England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Woodham Ferrers St Mary the Virgin

The Parish

The parish of Woodham Ferrers lies in southern Esex roughly 8 miles southeast of the town of Chelmsford. Woodham Ferrers sits on the B1418 road which connects Danbury with the new town of South Woodham Ferrers. The village of Woodham Ferrers is a long straggle of properties lining the B1418 for over a mile but the parish included the village of Bicknacre a much larger settlement some 2 miles further north on the same road. The new town of South Woodham Ferrers is a modern development constructed since the last decade of the 19th century which has expanded in the latter part of the 20th century to encompass an area a mile wide from east to west and 2 miles deep from north to south containing a population in excess of 20,00 folk. At the time of this transcript it was merely agricultural fields. That, indeed, was the usage of most of the parish area being fertile and flat it lent itself readily to the growing of cereals although then a more rotational arable system would have been in place. Given the proximity of the Crouch Estuary fishing and shell-fishing including for oysters would also have been important elements in the local economy as well as coastal movement of goods. Modern developments arrived with the construction of a railway from London to Southminster which grated a station to Woodham Ferrers albeit well over a mile south of the village, the station was to become the spark which lead to the initial and limited development of South Woodham Ferrers. The southern edge of the parish is formed by the Crouch Estuary and numerous small creeks drain the parish into that waterway in particular the Fenn Creek which forms the western edge of the new town. Woodham Ferrers is sited between sea level and the village which stands, as does Bicknacre, at 50 metres higher in gentle terrain, to the north a few spots within Danbury reach to 110 metres. Woodham Ferrers is a large parish almost twice the size of many which surround it and covering a little over 3,700 acres which would have supported a population of around 900 parishioners. In Domesday times Woodham Ferrers recorded 59 households sufficient to place it amongst the largest 20% of settlements by population. Held by Henry de Ferrers, the name qualifier comes from this Norman holding, it could muster 19 ploughs, some woodland, with many pigs, and a mill.

The Church

St Mary's church sits west of the B1418 and is set back behind fronting properties but accessed by a track curving behind them and shared with a care home for the elderly. The surviving medieval masonry, both nave with aisles and the chancel, appears to have a very closely defined period for its original construction which Pevsner assigns to the period fromc1250 to 1330 covering both the Early English Gothic and Decorated eras. Representing the former period which is shown well by the arcades with alternating circular and octagonal piers common in that period. Also 13th century but later is the chancel with tracery from the short Transitional era. Moving into the 14th century the Decorated style appears in the aisle windows. There was quite an effort in the 15th century as  a western tower was added together with the timber southern porch. The medieval tower was, however, demolished in 1715 and replaced by a brick version, that too was demolished and replaced by today's small belfry and spire in 1793. At some point, not dated by Pevsner, a clerestory was inserted whilst later there were 2 substantial Victorian restorations. The first of 1884 mainly tackled roofing but the second a decade later restored the chancel and added the northern vestry. There is no parking immediately close to the church without asking permission of the care home, but a small pathway leads directly from the B1418 and has enough room to tuck away a carefully parked vehicle. Once within the churchyard there are no significant obstacles impeding the favoured aspects.