A road which quits London by Shoreditch church enters the county at Lea bridge, and falls into this road at Snaresbrook, about 7 miles from London. The Stour may be considered as equally belonging to Suffolk and Essex. Of the three springs which may claim to be its sources, one which flows past the village of Keddington is in Suffolk; a second in Cambridgeshire, and from it a From the road by Colchester and Ipswich several roads stream flows by the town of Haveril in Suffolk; the third branch off to different places on or near the bank of the spring is in Essex, and the stream from it passes Steeple Thames, or on the south and east coasts, as to Billericay Bumpstead. From the junction of these three streams, (23 miles from town); to Tilbury Fort (25 or 29 miles by which takes place about 6 or 8 miles from their respec- different roads); Southend (42 miles); and Maldon (373 tive sources, the river to its outfal divides the counties of miles), from which place are roads to the villages of BradEssex and Suffolk. Its course is first east about 10 miles well (51 miles), Southminster (48 miles), and Burnham past Wixoe, Stoke, Clare, and Cavendish in Suffolk, to the (48) miles), in the marshes of the south-east coast. From neighbourhood of Long Melford, above which it receives Colchester there are roads to Harwich (71 miles from two small tributaries on the Suffolk bank; from thence its London), at the north-east extremity of the county, and to course is south by east about 8 miles past Sudbury in Neyland, in Suffolk (57 miles), on the border of Essex. Suffolk to Bures: and from thence east 13 miles past Ney- From the Colchester road, near Bow bridge, a road runs by land, in Suffolk (below which it receives two considerable | Chipping Ongar (21 miles) to Dunmow (40) miles). From affluents), and Dedham in Essex to Catawade bridge, just the Bury road, between Braintree and Halsted, there is a above Manningtree. Below Catawade bridge the stream road by Sible Hedingham to Haverill, in Suffolk (59 miles), widens into a considerable estuary, 11 or 12 miles long, on the borders of Essex. The towns in the northern part of and for the most part above a mile wide, which unites with the county are connected by a road which runs from Bishop the estuary of the Orwell, a Suffolk river, and passes into Stortford, in Herts, on the border of Essex, through Dunthe open sea between Harwich and Languard Fort. Its mow, Braintree, and Coggeshall to Colchester. A road whole course is about 50 miles. Manningtree, Mistley, from Saffron Walden runs through Thaxted and Dunmow Wrabness, and Harwich are on the Essex bank of this to Chelmsford; and short branches from the Colchester and astuary. Harwich roads lead respectively to Coggeshall and Manningtree. The Cam rises near Debden, 4 miles from Saffron Walden, and flows first south-west for 2 miles, and then turns north Geological Character.-A considerable tract in the and flows 8 or 9 miles past Newport, Audley Park, Little- | northern part of the county, stretching along the river bury, and Little and Great Chesterford, into Cambridge- Stour from the village of Keddington to between Sudbury shire, to which the principal part of its course belongs. and Neyland, and extending into the interior of the county, The Thames and the Lea are navigable throughout that bounded by a line drawn from Keddington to the village of part of their course which belongs to this county; the Hempstead, six miles east of Saffron Walden, from thence Stort is navigable from Bishop Stortford to its junction with to Thaxted and the village of Great Easton on the road the Lea; and it has been projected and acts of parliament from Thaxted to Dunmow, and from thence by the neighobtained (A.D. 1812 and 1814) to make a navigable canal bourhood of Halsted (a mile or two north of that town) to from Bishop Stortford along the valley of the Cam to the the Stour, is occupied by diluvial beds, consisting of loam navigable part of that river below Cambridge, thus uniting with fragments of chalk. The coast of the north-east part the Thames and the Lea with the Cam and the Ouse. The of the county is covered with the sand or gravel of the tideway of the Crouch is navigable, and serves for the im- upper marine formation, which occupies a considerable portation of groceries and fuel, and the exportation of part of the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk, and is locally agricultural produce. Near Burnham this river is a quarter designated 'crag.' At the headland of the Naze it conof a mile wide (not three quarters of a mile, as Mr. Young stitutes about 30 feet of the upper part of the cliffs (which states in his 'Agricultural Survey'), and has depth of water are about 45 feet high) resting upon the London clay: sufficient for a 98-gun ship: a 74 might go almost up to south of the Naze its thickness appears to vary from 10 to Hull bridge at the head of the tideway. The Blackwater 40 feet. In the projecting cliff of Harwich it includes does not appear to be navigable above the junction of the friable masses of ferruginous sand, somewhat cemented toChelmer. Vessels of considerable burden can get up together, and inclosing shells. The shells of this formation Maldon at spring tides. The Chelmer is navigable to Chelmsford. This navigation supplies Chelmsford and other places in the interior of the county with coal, deals, timber, and groceries, and serves for the exportation of agricultural produce. The navigation of the Colne, which extends to Colchester, answers the same purposes for that town and neighbourhood. The river Stour is navigable up to Sudbury, about 30 miles above Harwich. Essex has no navigable canals. The principal roads in the county are the three roads from London to Norwich, by Ipswich, by Bury, and by Newmarket. The road by Ipswich enters the county at Bow bridge, about three miles from Whitechapel church, London, and crosses the county in nearly its greatest extent from south-west to north-east, passing through the market towns of Romford (12 miles from London), Chelmsford (29 miles), Witham (38 miles), and Colchester (51 miles), 7 miles beyond which the road crosses the Stour at Stratford bridge and enters Suffolk. The road through Bury branches off from the Ipswich road at Chelmsford, and passes through the towns of Braintree (40 miles from London) and Halsted (46 miles), 8 miles beyond which the road crosses the Stour into the town of Sudbury in Suffolk. A branch from this road passes through the villages of Sible Hedingham, and Castle Hedingham, instead of through Halsted, and reunites with the main road about 2 miles before it quits the county: this branch is rather longer than the principal line. The road by Newmarket branches off from the Ipswich road a little beyond Bow bridge, crosses part of Epping Forest, and runs through the town of Epping (17 miles from London), about 7 miles beyond which it crosses the Stort into Hertfordshire: between 29 and 30 miles from London it re-crosses the same river into Essex, runs northward near but not through Saffron Walden, and finally quits the county at the village of Great Chesterford, 45 miles from London. P. C., No. 597. are in excellent preservation, commonly in a confused mixture, but at other times in patches of particular genera; and for the most part they do not appear to differ specifically from those of the neighbouring seas. Fragments of fossil bones washed out of the strata of this formation, in which they had been imbedded, are found on the beach at Walton, but occur in much greater quantities at Harwich. It is not known to what animal these belong, but a large fossil tooth, probably of the mammoth, was found, within the last few years, on the beach at Harwich. (Phillips and Conybeare, Outlines of the Geology of England and Wales.) In Mr. Greenough's Geological Map of England and Wales the cliffs south of the Naze are said to consist of loam, which contains the bones of the elephant, deer, horse, pig, aurochs or wild bull, and hippopotamus; and the strata along the south bank of the estuary of the Stour are said to contain elephants' teeth. The greater part of the county, including Epping and Hainault or Henhault Forests, is occupied by the London clay. This formation extends on the south and east to the banks of the Thames, to the coast, and to the tract occupied by the Crag: it is bounded on the inland side by a line drawn from the banks of the Stour about Boxted near Neyland to the junction of the Stort with the Lea. These may at least be taken as its approximate limits, for some of the beds of the plastic clay formation, which immediately underlies the London clay, are so similar to it, that it is difficult to trace exactly the line of demarcation. The London clay of the cliffs near Harwich contains beds of stratified limestone: the same cliffs are very productive in the fossils with which this formation abounds. South of Walton, near the Naze, abundance of septaria are found, which are sent by sea to Harwich, where they are manufactured by government into a cement. The principal elevations in the county, High Beach, Langdon and Danbury Hills, and Tiptrey Heath, are formed of London clay. The VOL. X.-D surface of the vegetable mould does not commonly rest im-. mediately on the London clay, but on alluvial beds of rich marl and loam, which often alternate with gravel and sand, and sometimes have a thickness of 30 or 40 feet. The sands and clays of the plastic clay formation skirt the district of the London clay on the north-west. Halsted and Coggeshall, with the intermediate tract, are both on the plastic clay. The border of Essex, near Hadleigh, is the most northerly point at which this formation has been found. The north-western extremity of the county, about Saffron Walden, consists of chalk: the great chalk district, in its extension from south-west to north-east, just crosses that part of the county. The chalk appears also at Purfleet and Gray's Thurrock, on the banks of the Thames. At the former place is an extensive chalk-pit belonging to Mr. Whitbread. Gun-flints are made at or near Purfleet. A subterranean forest underlies the marshes on the banks of the Thames. Agriculture. The climate of Essex is favourable to vegetation: the sea and the numerous æstuaries which bound it on the south and east soften the rigour of winter, and keep up a certain degree of moisture in summer. The same cause, however, produces cold fogs and exhalations in spring and autumn, which are very prejudicial to the health of those who are not inured to the climate. In consequence of this the most fertile portions of the county, which lie along the Thames and the sea coast, towards the Colne river, and which are usually called the hundreds of Essex, contain few seats of men of fortune; and notwithstanding the richness of the soil, and the great advantage of the marshes for feeding cattle, few men from other countics venture to take farms in this part of Essex. This reproach to the climate of the hundreds of Essex is rapidly diminishing, since the marshes have been better drained and the woods, which prevented the free circulation of the air and the dispersion of the fogs, have been gradually cut down, and the land brought into cultivation. The soil all along the coast, and 10 or 12 miles inland, is of a very excellent quality, being a friable loam of greater or less tenacity in different parts, but peculiarly adapted to the cultivation of wheat, beans, and oats. The Isle of Mersey, which lies at the mouth of the Colne river, has been long noted for the fertility of its soil, which is a fine alluvial loam composed of the various earths deposited from the river and the sea, like the warp lands along the Humber, or the polders in the Netherlands. The whole island is protected by a sea-wall, and produces every kind of grain which is usually cultivated; wheat, barley, oats, beans, and rape seed are the principal produce. Sir Humphry Davy found that the soil taken from Mersey Island and dried recovered its moisture from the atmosphere in less time than any other on which the experiment was tried; and this gives perhaps a better measure of fertility than any chemical analysis of its constituent parts. The best soils of Essex lie low, and require to be protected from the sea by embankments. Many marshes which formerly produced nothing but herbage, and were subject to inundations, are now converted into arable fields; and a great tract of land all along the coast, which used to be covered by the sea at high tides, is now laid dry by proper deep and broad ditches, here called fleets, and protected by high and well-constructed sea-walls, the repairs of which are a great expense to the proprietors. In some of these marshes the want of fresh water in summer was often felt severely. But lately recourse has been had to boring, which has been attended with great success, especially in the marshes at St. Osyth, where the finest springs of water have been found, which flow over the surface, and keep ample reservoirs continually full. The depth at which the water was found did not exceed fifty feet. This discovery greatly increases the value of these marshes in dry summers, such as that of 1836. The soil in the uplands along the coast consists chiefly of good loams varying in tenacity from a strong clay to a light gravel; most of it is of such a nature as to bear both turnips and beans. The stiffest soils, as well as the lightest, which form the two extremes, are more inland. The whole county has an undulating surface, which is very pleasing when fields and woods are interspersed, as is very generally the case in this county. The only level tract is that along the Thames, which extends to its mouth and along part of the south-eastern coast. The remainder consists of gentle elevations just sufficient to give a great variety of soil and aspect. The clay soils, on the whole, prevail in most parts of the county, and from this circumstance arises the modes of cultivation and the rotations of crops which are most commonly adopted. There are very few such light soils in Essex as there are in Norfolk and in Lincolnshire, and except on the borders of Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire, chalk and marl are rare. The cold wet clays have given rise to a mode of tillage which is minutely described by Arthur Young in his 'View of the Agriculture of this County, and held out as a pattern for the cultivation of cold wet clays. It consists of repeated ploughings in spring and summer, and exposure to frost in winter; two things, no doubt, highly beneficial to stiff land. But since the introduction of extensive under-draining and high manuring, much of the labour of the horses in ploughing and harrowing has been saved. The peculiarity of the Essex method, on stiff clays, was to work the fallows two winters for barley, during which period the land was ploughed in all directions eight or nine times, and even more, until it was sufficiently pulverized. The rotation was fallow; barley; fallow; wheat; beans: that is, two fallows in five years. The beans were frequently omitted: so that the land was alternately cropped and fallowed. No stock was kept on the farm, but a few cows for the use of the farmer, and the horses required to plough the ground; and the soil not being favourable for artificial grass, very little manure could be made except upon those farms which have marshes attached to them, which is not generally the case where the soil is the stiffest. There was consequently no sufficient manure for the land, and fallows were unavoidable to keep the soil in a moderate state of fertility. From sixteen to twenty bushels of wheat per acre, and from twenty-four to thirty of barley, was a common average produce on very good clays, which, with under-draining and proper manuring, now produce thirty-two of wheat and forty-eight of barley. The fallows at the same time are now removed to every fifth or sixth year. The present mode of ploughing in Essex is similar to that of Norfolk and Suffolk; the ploughs most commonly in use are Suffolk wheel-ploughs, or swing-ploughs without wheels. The great manufactory of these instruments is that of Messrs. Ransom, at Ipswich, which chiefly supplies the three eastern counties. In good loams, not too stiff, two horses are driven abreast with reins, whether the plough has wheels or not. In the very heavy wet clays three horses are used, who walk one before the other in the furrow. The object is that they may tread the land less; but some very judicious agriculturists maintain that three horses treading the bottom of the furrow render it quite impervious to water, and do more harm than if they had walked abreast over the land already ploughed, where they would only have trod in small cavities. This is rather a new mode of viewing the subject, but it is worth considering, and making trials to ascertain the real effect. After harvest the stubble is generally ploughed in, and before winter the field is laid in narrow ridges which are formed by two turns of the plough, and sometimes by four turns, or two bouts, as they are called. The ploughmen are expert in this, and lay the ridges very regularly, sometimes diagonally across the field, which has a good effect in dividing the soil more completely. In this form a greater surface is exposed to the frost and air, and in spring it is mellow and crumbling, where in autumn it rose in an unbroken furrow. If a fallow is intended to clean the land, it is ploughed at intervals, and the roots of weeds gathered and burnt; if it is not very clear of these by wheat-sowing time, it is put in ridges again till the next spring, by which time it is quite pulverized, and fit to be manured for barley and clover. If wheat is sown in autumn, the manure is put on before the last ploughing. The most common rotation on the stiffest clays which will not bear turnips is now 1, fallow; 2, wheat or barley; 3, clover; 4, oats or wheat; 5, beans; and where manure is abundant, a second crop of wheat is taken in the sixth year before the course begins again. On the rich soils which bear turnips the usual rotation is turnips, barley, clover, wheat, beans, oats, or wheat. The manure is put on for the turnips and the beans: pease and tares are taken on part of the land, which otherwise would have had clover, and on that where the clover has failed. The mole plough has been used with good effect in many stiff soils, but the treading of the horses when the ground is soft, the only time when the mole plough can be used with effect, does a great deal of harm on such land, so that this instrument is not so generally used as it might be. The method of draining introduced of late is so superior in its effects to the mole plough, that this instrument will soon be laid aside, except in old pastures, where it may sometimes save the expense of draining. The subsoil plough is not yet generally introduced, but will, no doubt, soon be found an admirable instrument. The feeding of oxen in winter is now extensively practised by all good farmers in Essex, whether of strong or light loams. In sandy and gravelly soils sheep may be more profitable; but where turnips, especially the Swedish, or mangel wurzel can be raised, on heavy soils, the only practical plan is to draw them and give them to the cattle in yards or stalls, together with straw and oil-cake. When the soil will not allow the carts to go over the fields where the turnips are without doing harm in winter, asses with panniers are used to bring the turnips to a cart on the hard road, or at once to the yard, if it is near at hand. Asses and boys may be employed in this manner with advantage in many situations, and the expense will not exceed that of horses and carts, although they bring but a small load at a time. In those farms which have marshes attached to them a great number of cattle is constantly kept, and all the straw is converted into manure, by which the arable land is kept in a high state of fertility. Along the Thames the salt marshes are extensive, and are profitable from the number of horses which are sent to feed there from London, after they have been over worked and require rest, or when they have met with some accident. Where there is not a sufficient number of horses taken in to stock the marshes, oxen and sheep are bought to complete the number, but the profit on these is seldom equal to that on horses agisted. Besides the common crops usually cultivated, a considerable quantity of cole or rape seed is raised on the richer alluvial soils of the hundreds. It is a profitable crop, owing to the abundant supply of manure brought from London by the Thames. In other situations it has been found to deteriorate the succeeding crops too much, and the cultivation has been abandoned. Flax is not cultivated anywhere in the county, at least to any extent, and very little hemp is sown. A few hops are raised in the western part of the county, towards Cambridgeshire. The cultivation of this plant is spreading rapidly, and every year some new hop gardens are formed. The extent of hop ground is however inconsiderable, when compared with that in the hop-growing counties of Kent, Surrey, Hertfordshire, &c. The cultivation of caraway, coriander, and teazles, which is peculiar to this county, is described under CARAWAY. In that part of Essex which lies within a few miles of London the cultivation of the soil partakes more of the garden culture. Vegetables, especially cabbages, are raised in great quantities, and very extensive fields are almost entirely devoted to the raising of potatoes. The ground is ploughed, and very highly manured with stable dung from London. The potatoes are usually set by hand, and moulded up with the plough. They are taken up with the common three-pronged fork, and wheat is immediately sown after the principal crop is taken up. Those which are of an early kind, and taken up in June or July, are followed by cabbages. Mangel wurzel for the London cowmen are also raised in consideravie quantities. The meadows within fifteen miles of London regularly supply the Whitechapel market with hay, and every cart brings back a load of dung. The cows and horses in Essex are chiefly reared in Suffolk, and Scotland supplies the oxen to fatten. There are a few considerable dairies about Epsom; but in general the number of cows kept on a farm is not considerable. Many calves are fatted, which are killed in the country, or go to Romford to be sold to London butchers. whose fences are in such a state as to repress their rambling propensities. There is no peculiar breed of horses. The Suffolk punches seem to be in general use for farm work, and it is scarcely possible to find a breed better adapted for every kind of work. When crossed with a half-bred horse of some substance and action, a Suffolk mare produces admirable carriage horses. In the marshes a good many horses are bred of various kinds, chiefly for draught. Essex has been long noted for a superior breed of pigs, which has been produced and improved by crosses with foreign breeds, chiefly the Neapolitan, which has very little hair, and the Chinese. The common Essex pigs have long ears standing upright, and thin in their texture. The best breeds are quite black, and have wattles, which are small appendages of skin like a long teat, hanging from the neck under the jaws. The most common Essex pigs, which are brought in great quantities to Smithfield market, are black and white, the head and rump being generally black, and the back and belly white. They fatten early, and make excellent small pork when fed on the refuse of the dairy. Lord Western's breed is in great repute, not only in Essex, but all over England. The principal fairs in Essex are:-Billericay, August 2; October 7. Bishop Stortford, Holy Thursday; Trinity Thursday; October 10. Barking, October 22. Braintree, May 8; October 2 and 3. Chelmsford, May 12; October 12. Coggeshall, Whit Tuesday and Wednesday. Colchester, July 5, 23; October 20. Dunmow, May 6; November 8. Epping, Whit Tuesday; November 13. Grays, May 23; October 20. Halsted, May 6; October 29. Harlow, May 13; September 9; November 28. Lachinden, near Maldon, August 27. Maldon, May 1, 2; September 13, 14. Romford, June 24. Saffron Walden, day before Mid-lent Sunday; November 1. Stansted, May 12. Stebbing, July 9. Thaxted, Monday before Whit Monday. Waltham Abbey, May 14; September 25. Divisions, Towns, &c.-Essex is divided into twenty parts, of which fourteen are called hundreds, five half hundreds, and one royal liberty. We subjoin a table of these divisions, with their situation, their respective areas, and population in 1831. We have distinguished by the letters (h) and (1) the half hundreds and the liberty. 979,000 317,507 Ongar, Central Rochford, S. E. Tendring, N. E. (including the borough of Harwich.) Thurstable, E. Uttlesford or Utlesford, N. W. Sheep are now kept in greater flocks by the Essex farmers than they used to be, and with considerable advan- There is no city in Essex. Thore are nineteen markettage. By means of draining, the land has been made capable towns: three of these are parliamentary boroughs; Colof being folded over even in winter. It is not a sheep-chester, on the Colne, population of the borough and liberty breeding county, although many fine lambs are reared; but they are generally bought from the breeders in Wiltshire or Sussex in autumn, and sold fat to the butcher in the succeeding spring. The South-down breed is preferred in general; but there are also many improved Leicesters, and lately the Norfolk sheep have come into favour with some farmers, who think them hardy and profitable, and in 1831, 16,167; Harwich, at the mouth of the Stour, population in 1831, 4297; and Maldon, on the Pant or Blackwater, population in 1831, 3831. Chelmsford, the county town, is on the Chelmer; population in 1831, 5435. Of these places, as well as of Barking, a market-town on the Roding (population of the town ward in 1831, 3404; of the whole parish, which includes Ilford, 8036), an account is given under their respective names. Of the other towns The inhabitants of the parish of Great Bursted, in 1831, were 1977, of which about two-fifths were engaged in agriculture. There is a weekly market on Tuesday. There are scarcely any manufactures. The living is a vicarage, with the chapel of Billericay annexed. By the Education Returns of 1833, there were in the parish twelve day and five boarding-schools with 260 children, and two Sundayschools with 171 children. One of the day-schools, with 49 scholars, has a small endowment. There is a parish alms-house for poor women. At Blunts-walls, near Billericay, are some earth works, the remains of a ditch and rampart, enclosing an area of about four acres: within the area were some artificial mounds, now chiefly levelled. Some remains of Roman pottery, several Roman copper coins and two silver coins, one of Trajan and one of Adrian, have been found in the neighbourhood. church was enlarged in the time of Henry VIII., the expense of the alteration being partly defrayed by the profits of three mysteries or plays performed in the church. There are places of worship for Independents, Baptists, Quakers, and Methodists. Bocking Church is remote from the town: it is spacious and handsome, and chiefly in the perpendicular style; the tower is lofty and well designed. In the neighbourhood of Braintree are the remains of an antient church, formerly the parish church. Some coins, sepulchral urns, and other Roman antiquities, have been found. The parliamentary returns for 1831 assign to the parish of Braintree an area of 2500 acres, 708 inhabited houses, and a population of 3422, about one-sixth agricultural: to that of Bocking an area of 3800 acres, 647 inhabited houses, and a population of 3128, about one-fourth agricultural, giving an aggregate of 6300 acres, 1355 houses, and 6550 inhabitants. The woollen manufacture has been in a great degree superseded by that of silk and crape, which is carried on to a considerable extent. The market is on Wednesday for corn, eggs, poultry, and occasionally cattle and livestock of all kinds. There are several fulling and corn mills on the Pant. The living of Braintree is a vicarage, of the yearly value of 2127., with a glebe-house, in the archdeaconry of Middlesex that of Bocking is a rectory, of the yearly value of 9237., with a glebe-house, in the peculiar jurisdiction of the archbishop of Canterbury, being subject only to his jurisdiction, or that of his commissary, who is called Dean of Bocking. There is at Bocking an almshouse or hospital, originally for seven poor people, but now divided into nine tenements, with an endowment from the benefactions of several individuals. The returns made to parliament show that there were in the two parishes in 1833 twelve day or boarding and day-schools (two of them with 255 to 275 scholars, endowed, and three others with 340 scholars, supported by subscription), containing 813 to 833 scholars; one dame or infant school, with 60 or 70 scholars; and four Sundayschools with 540 scholars. Coggeshall is in Lexden hundred, on the northern bank of the river Blackwater, 44 miles from London by Chelmsford, Witham, and Kelvedon, where the Coggeshall road turns off from the Ipswich and Norwich road. It is sometimes called Great Coggeshall, to distinguish it from the adjacent hamlet of Little Coggeshall. This town has by some antiquaries been considered to be the Canonium of Antoninus; and several Roman remains have been found in and about the town, but these are not deemed by others sufficient to prove anything more than that a Romish villa existed here. Morant, the historian of Essex, ascribes the origin of Coggeshall to an abbey, founded here in 1142 by King Stephen and Maud, his queen, for Cistertian monks. To this abbey succeeding princes granted various privileges, among which was that of holding a market weekly. The yearly revenue of the abbey at the dissolution was 2987. 8s. gross, or 2517. 28. clear. The town was formerly much engaged in the clothing trade, and was particularly famous for a white baize of superior fabric, called Coggeshall Whites. The clothing trade has much declined for many years past. Braintree is in the hundred of Hinckford, and on the north bank of Pod's Brook; it is on the high road from London to Norwich, through Bury, 40 miles from London and 11 from Chelmsford, the county town. Antiently the manor of Braintree, or, as it is termed in Domesday, Raines, comprehended the neighbouring parish of Rayne as well as that of Braintree: part of the lands in it belonged to the bishops of London; it was alienated by Bishop Ridley at the time of the Reformation: the manor-house (long since destroyed) was an episcopal palace. The parish was dismembered from that of Rayne, of which it was previously a hamlet, about the time of John or Henry III., the former of whom constituted it a market-town. The growth of the place is to be ascribed to its situation on one of the high roads from London into Norfolk and Suffolk, and to the building of inns and lodging-houses for the reception of the numerous pilgrims to the shrines of St. Edmund at Bury, and our lady of Walsingham in Norfolk. At the Reformation this source of its prosperity failed; but the town, and the adjacent village of Bocking, obtained consequence by the settlement of the Flemings who fled from the tyranny of the duke of Alba and established here the manufacture of baize and other light woollens, which for some time constituted the staple manufacture of the place, and is still The town is irregularly laid out, and the streets are carried on, though not to so great an extent as formerly. narrow and ill paved. The church, at the north-eastern It will be desirable to consider, in connection with Brain-end of the town, is a spacious and handsome building in the tree, the adjacent village of Bocking; for although Bocking Church and Church Street are a mile and a half from Braintree, and on the north-east bank of the Pant or Blackwater, what is terined Bocking Street is contiguous to Braintree, and the two form one continuous place, the main street of which covers two-thirds of the extent between Pod's Brook and the river Pant, and stretches about a mile. Braintree consists of this street and of some others, formed by the intersection of the road from Bishop's Stortford and Dunmow to Coggeshall and Colchester, with the Norwich road, and by the convergence at this point of bye-roads from the surrounding villages: there are some back streets or lanes. The streets are inconveniently narrow; and many of the houses are of wood, and of considerable antiquity. The church is on the right at the entrance of the town from London; it is large, built chiefly of flint, and mostly in the perpendicular style of English architecture: the tower, at the west end, is of early English, and is surmounted by a lofty shingled spire of much later date. This Perpendicular style of English architecture: the windows, especially the east window, are large and handsome: there is a large square tower at the west end. A small part of the abbey is yet remaining; and near it is a bridge of three arches, originally built by King Stephen over a cut made to convey the water of the river nearer to the abbey. The abbey has some good plain lancet windows, and the interior has some good groining and windows, with shafts; it is occupied as a farm-house. At Little Coggeshall, a hamlet of the town, half a mile south of it, said to have been once a distinct parish, were formerly two churches, one of them built by the monks of the abbey for their own use, the other the parish church: the former has been long demolished; the latter, or what remains of it, is now used as a barn. There are meeting-houses for Independents, Baptists, Quakers, and Methodists. By the returns of 1831, the parish comprehended an area of 2770 acres, and had 624 inhabited houses, with a population of 3227, about two-sevenths agricultural. The silk manufacture has been introduced here, and constitutes the principal manufacture of the place; that of woollens has declined. Some of the inhabitants are engaged in toy making. The market is on Saturday for corn, butter, eggs, and poultry, and occasionally live stock. The living is a vicarage, of the yearly value of 2157. with a glebe house, in the archdeaconry of Colchester. There are three unendowed almshouses near the church, and there is an endowed school. The parliamentary returns for 1833 assign to Coggeshall eleven day, or boarding and day, or evening schools, one endowed and one Lancasterian, with 294 scholars; thirteen dame or infant schools with 189 scholars; and six Sunday-schools with 490 scholars. Dunmow, or Great Dunmow, is in Dunmow hundred, on the south-west bank of the river Chelmer, 38 miles from London by Epping, Harlow, and Hatfield Broad Oak; 40 by Chigwell, Abridge, and Ongar; and 42 by Chelmsford, Great Waltham, and Barnston. Great Dunmow is considered by some antiquaries to have been the Roman station Cæsaromagus, which others fix near Widford, two miles south-west of Chelmsford. A number of Roman coins, of different emperors, have been found here. It is on a Roman road, crossing the county from west to east from Hertford to Colchester. Dunmow is pleasantly situated on an eminence, and consists principally of two streets. The market-cross in the centre of the town was erected in 1578, and repaired in 1761. The church stands a considerable distance from the main portion of the town: the houses adjacent to it form a group called Church End. It is a spacious building, with an embattled tower at the west end; it has some portions in the Decorated English, and some in the Perpendicular style: the east window, which is very fine, is of Deeorated character. There are meeting-houses for Independents, Baptists, and Quakers. The area of the parish is 7910 acres; there were in 1831, 499 inhabited houses, and 2462 inhabitants: nearly onehalf of the population is agricultural. The manufacture of baize and blankets, formerly carried on, has been given up; some sacking and coarse cloth are made. The market, which according to one of our latest authorities has been discontinued, was on Saturday. The living is a vicarage of the yearly value of 4217., with a glebe-house, in the archdeaconry of Middlesex. There is an almshouse for six poor persons. About two miles east of Great Dunmow is the village of Little Dunmow (population in 1831, 378), where was a priory of Augustine canons, founded in 1104 by the Lady Juga. sister of Ralph Baynard, the then lord of the manor. Its yearly value at the dissolution was 1737. 2s. 4d. gross, or 1501. 38. 4d. clear. The monastic buildings are now razed, and the site partly occupied by the manor house. The priory church was a large and stately fabric, partly in the decorated English, partly in an earlier style of architecture: the roof was sustained by pillars, having capitals ornamented with oak leaves elegantly carved. Some of these remain in the part now used as the parish church. The well-known custom of the 'flitch of bacon' was connected with the manor of Little Dunmow. [DUNMOW BACON.] Easton Lodge, the seat of Viscount Maynard, is situated on high ground in a spacious park about two miles northwest from Great Dunmow. It is a venerable pile of the Elizabethan period and style. In the returns of schools made to parliament for 1833, no account is given of those at Great Dunmow, except that there was a national school for girls, containing 103 scholars; and that a national school for boys, suspended from various causes at Christmas, 1832, had at the time of the suspension an average attendance of 75. Epping is in the half hundred of Waltham, and on the high road from London to Norwich by Newmarket, 17 niles from London. The principal part of the town, called Epping Street, consists of a street extending more than half a mile in length, lined with irregularly built houses, and having in the centre a row of decayed mean-looking shambles. The church is situated two miles northwest of the street, and with the houses grouped round it constitutes what is distinguished as Epping Upland. The church is pleasantly situated on a rising ground: it is dedicated to All Saints, and is not distinguished by its architecture. In the 'Street' is a chapel of case originally belonging to the abbot and monks of Waltham, to whom the great tithes had been granted, and who kept the parish in their own hands as a curacy. The chapel is now vested in trustees for the benefit of the inhabitants. It stands at the London entrance to the town, and has lately been rebuilt. There are places of worship in Epping for Quakers and Independents; but that for the Quakers, though close to the town and virtually belonging to it, is in an adjacent parish. There are many inns in the place. The parliamentary returns for 1831 assign to Epping an area of 5250 acres, 429 inhabited houses, and 2313 inhabitants, of which 83 houses and 427 inhabitants are in Epping Upland and the hamlet of Ryhill, the last in Harlow hundred. In Epping Upland four-fifths of the population is agricultural, in the whole parish about two-fifths. The neighbourhood of Epping is celebrated for butter, pork, and sausages, of which articles it furnishes a considerable supply to the metropolis. The market is on Friday. In the spring great numbers of suckling calves are brought to Epping market from Suffolk, and those parts of Essex where dairy farms are numerous. The living of Epping is a vicarage in the peculiar jurisdiction of the Court of the Commissary of London, concurrently with the Consistorial Episcopal Court.' (Lewis's Top. Dictionary.) Its yearly value is 7297., with a glebe-house: the chapelry is of the yearly value of 1207., arising from endowments. The returns made to parliament in 1833 assign to the parish of Epping four infant or dame schools, with 50 children, eight boarding or day schools (one of them a charity school), with 343 scholars, and one Sunday school, with 70 boys. About 70 girls from this parish attend the national school of Thoydon Garnon or Theydon Gernon (two miles south-east of Epping Street), to which the parishioners of Epping contribute largely. In the parish of Epping is Copped Hall, a mansion erected near the site of an older structure raised by the monks of Waltham Abbey when they had possession of the manor; it was built near a century ago, and has since been much improved. It is one of the finest seats in the county. Near it are the remains of an antient camp, probably British, now overgrown with trees, called Ambreys, or Ambersbury banks. Epping gives title to Epping Forest, a considerable tract of waste land in the south-west part of the county. This forest was formerly called the forest of Essex, being the only forest in that county, the whole of which was antiently comprehended in it. By a charter of king John, dated 25th of March, in the fifth year of his reign, and confirmed in the eighth of Edward IV., all that part of the forest which lay to the north of the highway from Stortford to Colchester (very distant from the present boundaries) was disafforested. The forest was further reduced by a perambulation made in the twenty-ninth of Edward I., in pursuance of the Charta de Foresta; but the metes and bounds of it were finally determined by an inquisition and perambulation taken on the 8th of September, 1640, by virtue of a commission under the great seal of England, in pursuance of an act of the 16th of Charles I., for settling the bounds of the forests. The boundaries as thus settled include the whole of the eleven parishes of Wansted, Leyton, Walthamstow, Woodford, Loughton, Chigwell, Lambourne, Stapleford Abbotts, Waltham Holy Cross, Epping, and Nazing, and parts of the ten parishes of Chingford, Stratford, East Ham, West Ham, Little Ilford, Great Ilford, Barking, Dagenham, Haverstock, and Theydon Bois. The extent of the forest is estimated at 60,000 acres, of which 48,000 acres are estimated to be enclosed and private property; the remaining 12,000 acres are the unenclosed wastes and woods. What is called Henhault, or Hainault forest, is a part of this waste. (Fifteenth Report of the Commissioners of Land Revenue, quoted in Young's Agriculture of Essex.) Tendring hundred had been disafforested by king Stephen before the grant of John mentioned above. (Morant's History of Essex.) Epping forest is much resorted to by Londoners in what are termed gipsy parties; and on the first Friday in July a kind of fair is held round the spot once occupied by an enormous oak called Fairlop oak. The fair retains the title of Fairlop Fair. On Easter Monday there is a stag-hunt much patronized by the inhabitants of London. The kennel for the hounds and the building belonging to the hunt were rebuilt several years ago at an expense of many thousand pounds. Grays Thurrock is in the hundred of Chafford; it is on the bank of the Thames, 24 miles from London, through |