History of Halstead

Halstead, High Street 1952
Reproduced courtesy of The Francis Frith Collection.

White's Directory of Essex 1848

Halstead is a neat but irregularly built market town, pleasantly situated on both sides of the valley of the small river Colne >>more.

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

Halstead Criminal Cases

Court cases involving Halstead residents - ongoing project >>more.

Halstead Snippets

When researching for this website we often find a little snippet of information on a location or subject which may be of interest. Here's one for Halstead.

Images and Maps

Images and maps of Halstead supplied by the Francis Frith.

More local history sources

Ebay is now a great source for old images of Essex towns and villages. If you're looking for pictures to add to your family tree album, then try one of the auctions, or there are several 'Buy It Now' shops offering postcards which have been touched up and improved - so if you're unsure about bidding, try these. Link already formatted for Essex. Browse through or type the name of the location in the Ebay search box. >>

Also on Ebay are legal documents on vellum. This link is formatted for Essex. (Sometimes I think these should be in an archive.) >>

Books featuring Halstead from Abebooks. Just click the logo. The search terms are already formatted for Halstead.

Search for Halstead census returns at ancestry.co.uk.

1841 England Census | 1851 England Census | 1861 England Census
1871 England Census | 1881 England Census | 1891 England Census
1901 England Census

High Street, Halstead
Reproduced courtesy of Footsteps.
Quality reproductions of old photographs.

The Essex Record Office: an excellent starting point for research. The ERO has an online catalogue by the name of SEAX and a database of Parish Records held in the ERO. Access to both via their home page.

Web site on the history of Halstead, includes maps and old photographs.

Brief archeological history of Halstead on the Essex County Council's Unlocking Essex.

Essex County Council's Essex Historic Towns Survey for Halstead. Useful information on the history of the town.

1881 Ordnance Survey Map from the British History Online web site (Essex: 017, Ordnance Survey 1:10,560: Epoch 1.0).

Ordnance Survey - type the place name in the gazetteer search box to view detailed map of Halstead.

Images of England web site which has a photographic record of England's listed buildings - from the grandest house to the humblest cottage. Enter the town or village in the search box. Photographs are accompanied by a detailed architectural description of the property.