BASILDON, a chapelry in Laindon parish, Essex; 2 miles NNW of Pitsea r. station, and 4 SE of Billericay.

Post Town, Laindon, under Billericay.

Acres, 1,627. Real property, £1,927. Pop., 180. Houses, 25.

The living is annexed to Laindon rectory in the diocese of Rochester.

Extract from 'Essex Roads & Lanes' Part 1. Being a useful guide for Pedestrians & Cyclists. Published approximately 1908.

     There is a place in Essex called Basildon, the Cyclist who may wish to go there will be interested to know that it lies to the right of Cray's Hill going to Wickford and it joins on to Vange on the opposite side of the valley. If standing on Langdon Hill and looking across to Billericay, Basildon is to the right, and it may be reached by turning one's back to the "Crown Inn," and taking the first lane on the left(*) at the end of which lane turns to the left and then the first on the right, continuing until a cross lane is found on the left which takes you over the railway and on past Basildon Church. Most of the houses here have two acres of practically useless ground tacked on to them. It gives the back garden in some cases the generous depth of a quarter of a mile.

     When it rains in the surrounding country it seems to have a knack of sometimes skipping Basildon, hence water is a valuable commodity there.

     The nearest Railway Stations are Billericay, Wickford, Laindon, or Pitsea, either of which is about three miles distant.

(*)The route referred to does not mention local names but at that time they would have been Dry Street, Bells Hill Road, Honeypot Lane and Church Road. During the new town development Dry Street was slightly truncated when Nether Mayne was constructed, but its original junction with Honeypot Lane and Bells Hill Road still remains; although very overgrown and no longer used as such. The eastern side of Honeypot Lane virtually disappeared, except a small stretch which was renamed Clay Hill Lane. Waldegrave, on the Kingswood estate roughly follows its previous course. At the same time Clay Hill Road was rediverted and now runs to Southernhay, but the railway overbridge at Church Road still remains today.

White's gazetteer and directory

In the 1800s the publisher William White of Sheffield produced a small history of Basildon in his yearly gazetteer and directory.

Reproduced here is the entry information for Basildon from the 1848 edition.

BASILDON, or Basseldon, is a small village and chapelry, ecclesiastically united to Laindon parish, and distant 4 miles South South East of Billericay. It contains 157 souls and 1627 acres of land; and has a fair for toys, etc., on Sept. 14th.

It was made a chapelry to Laindon at an early period, and is in the three manors of Barstable, Botelers, and Battleswick, belonging to the Slater, Prentice, and other families.

Barstable gives name to this Hundred, and had anciently a village, the foundations of which have often been ploughed up in the town field. At Domesday Survey, it belonged to Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, and was held, with the Hundred, of the King.

The Church, or chapel, is a substantial building, with a nave, chancel, and an embattled tower, crowned by a spire. The living is a perpetual curacy, consolidated with the rector of Laindon.

The principal farmers are Francis Ede, Benjamin Moss, and John Peasgood.

The inhabitants of note are listed as:

Walter Shead, shopkeeper
John Flowerden Colls D.D. (Doctor of Divinity)

Farmers:

Alfred Archer and Daniel Archer
Benjamin Moss
Abraham Offin
John Peasegood
Mary Skipworth

Source: William White's History, Gazetteer, and Directory of Essex 1848

White's Directories
The publisher William White of Sheffield issued a yearly series of gazetteer's and directories covering the United Kingdom. These began in 1826 in partnership with William Parson, but from 1831 were solely the work of White. William White continued to produce these until 1898 when his company was absorbed into Kelly's (Frederic Festus Kelly) trade directory, which continued into the twentieth century.

Kelly's Directory of Essex, 1894

BASILDON (or Battelsdon), though now annexed to Laindon, is said to have been formerly a town.

The church of the Holy Cross, standing on an eminence, is a building of brick and stone in the Perpendicular style, and consists of chancel, nave, south porch and a western tower containing 3 bells, dated 1677 and 1756: in 1880 the chancel was thoroughly restored and new oak choir stalls were introduced, the nave was thoroughly restored in 1888: a curious tablet on the north wall of the nave records that in 1702 the parishioners paid eleven shillings and sixpence in the pound, according to their rental, for the restoration of the church. The register dates from 1707, previous entries having been made in the Laindon registers.

The rectory house was built in 1859, by the late rector, assisted by a loan of £1,500 from Queen Anne's bounty.

According to Morant, Barstable Hall, in this parish, gave its name to the hundred.

A bequest of £200 was made in 1862 by Samuel Leake Gibbons, the interest of which is given to the poor of this parish.

Joseph Moss esq. and the Misses Ede are the principal landowners.

The soil is heavy; strong land. The chief crops are wheat, barley, oats, beans, peas and clover.

The area is 1,607 acres; rateable value, £1,157; the population 1881 was 179.

Post office.-Nathan Beardwell, sub-postmaster. Letters arrive from Brentwood via Billericay at 8.30 a.m.; despatched at 4.45 p.m. The nearest money order office & telegraph office is at Wickford.

Carpenter Rev. Herbert (curate in charge of Laindon & Basildon), The Rectory
Durham Edward Burton, Fryern's ho
Austin John, beer retailer
Bacon Hy. fm. bailiff to J. Halston esq.
Baker Harry, farmer
Dowson Edwd. frmr. Summerhill fm
Gardiner William, farmer
Moss Joseph, farmer & landowner, Fairfield

Kelly's Directory of Essex, 1914

BASILDON (or Battelsdon), though now ecclesiastically annexed to Laindon, is said to have been formerly a town.

The church of the Holy Cross, founded certainly before 1326 and probably much earlier, and standing on an eminence, is a structure of brick and stone in the Perpendicular style, and consists of chancel, nave, south porch and a western tower of ragstone, with plain moulded parapet, pyramidal roof with vane, and containing 3 bells, one with an ancient inscription to St. Katherine and two others dated 1677 and 1756: the porch is of open timber work with an elegantly cusped barge board: the chancel was rebuilt in 1597, by Arthur Denham, the rector, of which there is a record in Latin on the east wall; in the church is a slab older than any visible part of the fabric; it is of the 13th or early 14th century and a portion comprises " + ICI: GIST: MARGARETE" : in 1880 the chancel was thoroughly thoroughly restored and new oak choir stalls were introduced; the nave was reseated in 1888: a curious tablet on the north wall of the nave records that in 1702 the parishioners paid eleven shillings and sixpence in the pound, according to their rental, for the restoration of the church. The register dates from 1707, previous entries having been made in the Laindon registers.

The rectory house was built in 1859, by a former rector, assisted by a loan of £1,500 from Queen Anne's bounty.

According to Morant, Barstable Hall, in this parish, gave its name to the hundred.

Oliphant's farm, in Basildon, is a picturesque house with three gables, partly faced with wood.

Here is a Mission hall and a building known as Fairview Hall and used for concerts, political meetings & c.

A bequest of £200 was made in 1862 by Samuel Leake Gibbons, the interest of which is given to the poor of this parish.

The soil is heavy, strong land.

The principal crops are wheat, barley, oats, beans, peas and clover.

The area is 1,615 acres; rateable value, £3,510; the population in 1911 was 505.

Post, M. O. & T. Office.- Albert C. Kilsby, sub-postmaster. Letters arrive from Billericay, Essex, at 7.45 a.m. & 5.40 p.m.: sunday, 8.40 a.m. : despatched at 7.55 a.m. & 5.40 p.m. : sunday, 10.15 a.m. : open on sundays from 8.30 a.m. to 10.15 a.m.

Pillar Letter Boxes.- Summerhill, cleared at 8:45 a.m. & 5.30 p.m. : sunday, 10.25 a.m. : Gardners lane, cleared at 7.40 a.m. & 6.5 p.m : sunday, 9.45 a.m.

The children here attend the Public Elementary School at Laindon

(Marked thus * should be addressed Vange, Pitsea.)
PRIVATE RESIDENTS.

*Bennett Albert Edmund, The Oaks
Carpenter Rev. Herbert, The Rectory
Cattley Mark C. Danehurst
Goodenough Mrs. The Poplars
HÖbs Frederick Julius, Pinehurst
James William John, The Bryn
Longmuir James Arnott, Summer hill
Melvill Mrs. Highland
Richmond Joseph, The Nook
Sharpe William K. Ivy Garth
*Storer William Henry, Much Yelp
Turnbull Mrs. Rowans
Watkins Arthur James, The Cedars

COMMERCIAL.

*Anderson Hy. Geo. Wm. beer retailer
Corney Edwin Herbert, nurseryman
Gardiner William H. farmer bailiff to Joseph Fels esq.
Hughes Fras. Burdett, poultry farmer
Moore Harry Geo. farmer, Moat house
Moss Eldrid, farmer, Fairfield
Nicholson Alice (Mrs.), shopkeeper
*Potter Alfred James, bricklayer
Richens Frank Marshall, poultry farmer
Stevens Thomas Frederick. farmer

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