Woodham Ferrers

"WOODHAM-FERRIS, a parish in the hundred of CHELMSFORD, county of ESSEX, 4½ miles (S. S. E.) from Danbury, containing 865 inhabitants. The living is a rectory, in the archdeaconry of Essex, and diocese of London, rated in the king's books at £28. 13. 4., and in the patronage of Sir B. W. Bridges, Bart. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, contains an elegant monument to the memory of Cecilia, wife of Edwin Sandys, Archbishop of York. The parish is bounded, on the south by Crouch river, over which there is a ferry. At Bikinacre, in this parish, there was anciently a hermitage, which was superseded by a priory of Black canons, founded and endowed by Maurice Fitz-Jeffrey, in consideration of certain sums of money due from him to Henry II.; it was dedicated to St. John the Baptist, and, being almost deserted in the time of Henry VII., was then annexed to St. Mary's Spittal, London." [From Samuel Lewis A Topographical Dictionary of England (1831) - copyright Mel Lockie 2016]

Places within this parish - Bicknacre, South Woodham Ferrers