TOLLESBURY is a large fishing village, 8½ miles ENE of Maldon, on the margin of the marshes, about 1¼ miles north of the estuary of the Blackwater, from which it has a broad creek, in which are many oyster layings, where the fishermen deposit the spat and young brood till they become small oysters, which are sold and sent away to the layings on the Kentish coast, and other places, there to be fed into the full grown oysters. Most of the inhabitants are employed in this trade, in about 50 dredging boars, of from 7 to 30 tons. The parish contains 1149 souls, and 6780 acres of land, including part of Tiptree Heath and Mr Mechi's farm of Tiptree Hall, though distant more than 6 miles NW of the village. About 1630 acres are saltings and waste, 60 acres wood, 1932 acres marsh and meadow, and 3156 acres arable. The marshes on this part of the coast are preserved from the encroachments of high tides by embankments called sea wall, and outside these are the saltings on which cattle are grazed during low tides. An Oyster Co., established in 1845 in 500 £32 shares, has layings here, and purchases spat and young brood from the dredgers. A fair, for toys, etc., is held in the village on the last Thursday and Friday in June.

Capt. Du Cane is lord of the manor of Tollesbury Hall, which belonged to St. Mary's Nunnery at Barking till the dissolution and was afterwards held by the Howard family. Philip Bennet Esq is lord of the large manor of Bourchiers Hall a fine old mansion, occupied by a farmer, and pleasantly situated about a mile NW of the church. It had formerly a large park, and was a seat of the Bourchier family in the 14th and 15th centuries. It afterwards passed to the Devereux, Gardiner and Hallam families, and went in marriage with the heiress of the latter to the Bennets. Bohun's Hall, a farm house near the church, gives name to another manor in this parish, now belonging- to Benyon de Beauvoir Esq. and formerly to the Bohun, Cromwell, Craddock and other families. The Trustees of the late J. Grimwood Esq., J.J. Mechi, Rd Seabrook, Jas Wilkin and many smaller owners have estates in the parish, partly free and partly copyhold. The Church (St. Mary) has a nave and chancel, and a stone tower containing six cells. The nave is ancient, but the chancel is modern and built of brick with wood framed windows. The vicarage, valued in K.B. at £6.l6s.3d, and in 1831 at £510, is in the patronage of Trustees, and incumbency of the Rev. R.I.B. Henshaw M.A., who has a large residence and 12 acres of glebe. The tithes were commuted in 1840; the vicarial for £539, and the rectorial for £762 per annum. The latter belongs to B. de Beauvoir, Esq.. Here is an Independent Chapel, built about 30 years ago; and a small Parish School, in aid of which £5.10s is paid yearly, as arent of a tenement at Tolleshunt Knights left to the poor by Robert Taillor in 1652.

Adams Mr Edward
Carter Rev. Thomas (independent)
Clarke James, drill owner
Cock Benjamin, assistant overseer
Collins Rev. Jchn M.A. Curate
Dodd Robert C. decoyman
Emery Joseph gardener
Frost Elizabeth, vict Plough & Sail
Henshaw, Rev Robert Ibbotson B. MA vicar
Howe Samuel saddler
Hume William vict Plough Oakley Hill
Lewis Sarah schoolmistress
Nevill Thomas blacksmith
Payne Rosetta vict Kings Head
Payne Wm butcher
Reardon G straw hat maker
Rice Abraham parish clerk
Weaver Joseph tailor and carrier
Wyatt Wm bricklayer

FARMERS
Beckwith Thomas, The Wick
Bourne John, Mill Farm
Bygrave John Lay Lodge
Dennis Joseph Oakley Green
Emson Robert Osbournes
Fairhead W.H. Hall and Little Totham
Foster Joseph Old Hall & Witham
Gardiner Jeffrey & John Rolls and Prentices
Golding Pearson Bourchiers
Hume Joseph Heath
Mechi John Joseph Tiptree Hall
Page Joseph (& T D'Arcy)
Readhouse John, Profitts
Root George, Bourchiers Hall
Saddler Joseph, Heath
Sampson Simon
Seabrook Rd (& Tolleshunt D'Arcy)
Seabrook Rt (& Tolleshunt D'Arcy)
Sharp Wm Sharp George
Solly Richard Bohun's Hall
Walker John (& Tolleshunt Major)
Wass John (Tiptree Heath)
Wilkin James Gorwell Hall

br>BAKERS
Abthony Wm
Harvey Wm
BEER HOUSES
Chapman Samuel
Went William
COAL DEALERS
Bocking Joseph
Overall Stephen
CORN MILLERS
Posford John
Sanpson Simon
Turnage Thomas
SHOEMAKERS
Bright Benj. Heath
Davis Wm
Gulson John
Harrison Charles
SHOPKEEPERS
Banyard John
Banyard Jno jun.
Bowles Sarah
Crampin Jemima Heath
Howe Geo Druggist
Walford Wm
WHEELWRIGHTS
Beckwith Wm
Lewis Zacariah
CARRIERS
Colchester Mon. Thurs & Sat
Weaver Joseph (& Maldon Fri)
Lufkin George
Letters from Maldon

TIPTREE HEATH extends into several adjacent parishes and was anciently part of the great forest of Essex, which occupied about one-half of the county. From an inquisition taken in 1401, we find that Tiptree Heath comprised several thousand acres, in which the freeholders and tenants of the parishes of Inworth, Messing, Layer Marney, Great and Little Braxted, Totham, Tollesbury, Tolleshunt, Wigborough, Maldon, Salcott, Goldhanger, Wickham Bishops, and Langford had commonright for their cattle and estovers of the trees and underwood for repairing their buildings, hedges, etc., as well as for fuel.

Barking Abbey dedicated to the Virgin Mary is said to have been the first Convent for women established in this kingdom. It was founded about the year 670 in the reigns of Sebbi and Sighere, Kings of the East Saxons, by St. Rekenwald, Bishop of London, in compliance with the earnest desire of his sister Ethelburgh, who was appointed the first Abbess. Several Abbesses of the royal blood succeeded; Oswyth, Ethelburgh, Cuthburgh. Nothing more is known of this Monastery till the year 870 when it was burnt to the ground by the Danes and the Nuns either slain or dispersed. About the middle of the 10th century it was rebuilt by King Edgar as an atonement for his having violated the chastity of Wulfhilda, a beautiful Nun at Wilton, whom he appointed Abbess : he restored the Monastery to its former splendour and endowed it with large revenues. At the time of the Norman Conquest, Alfgiva a Saxon lady who had been appointed by Edward the Confessor, was abbess. The nuns of Barking were of the Benedictine order. Abbey surrendered to Henry VIII in November 1539, when an annual pension of 200 marks was granted to Dorothy Barley the last abbess, and various smaller pensions to the nuns, who were then thirty in number.

More Tollesbury History from Douglas Gurton