Billericay, Essex

Description
Billericay, a small market-town a chapelry, and head of a union in Essex. It is a separate ecclesiastical parish, but for civil purposes is included in the parish of Great Burstead. The town stands on an eminence, near the site of a Roman station, 6 miles E from Brentwood, and 9 SSW of Chelmsford,.and it has a station of the same name on the G.E.R. It commands a fine view of the surrounding country, away to Kent and the Nore, and it is of ancient origin, and has been much improved. It has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Brentwood, a banking office, a church, Baptist and Congregational chapels, an endowed school, a public reading-room, and a workhouse, and is a seat of petty sessions and a polling place. The church is a brick building, partly as old as the time of Edward IV., and has a tower of previous date, which was thoroughly restored in 1880. A weekly market is held on Tuesday, and brewing, brick-making, and country business are carried on. Population of the ecclesiastical parish, 1394. the living is a vicarage in the diocese of St Albans; gross yearly value, £320, in the gift of the Bishop of St Albans.