Margaretting (St. Margaret)

MARGARETTING (St. Margaret), a parish, in the union and hundred of Chelmsford, S. division of Essex, 4 miles (S. W.) from Chelmsford; containing 570 inhabitants. The parish derives its name from the Saxon Ing (meadow) and the saint to whom its church is dedicated. The Eastern Counties railway runs through the parsonage-farm. The living is a discharged vicarage, valued in the king's books at £9. 2., and in the patronage of the Heiress and Legatees of the late B. Hopkins, Esq.; net income, £168; impropriator, George Straight, Esq. The great tithes have been commuted for £430, and the vicarial for £189. 15.; the glebe comprises five acres. The church is a very ancient edifice, with a belfry of wood, surmounted by a shingled spire. A house here, called Killigrew's farm, is said to have been the frequent resort of Henry VIII.; it seems to have been a place of great security, being surrounded by a moat, which, within memory, was crossed by a drawbridge with two watch-towers.