Historic Book

Extract from “The British Gazetteer, Political, Commercial, Ecclesiastical, and Historical Showing the Distances of Each Place from London and Derby–gentlemen’s Seats–populations … &c. Illustrated by a Full Set of County Maps, with All the Railways Accurately Laid Down …” by Benjamin Clarke

Published in 1852

Pages 382 – 383

BRAINTREE , Essex , a market town and parish
in the hund of Hinckford , union of Braintree : 46
miles from London ( coach road 40 ) , 11 from
Chelmsford . East . Co Rail , to Braintree :
from Derby , through London , & c . , 178 miles .
Money orders issued here : London letters deliv
7 a.m .: post closes 7 p.m.

Braintree is
long , straggling , but interesting town , the edifices
of which are mostly very ancient , and many of
them are built of wood .

It is situated on a rising
ground , and connected on the north with Bocking ,
or Bocking Street , one of the most considerable
villages in Essex .

In the account in Doomsday
book , the manor is comprehended with that of
Raines , and was then held by the Bishop of Lon
don , to whose see it remained attached till the
time of Edward VI . , by whom it was granted to
James Mitchell , whose heirs passed it to John
Godfrey , by whom it was sold to Richard , Lord
Rich , who settled the rectory , pro tempore , upon
the school and almshouses at Felsted , to pay £ 30 .
1s . 8d . in money , and a certain allowance in malt
and wheat .

In his family it remained till about
the year 1763 , when , on the death of Charles ,
Earl of Warwick , it became the property of his
sister and co – heiress , Lady Frances , wife of Nicho
las , son of Sir Francis Leak , Earl of Scarsdale ,
whose successor sold the estate to Herman Olmins ,
ancestor of the late Lord Waltham .

The mansion
house was at one time a palace of the bishops of
London , but it has long since been destroyed .

Braintree was made a distinct parish about the
time of King John , or during the reign of Henry
III . , the former of whom erected it into a market
town at the intercession of William de St. Maria ,
one of the bishops of London .

At that time ,
however , it was , we suppose in consequence of
following the announcement in Doomsday – book ,
only a hamlet to Raines , and the parish itself
went under the denomination of Great Raine ;

but as houses and population increased , Braintree
gradually grew to be far the most considerable
place of the two , and gave its own name to the dis
trict .

It was conveniently situated on the high
way from London into Suffolk and Norfolk ; and as ,

during the days of papal superstition , pilgrims
were continually travelling from the south to the
shrines of our Lady of Walsingham and St. Ed
mund , lodging – houses and inns were built for their
accommodation ; and so the place grew in population
and extent .

After the Reformation , this source of
advantage ceased ; but the town was speedily re
suscitated , for not long after Elizabeth had declared
England to be the asylum of persecuted protes
tantism , Braintree became the settlement of a
number of Flemings , who had been driven from the
Netherlands by the Duke of Alva , and who intro
duced a species of woollen manufacture , the fabric
of which is called by and say .

That business has
declined , but another for the manufacture of silk is
still to some extent pursued .

The church , which
is a spacious structure , stands on the ridge of a
mound , which is supposed to have been a Saxon or
Roman intrenchment , most probably the latter ; it
is about half a mile from the site of the former
church , which stood near the bishop’s palace , and
of which some remains still exist . The interior
consists of a nave , chancel , and side aisle ; a lofty
spire , which is cased with slate , rising from the
west end of the fabric ; the body of the church is
composed chiefly of flint .

It was founded , as ap
pears by the arms of the neighbouring gentry who
lived at that time , which decorate it , in the reign of
Edward 111. , and as well also by the will of John
Nayland , dated in 1349 , who left a black bullock to
further the work of the church . It was , however ,
much enlarged after its original foundation , espe
cially during the reign of Henry VIII . , when the
roof was elevated and the south aisle built ; and
it is a singular characteristic of the times , that
these alterations were effected chiefly through the
aid of three plays performed in the church . The
first , which was entitled St. Swithin , was acted
in 1523 ; the second , called St. Andrew , on the
Sunday called Relique Sunday , in 1525 ; and the
third , called Placy Dacy , alias St. Ewestacy , in 1534.

It is not at all surprising that , after the
Reformation , the players ‘ robes were sold ; but it is
a little remarkable that they brought fifty shillings ,
and the playbooks twenty shillings .

In the chan cel there is a monument to Dr. Samuel Collins , who
was the son of a minister in this parish , and for
some years principal physician to Peter the Great
of Russia .

The Independents , Methodists , Bap
tists , and the Society of Friends , have all places of
worship here .

The Independent church is a very
fine building , built in 1832 , and seats 1,500 . The
old Baptist congregation was formed in 1680 , and
the second in 1835.

A school here is endowed
with £ 63 per annum ; and in the British school ,
about 200 boys and 60 girls are educated .

There
is a fund here of £ 350 per annum , derived from an
estate at Tolleshunt D’Arcy , purchased with the
sum of £ 2,800 , left by Henry Smith , Esq . , Alder
man of London in the time of Charles I. , for the
benefit of the poor of this parish . The other paro
chial eharities produce about £ 130 a year .

Brain
tree is only divided from Bocking by the turnpike
road . It is one of the polling – places for North
Essex , and the petty sessions for the southern
division are held here .

The manufacture of silk
is still carried on for the London markets , though
to but little extent .

The Braintree poor – law union

comprises fourteen parishes ,
spread over an area of 63
square miles , and comprises a
population of something
more than 15,000 souls – the
average expenditure being
about £ 97,000 .–

The living
( St. Michael ) , a disch
vicarage , formerly in the archd
of Middlesex , diocese of
London , now in the diocese
of Rochester , is valued at £ 12 .
13s . 4d .: pres ,
net income , £ 212 : patron , Rev. J.
Lewis : pres .
incumbent , B. Scale , 1796 : contains
2,500 acres : 708
houses : pop in 1841 , 3,670 :
probable pop in 1849 ,
4,220 : ass prop
rates in 1838 , £ 2,518 . –
Market
day . Fairs : May 8 , cattle ;
Oct.

£ 4,493 : poor
day , Wednes
2 , cattle and hops.