Canvey Island, Essex
Historical Description
Canvey Island, a civil and ecclesiastical parish formed in 1881 in Essex, encircled by the Thames, opposite the Hope, 2 miles SW of Benfleet station on the London, Tilbury, and Sonthend railway, and 4½ SW of Bayleigh. It formerly comprised parts of Vauge, Pitsea, Bowers-Gifford, North Benfleet, South Benfleet, Hadleigh, Laindon, Prittlewell, and South-church parishes. It has a post office under South Benfleet, which is the money order and telegraph office. Area, 4383 acres of land and 4923 of water; population, 342. The surface is marsh-land sheep pasture, and it is protected all round by embankment, and connected with the mainland by a causeway. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of St Albans; gross yearly value, £220 with residence, in the gift of the Bishop of St Albans. The church is a wooden building erected in 1875. There is also a coastguard station.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
Ancient County | Essex | |
Hundred | Barstable | |
Poor Law union | Billericay |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Canvey Island from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Canvey Island)
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 Canvey Island 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: