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Great Maplestead, Essex

Historical Description

Maplestead, Great, a village and a parish in Essex. The village stands on high ground, 1 mile NE of the Colue river, 2 miles E from Castle Hedingham station, and 2 NNW from Halstead station on the Colne Valley railway; took its name from maple trees which anciently flourished on or around its site, and has the repute of being a very healthy place. It has a post office under Halstead; money order and telegraph office, Castle Hedingham. The parish slopes from the village to the river, and comprises 1824 acres; population of the civil parish, 406; of the ecclesiastical, 425. The parish council, under the Local Government Act, 1894, consists of five members. The manor belonged at Domesday to the Gemons, passed to the Deanes, and, with Dynes Hall, belongs now to the Sperling family. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of St Albans; net value, £100 with residence. The church, a building of stone and brick, is partly of Early Norman date, has a semicircular apse of early 12th century date and exceptionally beautiful, and contains two elaborate monuments to Sir John and Lady Dean (1610) and their eight children. The chancel is about 100 years more recent than the apse. The church was enlarged and improved in 1861. A Diocesan House of Mercy for women was built in 1868 at a cost of £10,000, and endowed with £250 a year, is a quadrangle in the First Pointed style, and includes an infirmary and chapel. There is a chapel for the Plymouth Brethren.

Transcribed from The Comprehensive Gazetteer of England & Wales, 1894-5

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Ancient CountyEssex 
Ecclesiastical parishMaplestead St. Giles 
HundredHinckford 
Poor Law unionHalstead 

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.


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 Great Maplestead from the following:


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 Great Maplestead are available from a number of sites:


Newspapers and Periodicals

The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following newspapers covering Essex online:

DistrictBraintree
CountyEssex
RegionEastern
CountryEngland
Postal districtCO9
Post TownHalstead

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