History of Chignall Smealy

St. Nicholas' Church, Chignall Smealy
©John Winfield
Photograph by kind permission of John Winfield,
contributor to the Geograph Project

History of Chignall Smealy >> White's Directory 1848

White's Directory of Essex 1848 and list of inhabitants.

CHIGNAL-SMEALY, or Little Chignal, is a very small parish near the source of a rivulet, 4½ miles North West of Chelmsford. It has only 94 Inhabitants, and about 400 acres of land, belonging to Col. Austen, Mr. L. Lindon, and other freeholders. Dives Hall, an old manor house, partly encompassed by a moat, was mostly built by the Lucklyn family, from whom it passed to the Brand; Marple, and families.

The Church (St. Nicholas,) is a small brick fabric, with a tower, and one bell. It has recently undergone many repairs. In 1847, a new north aisle, with 112 free sittings was added by subscription, at the cost of about £360. The discharged rectory, valued in K.B. at £5.6s.8d., and in 1831, at £124, is in the alternate patronage of Col. Austin and Mr. Cook; and in the incumbency of the Rev. Thomas Lawton, of Suffolk. Dr. Surridge, of Felstead House, officiates. There is 18A. of glebe, but no parsonage house. There is a small Independent Chapel in the parish. The poor have, for distribution in bread, the dividends of £133.6s.8d. three per cent. Consuls purchased with £100, left by Ludy Falkland, in 1776.

William Baker, Dives Hall
Richard Buttle, maltster, Beremans
John William Drake, Langleys
john Chesson, blacksmith
William Harrington, victualler, Wheat Sheaf

Note: the directory lists the names in the following order: Surname, First Name. It also abbreviates names. These have been reversed and typed in full to assist research.

If you wish to trace any of these people on the census returns, the nearest census date for this 1848 directory is the 1851 census. This can be obtained from ancestry.co.uk: 1851 England Census; or, genesreunited.co.uk: 1851 census