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South Ockendon, the Windmill c1960
Reproduced courtesy of The Francis Frith Collection.

History of South Ockendon >> White's Directory 1848

White's Directory of Essex 1848

OCKENDON (SOUTH) is a large village, partly round the margins of a green, 8 miles South East by East of Romford. Its parish has generally a flat surface, and contains 968 souls, and 2872 acres of land, formerly held by the Mundeville, de la Rokele, Bruyn, and other families. The manor of Bruyns, with the estate of South Ockendon Hall, (666A.,) belongs to the Executors of the late John Cliff, Esq., and now offered for sale in 1847. and bought in for £24,620. It is now occupied by Mr. T.B. Sturgeon, the noted breeder of merino sheep, etc., and out-fitter of live stock for exportation. The hall is a fine old moated mansion. The other manor in this parish, called Groves, belongs to the heirs of the late John Henry Stewart, Esq.; but a great part of the soil belongs to Sir T.B. Lennard, R.B. De Beauvoir, Esq., and a few smaller owners.

The Church (St. Nicholas,) is an ancient structure, with a round embattled tower, formerly crowned by a wooden spire, which was burnt by lightning in 1638. The chief door has a fine Norman arch, of elaborate workmanship. In the chancel are several memorials of tbe knightly families of Bruyn and Saltonstall. The rectory, valued in K.B. at £33.6s.8d., and in 1831 at £754, is in the patronage of the Executors of the late J. Cliff, Esq., and incumbency of the Rev. Henry Eve, M.A., who has 13A. of glebe, and an old moated Rectory House. The tithes were commuted in 1832, for £834 per annum. Here is an Independent Chapel, built in 1813, at the cost of £900. In 1828, the late John Cliff, Esq., who built the minister's house, left £40 a year for the minister, and £5 a year for the poor. Here is also a small Wesleyan Chapel, built in 1847, at the cost of £330. The rivulet which flows to Purfleet bounds the parish on the east.

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