Where do I start with how to research the history of Billericay? Well, the first thing is to live in Billericay itself. I actually moved back to Billericay on Halloween night in 2024?
Just a short drive away from Billericay, is Chelmsford, which was recently made a city, and it owns the magnificent Essex Record Office. This record office has altered a lot since my many visits in the 1990s on my way home from the University of Essex, but it is still the amazing place, and an amazing record office.
The Essex Record Office is a modern building, with modern computer systems, many microfiche readers and it is the holder of the Essex history archive for the county. There is also an online facility to search this archive to either order records at the office, or view many of the records online. I love it.
The Record Office is also very accessible to those who struggle with hills and steps, and life.
It is quite different to many of the High street properties in Billericay, where steps are often the norm, and sometimes with upstairs consultation rooms. In its defence, Billericay does have Waitrose as its main superstore, which is also very accessible! Waitrose apparently adds at least 5% onto local house prices as the cool place for cool customers, or those with too much money.
So why is Billericay an important place, with lots of history. Billericay apparently had up to 29 Inns (pubs) in the High street at some point in its life, and yet if you search the Essex Assize files (Petty Sessions court files) at the record office, there is no mention of Billericay? Well, the answer lies in the fact that Billericay is in the Barstable Hundred and in the ecclesiastical parish of Great Burstead. It is almost like a hamlet, although it is clearly a town.
You may think that important towns only reside next to river crossings, and the area around Billericay is more of a source for the River Crouch being close to Little Burstead, and the Wilderness on its local golf course. You will find if you look at the early maps of the area, there are a plethora of wells everywhere. Billericay was also very important in the making of bricks, and the local town of Stock gives its name to Stock bricks. The early landowner and Lord of the manor, Lord Petre, has a charter which disallows the making of bricks in the local area, or on any properties.
I guess to explain the significance of Billericay, we need to consider what the Romans did for us. They built London, Chelmsford and Colchester as some of their main towns in the South East, but also the major Roman port was at Tilbury, and Billericay happened to be at a crossroads on the routes between Tilbury and Colchester; plus also on the London to Southend route. The high prevalence of coaching inns in Billericay made it a safe haven to stopover for the night. Travel was not so fast in the early days, before the Railway appeared, and Billericay did not get a rail station until 1889, and not a lot of thought has ever been spent on how to cross the railway lines safely.
I have just found the Billericay Churches ministry which has some excellent sections on the early history. More to follow on my church life over the last 45 years or less.
I spent a few hours at the Essex Record Office today, and their air conditioing is cool to say the least. Two things I am looking for is the earliest mention of the name Billericay and its origins. I was also looking for detail on the market which used to be held in Billericay, when it started, what happened to it, etc.
I found a record, just a few scraps of paper which included a copy of the original documents and a transcription, also in quite old font. It said the following : Billericay Market Charter 1476.
The King …. have granted a specil licence to the Abbot and Convent of our monastery of Stratford Langhorne and their successors, that they may have and hold a market every week at their town of Bellerica, in the County of Essex, to be held each Wednesday during the year; and two fairs to be there, in the feast of the Blessed Mary Magdalene. and the day before, and the day after; and also a fair on the day of the Decollation of Saint John the Baptist and the day before, and the day after. etc….
I happened to be reading a booklet by David A Bremner of the Billericay Society called Billericay, a town with a surprising story to tell. This answers the where the market in Billericay has gone?
The ground where the market was located was called Crown Gardens Parade which closed in 1939. It was closed down under the emergency regulations at the beginning of the War. I think it was not a pretty site where “stalls had corrugated iron awnings where rabbits, chickens, eggs and butter etc. were sold.”
In 1951 this piece of land was gifted by Mrs. Gentry to the Billericay Urban District Council who laid out the gardens to commemorate the Festival of Britain. This is just behind the Crown public house.
The Festival of Britain gardens in Billericay
I have now found another snippet of detail about the name Bellerica. The National Archives which are a brilliant search for early licensees of pubs also lists other interesting detail, and if you search for Bellerica, there are a number of mentions of a farm in Somerset; plus one of a mention of a Bellerica Farm, in Billericay, in 1698. It is a court record of a Samuel Moore who leases the farm from his mother in law, and also lists a number of other family and relatives –
| Short title: Goddard v Moore. Plaintiffs: Sarah Goddard (alias Sarah Bennett) widow and William Bennett. Defendants: Samuel Moore and Richard Minifie.Subject: The defendant Moore’s lease of Bellerica Farm, Billericay, Essex, from his mother-in-law and the payment of annuities to two of his wife’s sisters: mentions Elizabeth Bennett, deceased, Sarah Randall (alias Sarah Goddard) wife of Benjamin Randall, Florence Wallis (alias Florence Goddard) wife of Thomas Wallis and Priscilla Moore (alias Priscilla Goddard) wife of Samuel Moore. And also in 1677 is a case regarding a property in Billericay, Essex. – Short title: Collins v Goddard. Plaintiffs: Richard Collins and Anne Collins, widow and Raphael Humfrey. Defendants: Sarah Goddard, widow and Lewis Jones. |