England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Shopland St Mary

The Parish

The parish of Shopland lies in southeastern Essex forming a stretch of the intricate coastline of this area of the county with the North Sea. Shopland is located roughly 2 miles southeast of the small town of Rochford and sits about 1 mile north of the A1159 road which forms part of Southend on Sea's northern bypass. Shopland is an estate village, totally dominated by the estate of Shopland Hall there is no village just a scatter of farms across the wider parish. Like most estate villages the needs of the Hall dominated the local economy which would have been strongly arable with pastures closer to the creeks to the north. Shopland parish fronts to Paglesgam Reach which is an arm of the River Roach and saline, a few field drains and streams drain the parish into it. Shopland is sited at around 20 metres above sea level in very flattish terrain, 20 metres represents the highest ground for some distance. By the standards of the area Shopland was a small parish covering only a little over 1,000 acres and supporting barely 50 parishioners. Domesday Shopland whilst still small was perhaps larger than today with 19 households, held by Count Eustace of Boulogne its assets of 8 ploughs backed by pastures and woodland indicate a typical small rural manor.

The Church

St Mary's church is no longer with us having been demolished in 1957 after receiving war damage in 1940 it was deemed too expansive to recover. The church stood on the eastern side of the access track headed for Shopland Hall. The church was first built in the 12th century and was given its tower in the 15th century. Sadly the congregation was small so when damage occurred there was no will to rebuild, parishioners now use nearby Sutton.