Orsett, Essex
Historical Description
Orsett, a village and a parish in Essex. The village stands 4 miles NE from Grays station on the London, Tilbury, and Southend railway, and 9½ S by E of Brentwood. It is a seat of petty sessions, and has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Grays. The parish comprises 4246 acres; population, 1379. Most of the property, with Orsett Hall, belongs to the Whitmore family, who are lords of the manor. The living is a rectory in the diocese of St Albans; net value, £423 with residence, in the gift of the Bishop of St Albans. The church is a building of flint and stone consisting of chancel, nave, N aisle with transept and chancel, S porch, and a western tower surmounted by a short spire. It has a fine Norman doorway, and an elegant oak screen of the 14th century divides the N chapel from the aisle. There are a large marble tomb and some ancient brasses and memorials. There are Congregational and Primitive Methodist chapels, and a literary institute. The workhouse of the Orsett Union is in this parish, and is a large building which was erected in 1837, and has capacity for 200 inmates. The charities belonging to the parish are worth about £150 a year.
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 | Orsett St. Giles and All Saints | |
Hundred | Barstable | |
Poor Law union | Orsett |
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 Orsett from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Orsett (St. Giles and All Saints))
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 Orsett 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: