Boreham, Essex

Description
Boreham, a village and a parish in Essex. The village stands on the river Chelmer, near the G.E.R., 3 1/2 miles NE of Chelmsford, which is the nearest railway station. It has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Chelmsford, and was once a market-town. The parish comprises 3781 acres of land and 20 of water; population, 944. Boreham House is the seat of the Tyrell family. New Hall belonged to Waltham Abbey, and passed to the Shardelowes, the Butlers, the Boleyns, Henry VIII., the Ratcliffes, the Villierses, Cromwell, Monk, the Cavendishes, and Olmius lord Waltham. A mansion on it was built by the Butlers in the time of Henry VII.; inhabited by the Princess Mary, the Duke of Buckingham, Cromwell, and Monk; and demolished, all except the great hall, by Lord Waltham. The hall is BOW a chapel, 96 feet by 50, retaining the arms of Henry VIII. and Elizabeth; and a convent is connected with it, first occupied by nuns who fled from Liege at the first French revolution, and used as a seminary for Roman Catholic ladies. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of St Alban's; net yearly value, £'290 with residence, in the gift of the Bishop of St Alban's. The church has a square Norman tower; contains tombs of the Ratcliffes, Earls of Sussex, and is good. The churchyard contains a mausoleum of the Walthams, after the model of the Temple of the Winds. There are a Congregational chapel, an endowed school, and some small charities.