Mucking 1848 Whites directory
MUCKING, a small scattered village, near a small creek of the river Thames, 4 miles N.N.E. of Tilbury Fort, and 10 miles S. of Billericay, has in its parish 199 souls, and 2146 acres of cultivated land, and about 200 acres of open heath and waste. The south-east part is low but fertile marsh land, adjoining that part of the Thames called ‘The Hope. Mucking was held by Barking Abbey from the Saxon era till the dissolution, when it was granted by Edward VI. to the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul’s, London, who are still lords of the manor, and owners of a great part of the soil. The other principal land owners are, A. Z. Button, Esq., the Rev. C. B. Cooper, Mr. Thomas Mansford, and Mr. Z. Piggot. J. H. Sawell, Esq., is lessee of the Hall Farm. The estate called Waltons, was held by the Walton and Vere families, of the abbess of Barking, by the service of one knight’s fee, a yearly rent of 10s., and suit at the court of Mucking Hall; and on the death of every tenant, one of the best beasts on the estate was paid as a harriot.
The Church (St. John the Baptist,) has a nave, south aisle, and chancel, with a stone tower, crowned by a shingled spire. The vicarage, valued in K.B. at £10, and in 1831 at £224, is in the patronage of the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul’s, who are also impropriators of the rectory. The Rev. Charles Day, LL.B., is the incumbent, and has about 30 acres of glebe, and a handsome Vicarage House, in the Grecian style, erected in 1833. The tithes were commuted in 1846, the rectorial for £400, and the vicarial for £200 per annum. Besides the latter sum, the vicar has £30 a year from the appropriators. The poor parishioners have a yearly rent- charge of £6. 13s. 4d., out ofOld and New Jenkins Farms, left in 1607 by Elizabeth Downes, to whom there is a monument in the church, recording her christian virtues, and stating that she lived ” in happy matrimony with four several husbands.” At an unknown period, John Ladd left, for the church and poor, a yearly rent of £4, out of Blue House Farm. In 1722, Ann Grey left for the poor of this parish 10s. a year out of land at Orsett. In 1835, owing to the neglect of the parish officers, about twenty years’ arrears of these three charities were due, and the owners of the lands charged, then refused payment, denying their liability.
Cawston Alfred, farmer, Waltons
Coe Edw. shopkeeper. & victualler, Crown
Day Rev. Charles, L.L.B., Vicarage
Hanson Ann, farmer, New Jenkins
Hewlett Mr Benj . Thames House
Sawell John Hills, Esq. , Hall
Rumball Sarah, victualler, George & Dragon
Letters from Romford