HAVERHILL

"HAVERHILL, a parish and small town in the hundreds of Risbridge and Hinckford, counties Suffolk and Essex, 20 miles S.W. of Bury St. Edmund's, and 25 N. of Chelmsford, and is a station on the Colne Valley and Halstead branch of the Great Eastern railway. It had formerly a castle of the Greys of Codnor. The town consists of one street, nearly 1 mile in length, of which the eastern extremity is in Essex, and the southern in Suffolk. Previous to the conflagration of 1665, it was a place of more importance than at present, and was until recently a market town. It contains the Risbridge union poorhouse, erected in 1838, a branch bank, savings-bank, and extensive ale and porter breweries. The manufacture of umbrella silk and "drabbet" has superseded that of fustian, which was formerly the staple trade : some hands are also employed in straw-plait. The impropriate tithes have been commuted for a rent-charge of £656 14s. 6d., and the vicarial for £220. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Ely, value £125. The church, dedicated to St. Mary, is a large and ancient structure. The Baptists and Independents have chapels, and there is a National school. Many ancient coins have been found in the churchyard."

Description(s) from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868)
Transcribed by Colin Hinson © 2003