West Bergholt, Essex
Historical Description
Bergholt, West, a village and a parish in Essex, on the river Colne, near the G.E.R., 3 miles NW of Colchester. There is a post and telegraph office; money order office, Bergholt Road. Acreage, 2287; population, 1042. A circular entrenchment here is thought to have been the site of the residence of the British King Cunobeline. The living is a rectory in the diocese of St Albans; net value, £419 with residence. The church is a stone edifice in the Norman and Decorated styles.
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 | West Bergholt St. Mary | |
Hundred | Lexden | |
Poor Law union | Lexden and Winstree |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Churches
Church of England
St Mary the Virgin, Hall Road (parish church)
The original church of St. Mary is a building consisting of chancel, nave of four bays, south aisle, south porch and a small wooden turret containing one bell: in 1877 the church was reseated and an organ erected by subscription: the arcading is supported on plain pillars: there are 250 sittings.
The old church
St Mary the Virgin, Church Close (parish church)
In 1904 a new church was erected on a piece of land which had been given for the purpose; the building, which is in the Early English style, consists only of three bays of the nave and south aisle: it contains about 230 sittings: the ground surrounding the church is used for burials.
The new church
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 West Bergholt from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Bergholt, West (St. Mary))
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 West Bergholt 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: