Shopland Parish

Article by Richard Kirton - September 2012

In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Shopland like this:

SHOPLAND, a parish in Rochford district, Essex; 2½ miles NE of Southend r. station. Post town, Rochford, under Chelmsford. Acres, 1,039. Real property, £2,299. Pop., 80. Houses, 10. The property is divided among four. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Rochester. Value, £89. Patron, Mrs. H. Aitken. The church is ancient but good.

In 1894-95 The Comprehensive Gazetteer of England and Wales, 1894-5 described Shopland like this:

SHOPLAND, a parish in Essex, 4 miles NE of Southend station on the London, Tilbury, and Southend railway, and 2 SE from Rochford station on the G.E.R. Post town and money order and telegraph office, Rochford. Acreage, 1054; population, 56. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of St Albans. The church is an ancient edifice of brick and stone, partly Norman and partly in the Early English and Decorated styles, consisting of chancel, nave, S porch, and western bell turret. It has a brass of 1371, and an ancient font.

White's Directory 1848

SHOPLAND, 2 miles South East of Rochford, is a small parish, containing only 43 souls, and 1035 acres of freehold land, in two manors, viz., Shopland Hall and Botyllers. The latter is held by A.H.White, Esq., but part of the soil belongs to Philip Benton, Esq., George Tooke, Esq., and a few smaller owners. In Domesday survey, the parish is called Scopeland, and was then held by Eustace, Earl of Boulogne

The Church (Virgin Mary,) is a small ancient edifice, and was formerly appropriated to the abbey of St. Osyth. The benefice is a discharged vicarage, valued in K.B. at £9, and in l831 at £80. It is in the patronage of Mrs. Aitken, and incumbency of the Rev. Frederick Thackeray, M.B., of Southend, who has 12A. of glebe, but no parsonage house. Philip Benton, Esq., is impropriator of the great tithes.

Shopland Inhabitants

White's Directory of Essex 1848 - list of Shopland inhabitants

Philip Benton, farmer
Mrs. Simmons, farmer, Shopland Hall
Thomas Rickett, farmer
Thomas Wolton, farmer

White's Directory of Essex 1863 - list of Shopland inhabitants.

Philip Benton, Esq., farmer, Beauahamps
Thomas Rickett, farmer, Hall
John Stallisbrass, farmer, Fox Hall
Samuel Peacock Wimmill, farmer, Botyllers
William Mumford, shopkeeper
John Wallis, parish clerk

Post Office Directory of Essex 1874 - list of Shopland inhabitants.

Luke Dilliway, farm bailiff to J.W. Stailibrass
William Holmes, shopkeeper
William Perry, farmer, Butlers
Thomas Rickett, Shopland Hall
James Wallace, parish clerk