Bradwell, Essex
Historical Description
Bradwell, Bradwell-near-the-Sea, or Bradwell-juxta-Mare, a village and a parish in Essex. The village stands near the point of the peninsula between the Blackwater estuary and the sea, 7 miles NE from Southminster station on the G.E.R., and 5½ by water or 15 by road from Maldon. It has a post and money order office under Southminster; telegraph office, Tillingham. It occupies the site of the Roman Othona and the Saxon Ithancestre. The parish comprises 5012 acres of land and 5620 of water and foreshore; population, 914. There is a little trade in corn and coal, and a coastguard station. The living is a rectory in the diocese of St Albans; net yearly value, £800 with residence. The church has some interesting brasses and monuments. There is also a Primitive Methodist chapel.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
Ancient County | Essex | |
Ecclesiastical parish | Bradwell-near-the-Sea St. Thomas the Apostle | |
Hundred | Dengie | |
Poor Law union | Maldon |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Cemeteries
A cemetery of 1 acre given by the late Rev. E. Owen M.A. rector, and now the property of the parish, was opened on the closing of the churchyard in 1878, and is under the control of the rector and churchwardens of the parish.
Churches
Church of England
St. Thomas the Apostle (parish church)
The church of St. Thomas the Apostle is an edifice of brick and stone, in the Early English style, and was partly rebuilt in 1706: it consists of chancel and nave and has a lofty embattled western tower of brick containing a clock and 5 bells, dated 1744: in the chancel wall are brasses to Margaret Wyatt, ob. 1526; to the Rev. John Debank, rector, ob. 1601; and to Thomas Debank, yeoman, ob. 1606: there is also a mural monument to the Paynter and Sherman families, dated 1666: the church has a Norman font and the sacramental plate includes a silver chalice, dated 1626: in 1866 the church was thoroughly restored, reseated with open benches and now affords 430 sittings.
The churchyard closed in 1878 when a new cemetery was opened.
Methodist
Primitive Methodist Chapel, Waterside
There is a Primitive Methodist chapel at Waterside, erected in 1863.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Bradwell from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Bradwell-near-the-Sea (St. Thomas the Apostle))
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Essex is available to browse.
The Essex pages from the Return of Owners of Land in 1873 is online.
Maps
Online maps of Bradwell are available from a number of sites:
- Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- Google Streetview.
- National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
- OpenStreetMap.
- old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
- Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following newspapers covering Essex online: