Foulness

Foulness at the time of "Doomesday Survey," the place belonged to Sweyne. It is situated in Rochford union and hundred.. 4 miles north-north-east of that town and 8 miles north of Southend, on high ground commanding a fine view over the river Crouch.. The parish contains 5,509 acres. Population in 1861 was 617 and 47 in that part of Wallasea Island belonging to Canewdon. [Kelly's Directory of Essex, 1862]

"FOULNESS, an island and parish in the hundred of ROCHFORD, county of ESSEX, 9 miles (E. by N.) from Rochford, containing 565 inhabitants. The living is a discharged rectory, within the jurisdiction of the court of the Commissary of Essex and Herts, concurrently with the Consistorial court of the Bishop of London, rated in the king's books at £15, and in the patronage of the Earl of Winchelsea. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, is nearly in the centre of the island, the floods having frequently prevented the inhabitants from attending their respective places of worship on the main land. There is a small endowment for the education of children. The circumference of Foulness is about twenty miles, exclusively of a tract called the Saltings, which is not yet embanked from the sea. Courts leet and baron are occasionally held by the lord of the manor. There is a fair for toys on the 10th of July." [From Samuel Lewis A Topographical Dictionary of England (1831) - copyright Mel Lockie 2016]