History of Basildon

Basildon, Composite c1965
Reproduced courtesy of The Francis Frith Collection.

History of Basildon >> White's Directory 1848

White's Directory of Essex 1848

BASILDON, or Basseldon, is a small village and chapelry, ecclesiastically united to Laindon parish, and distant 4 miles South South East of Billericay. It contains 157 souls and 1627 acres of land; and has a fair for toys, etc., on Sept. 14th. It was made a chapelry to Laindon at an early period, and is in the three manors of Barstable, Botelers, and Battleswick, belonging to the Slater, Prentice, and other families. Barstable gives name to this Hundred, and had anciently a village, the foundations of which have often been ploughed up in the town field. At Domesday Survey, it belonged to Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, and was held, with the Hundred, of the King.

The Church, or chapel, is a substantial building, with a nave, chancel, and an embattled tower, crowned by a spire. The living is a perpetual curacy, consolidated with the rector of Laindon. The principal farmers are Francis Ede, Benjamin Moss, and John Peasgood.