Heybridge 1848 Whites Directory
HEYBRIDGE, a considerable village, on the north side of the river Blackwater, is a northern suburb of Maldon, and its parish has been included in the Parliamentary Borough of Maldon, by the Reform Act of 1832. In it is situated the canal basin, and the short cuts which connect it with the Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation. Here are two large iron foundries and agricultural implement manufactories ; several malt-houses, granaries, &c., and an ancient bridge of five arches, but the main stream now runs under Full- bridge, next Maldon. Here were formerly extensive salt works, but only a small one now remains. The parish contains 1177 inhabitants, and 2226A. of land. It was anciently called Tidwalditune, under which name it was given by King Athelstan to St. Paul’s Cathedral, London ; and the Dean and Chapter of that metropolitan church are still lords of the manor, appropriators of the great tithes, and owners of a great part of the soil. Oliver Herring, Esq. , is lessee of their land and tithes, and part of the parish belongs to many smaller owners, mostly copy- holders. This is said to have been one of the battle-fields of Queen Boadicea, in her bold attempt to expel the Romans, and several Roman coins have been found in the parish.
The Church (St. Andrew, ) stands near the creek, opposite Maldon, and is an ancient Norman structure, with a tower broader at the bottom than the nave, but rising little higher than the roof, the upper part of it being taken down many years ago. It was built in the twelfth, but underwent repairs and alterations in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. There was formerly a chantry here, in the patronage of the Bishops of London. The vicarage, valued in K.B. at £10 , and in 1831 at £159, is in the peculiar jurisdiction and patronage of the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul’s, and is now in the incumbency of the Rev. Robert Prentice Crane, A.M., who has a good residence, and 41A. 1R. 23P. of glebe.
The tithes were commuted in 1846, the vicarial for £200, and the rectorial for £211 10s. , exclusive of the land held by the lessee. In the estuary of the Blackwater, near this parish, is Northey Island, of a triangular figure, comprising about 242 acres .
HEYBRIDGE DIRECTORY is included with that of Maldon.
Six poor men and women of Heybridge have a coat or gown and 12d. pursuant to the wills of Thomas and Edward Freshwater, dated 1635 and 1673. For distribution in bread the poor parishioners have an ancient yearly rent-charge of £2. 12s., left by an unknown donor, out of a farm called London’s, in Goldhanger and Great Totham. The Church Land, (with a cottage upon it,) consists of 114., let for a clear rent of £20, but the donor is unknown.