Danbury Essex Family History Guide

Updated onOctober 17, 2024

Links marked with a * mean that we may earn a small commission if you make a purchase, at no additional cost to you. It all helps to keep the site online and free for everyone.

Danbury is an Ancient Parish in the county of Essex.

Other places in the parish include: Bicknacre and Runsell.

Alternative names:

Parish church: St. John the Baptist

Parish registers begin:

Parish registers: 1673
Bishop’s Transcripts: 1629-30; 1800

Nonconformists include: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Table of Contents

Adjacent Parishes

Parish History

The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870

DANBURY, a village and a parish in Chelmsford district, Essex.

The village stands on high ground, 4½ miles E by S of Chelmsford r. station; and has a post office under Chelmsford, and a fair on Shrove Tuesday. Its name is a contraction of Danesbury, signifying the “town or castle of the Danes.”

The parish includes also Runsell hamlet and part of Bicknacre. Acres, 2,950. Real property, with the rest of Bicknacre, £4,243. Pop., 1,113. Houses, 236.

The manor was held, at Domesday, by Geoffrey de Mandeville; passed to the St. Cleres, the Veres, the Greys, the Darceys, and the Mildmays; and belongs now to Sir B. W. Bridges, Bart. Danbury Place, now called Danbury Palace, was the seat of the Rounds; and is now the residence of the bishop of Rochester, having been purchased by the ecclesiastical commissioners, in 1851, for £24,700.

Danbury Hill, at the village, is 700 feet high; and has vestiges of an ancient camp, 680 yards in circuit. The parish is a meet for the Essex Union hounds.

The living is a rectory in the diocese of Rochester. Value, £435. Patron, Sir B. W. Bridges, Bart. The church has a stone tower and a lofty wooden spire; and contains effigies of the St. Cleres.

There are national schools, and charities £44.

Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].

A Topographical Dictionary of England 1848

DANBURY (St. John the Baptist), a parish, in the union and hundred of Chelmsford, S. division of Essex, 5½ miles (E. by S.) from Chelmsford; containing, with the hamlet of Runsell, and part of that of Bicknacre, 1189 inhabitants.

The name is contracted from Danesbury, signifying the town or castle of the Danes. On the summit of Danbury Hill is an ancient encampment, about 680 yards in circumference; the glacis-on the south side is still nearly 30 feet deep, and the lines may be distinctly traced on the other sides.

The parish comprises 2624 acres, of which 300 are common or waste: it occupies an elevated situation, commanding fine views, and the general scenery is varied; the soil, though in some parts light and gravelly, is in others of the richest quality. An estate partly in this parish and partly in the parish of Sandon has just been purchased for the residence of the Bishop of Rochester, in lieu of the palace at Bromley, Kent, which is not now within the limits of the see: the cost was £24,700. A fair is held on the 29th of May.

The living is a rectory, valued in the king’s books at £20, and in the gift of Sir B. W. Bridges, Bart.: the tithes have been commuted for £569, and the glebe contains 22 acres, with a glebe-house. In 1402, the body of the church, and part of the chancel, were destroyed by lightning; and in Feb. 1750, the upper part of the spire was struck down by a like cause. The interior contains many ancient and interesting monuments, and in the walls are several niches, in two of which are effigies of Knights Templars, curiously carved in wood. From the summit of the tower is a remarkably fine panoramic view.

There is a place of worship for Wesleyans.

Source: A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis 1848

Parish Registers

Hampshire Allegations for Marriage Licences 1689 to 1837

The following have been extracted from Allegations for Marriage Licences in the county of Hampshire. Parishes without a named county are parishes within the county of Hampshire.

GOWLAND, Edward, of H.M.S. Russell, and late of Windsor Castle, mariner, 21, b., & Grace Knepman, of Danbury, co. Essex, 21, sp., at Alverstoke, 18 Feb., 1797.

Source: Hampshire Allegations for Marriage Licences Granted by the Bishop of Winchester. 1689 to 1837 Published 1893 Editor: William John Charles Moens