Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for HADLEIGH

HADLEIGH, a village and a parish in Rochford district, Essex. The village stands 1½ mile N of HadleighRay, 2.NE by E of Benfleet r. station, and 2½ S of Rayleigh; is an ancient place; was once a market town; and has a post office under Chelmsford, and a fair on 24 June. Hadleigh Ray is the strait on the N side of Canvey island. The parish includes part of that island, and comprises 2, 689 acres. Real property, £2, 298; of which £18 are in fisheries. Pop., 451. Houses, 102. The property is much subdivided. The manor belonged, in the time of Henry III., to Hubert de Burgh, Earl of Kent; and passed to the Riches and the Barnards. Remains of a castle, built by Hubert de Burgh, stand on an eminence, commanding an extensive view; occupy an oval area of 330 feet by 120; include buttressed walls and remains of two towers; and exhibit traces both of magnificence and of great strength. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Rochester. Value, £400.* Patron, Charles Metcalfe, Esq. The church is partly Norman, partly early English; and was recently restored. There is a national school.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a village and a parish"   (ADL Feature Type: "populated places")
Administrative units: Hadleigh AP/CP       Rochford RegD/PLU       Essex AncC
Place: Hadleigh

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