History of Bicknacre

History of Bicknacre >> White's Directory 1848

White's Directory of Essex 1848

BICKNACRE, a hamlet with much wood, and many scattered houses, in the vale of a rivulet, from 5 to 6 miles East South East of Chelmsford, has 304 inhabitants, of whom, 124 are in Woodham Ferrers, and 180 in Danbury parish, Its PRIORY, founded by Maurice Fitz Geoffrey, sheriff of Essex, in the reign of Henry II., for black canons, stood in Woodham Ferrers parish, and was dedicated to the Virgin Mary and St. John the Baptist. Henry II. defrayed most of the expense of the building, and granted to the monks the site of the hermitage, which had previously stood here. In the reign of Henry VII., the possessions of this priory had been so much lessened by neglect, that it was almost abandoned; and on the petition of the prior and monks of Elsing Spittle, without Bishopgate, London, the king granted it to that hospital. After the Dissolution, the manor of "Bycknacre, with the the of the priory, was granted to Henry Polsted, who sold it in 1548, to Sir Walter Mildmay, of whose grandson it was purchased by George Barrington, Esq. of Little Baddow. The site of the priory is now the property of Sir Francis W. Sykes, Bart., and the only remaining part of the monastic buildings is a fine lofty pointed arch, which supported the western side of the tower. A considerable part of the nave, and the west transept, were long occupied as a farm house, but were taken down in 1812. Here is an ever-flowing well, which is said to have been formerly in the priory kitchen