Dagenham (St. Peter and St. Paul)

DAGENHAM (St. Peter and St. Paul), a parish, in the union of Romford, hundred of Becontree, S. division of Essex, 3½ miles (S. by W.) from Romford; containing 2294 inhabitants. The parish comprises by computation 5640 acres, whereof 3350 are arable, 970 pasture, and about 1000 wood and waste. It is bounded on the south by the Thames, a very destructive irruption of which occurred here in 1707: the waters over-flowed 1000 acres of rich land, and washed nearly 120 acres into the river, where a sand-bank was formed almost half-way across its bed; and in this state the whole remained nearly fifteen years, when the breach was stopped, and the land recovered by Captain Perry, at an expense of £40,000. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £19. 10., and in the gift of the Rev. T. L. Fanshawe: the great tithes, belonging to Brentwood school, have been commuted for £1036, and the vicarial for £850; the glebe comprises 4½ acres. The church is a handsome edifice with a tower of stone, and contains some good monuments, among which is one to Sir Richard Alibon, Knt., who was appointed a judge by James II. A school was founded and endowed by William Ford, Esq., in 1828; and there is another, endowed with £100 South Sea annuities.