England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Stock Harvard All Saints

The Parish

The parish of Stock Harvard, also rendered Harward and shortened today to plain Stock, lies in southern Essex roughly 6 miles south of the county town of Chelmsford. Stock sits on the B1007  road which connects Chelmsford with Billericay and is a substantial crossroads village. A large village, even at the time of this transcript, Stock has grown steadily over modern times with developments spreading, in particular, southeastwards along and either side of the lane which heads towards nearby Hanningfield Reservoir. A attractive feature is its broad village green lying alongside the B1007 as its passes through the northern reaches of the village. Like most Essex parishes Stock would have largely been an arable farming community, the principal crops being cereals supplemented by beet and, today, oil seed. Today Stock has a more transient community with the modern developments supporting commuter into both Chelmsford and wider still, the railway line from London to Colchester being only a few miles away to the west at Ingatestone. Stock is drained eastwards by a number of small streams, their flow is interrupted by Hanningfield Reservoir before reaching the nearby River Crouch and its estuary to the North Sea. Stock is sited at around 90 metres above the sea, making it the local high point for some considerable distance. Stock parish was fairly typically sized for its area, covering a little over 1,800 acres it would have supported a population of around 600 parishioners. Stock, in all of its previous guises, is not specifically mentioned in Domesday Book.

The Church

All Saints' church sits southwest of the village almost a half mile along the B1007 and on its eastern side. Whilst the church is a medieval creation it sits toward the later stages of that era being largely from 14th & 15th centuries. All Saints' most notable feature is it slender tower, a master piece of 15th century timber construction and a notable landmark for the area. The earliest portion of the church is the late 14th century doorway complete with blank panel tracery. Most of the remainder of the building dates from the 15th century and is of the Perpendicular style fashionable at that period. A series of restorations took place from the Victorian period, the nave restored and chancel rebuilt in the 1840s, through to modern times when the nave was again restored in 1981 and the northern sacristy and vestry added in 1986. A visit to the church is greatly simplified by a substantial graveled car-park to its south, the churchyard, itself, is open and uncluttered with no obstacles beyond a few trees gathered around the western entrance.