the Northern Parliamentary Division of Essex, and most of it is in Braintree and Castle Hedingham Polling Districts . It is in the Diocese of Rochester and Archdeaconry of Colchester, and in the DEANERY OF HEDINGHAM, now divided into the Rural Deaneries of Belchamp, Bocking, Halstead, and Yeldham .
The HIGH CONSTABLES of Hinckford Hundred are- Messrs. J. H. Nunn, of Yeldham, for the North Division ; and G. W. Harris, of Halstead, for the South Division . HINCKFORD POLICE DIVISION has police stations at Braintree, Halstead, and Castle Hedingham, and Conservative Club has a long list of members, and holds its annual meetings at Castle Hedingham, where some of the leading Conservative statesmen usually attend its annual festival. Mr. J. M. Balls is the secretary.
The following enumeration of the 46 parishes, three hamlets , &c , of this extensive Hundred shows their territorial extent, their population in 1861, and the annual value of their lands and buildings, as assessed to the county rate in 1848 :-
PARISHES, &c. ACRES, Population in 1861
Alphamstone 1531 Acres, 317
Ashen 1452 Acres, 340
Ballingdon 813 Acres, 861
Belchamp Otten 1688 Acres, 375
Belchamp St. Paul’s 2499 Acres, 832
Belchamp Walter 2080 Acres, 708
Birdbrook 2330 Acres, 616
||Braintree 2242 Acres, 4620
||Borley 750 Acres, 190
||Bocking 4198 Acres, 3555
Bulmer 2705 Acres, 758
Bumpstead Steeple 3279 Acres, 1295
Bures hamlet 1520 Acres, 662
Felsted 5969 Acres, 1715
|| Finchingfield 8011 Acres, 2440
Foxearth 1582 Acres, 490
||Gestingthorpe 2609 Acres,
Gosfield 2966 Acres,
Halstead 5424 Acres,
Haverhill hamlet 654 Acres, 257
Hedingham Castle 2431 Acres, 1203
Hedingham Sible 5248 Acres, 2123
Henny Great 1096 Acres, 363
Henny Little 409 Acres, 81
Kedington hamlet 723 Acres, 104
Lamarsh 1210 Acres, 329
Liston 631 Acres, 95
Maplestead Great 1892 Acres, 462
Maplestead Little 1063 Acres, 325
Middleton 896 Acres, 133
Ovington 700 Acres, 152
|| Panfield 1475 Acres, 308
Pebmarsh 1978 Acres, 653
Pentlow 1804 Acres, 397
Rayne 1649 Acres, 401
Ridgwell 1663 Acres, 795
Saling Great 1651 Acres, 361
Shalford 2407 Acres, 760
Stambourne 1840 Acres, 537
Stebbing 4143 Acres, 1345
Stisted 2967 Acres, 821
|| Sturmer 925 Acres, 351
Tilbury-juxta Clare 925 Acres, 232
|| Toppesfield 3246 Acres, 1045
| Twinstead 977 Acres, 193
Wethersfield 4101 Acres, 1727 6596
||Wickham St. Paul 1225 Acres, 409 1975
Yeldham Great 1793 Acres, 696 3185
Yeldham Little 919 Acres, 307 1362
TOTAL 106,280 Acres, 44,810
Belchamp Walter return includes the small extra-parochial places called NorthWood and North End.
+Ballingdon is in the Borough of Sudbury.
Bures, Haverhill, and Kedington parishes are mostly in Suffolk.
+Bocking return included 185 in Braintree Union Workhouse.
|| The 28 parishes marked thus || are in the Liberty of the Duchy of Lancaster.
UNIONS : -Alphamstone, Ballingdon ; Belchamp Otten, St. Paul, and Walter ; Borley, Bulmer, Bures, Foxearth, Gestingthorpe, Great and Little Henny, Lamarsh, Liston, Middleton, Pentlow, Twinstead, and Wickham St. Paul, are in SUDBURY UNION, which is mostly in Suffolk. Ashen, Birdbrook, Steeple Bumpsted, Haverhill, Kedington, Ovington, and Sturmer, are in RISBRIDGE UNION, the chief part of which is in Suffolk. Felsted and Stebbing are in DUNMOW UNION ; and the other 22 parishes are in Halstead and Braintree Unions. These Unions are also COUNTY COURT DISTRICTS, but for Risbridge Union, the Court is held at Haverhill, in Suffolk.
BRAINTREE UNION comprises the 14 parishes of Bocking, Braintree, Bradwell, Cressing, Finchingfield, Black and White Notley, Panfield, Pattiswick, Rayne, Great Saling, Shalford, Stisted, and Wethersfield, as afterwards noticed
HALSTEAD UNION comprises the 16 parishes of Earls-Colne, Colne-Engaine, White Colne, Gosfield, Halstead, Castle and Sible Hedingham, Great and Little Maplestead, Pebmarsh, Ridgwell, Stambourne, Tilbury, Toppesfield, and Great and Little Yeldham; which extend over about 37,200 acres of land, and had 18,482 inhabitants in 1861. The land and buildings in the 16parishes are assessed to the county rate, at the annual value of £71,439. Their total average annual expenditure on the poor, during the three years preceding the formation of the union, was £16,821, but in 1839 it was only £8472, and in 1847 about £11,000. The WORKHOUSE, a large building, in the form of the letter T, was built in 1838, at the cost of about £7500, and has now room for more than 400 paupers.
Mr. Thos. and Mrs. Twose are the master and matron. William O. Hustler, Esq. , is the union clerk and superintendent registrar ; the Rev. W. Houghton is the chaplain ; and Mr. Joseph S. Spurgeon, of Sible Hedingham, is registrar of marriages. Mr. John Bunn, of Halstead, and Mr. William Woolmer, of Great Yeldham, are the relieving officers. Mr. J. Bunn, of Halstead, and Mr. J. C. Curtis, of Castle Hedingham, are registrars of births and deaths. There are five UNION SURGEONS, viz.: -D. Sinclair, S. Thorp, J. Taylor, W. Simpson, and E. Andrews. Ridgwell and Stambourne are in Haverhill County Court District, and the other 14 parishes are in Halstead County Court District.