HARLOW, WITH THE VILLAGE OF SHEERING AND NEIGHBOURHOODS
Pigot's Essex 1832-3 Trade Directory
HARLOW is a respectable and neat little town, giving name to a hundred; 23 miles from London, seven from Epping, and the like distance from Bishops Stortford, in Hertfordshire. It is situated on the Newmarket road, a little above the valley of the Stort, which flows about a mile to the north of it, and divides the counties of Essex and Herts. Formerly it was a market town, and one of considerable trade, especially in the manufacture of woollens, which has long since decayed; its malting business is now the most important branch existing.
The place of worship are, the church, and two meeting-houses for dissenters; and the two charities are comprised in some almshouses, & two schools, supported by subscription, upon the national system. The church is dedicated to the Virgin Mary and All Saints; about the commencement of the last century it was destroyed by fire, but was afterwards restored and beautified, and the windows enriched with stained glass. The living is a vicarage, under the patronage of the Marquis and Marchioness of Bute, the possessors of the manor; the present incumbent is the Rev. Charles Miller. A short distance S.E. from Harlow is the parish of High Laver, which must be noticed as containing, in the cemetery of its church, a plain marble tomb, enclosing the remains of the immortal Locke. On a common, about two miles from Harlow, is held a celebrated fair, on the 9th of September, for horses and cattle, called 'Harlow-bus fair,' much frequented by horse dealers, farmers and graziers; there is also another fair, held in the town, on the 28th November. The population of Harlow parish, by the last census, was 2,101; being an increase, since 1801, of 587 inhabitants.
SHEERING is a small village and parish, in the same hundred as Harlow; three miles from that town, and the like distance from Hatfield, situated on the mail road to Chelmsford. The number of inhabitants in this parish, by the last government returns, was 547.
POST OFFICE, High-street, Harlow, Thomas Penn, Post Master. - Letters from LONDON arrive every night at eleven, and are despatched every morning at four.
COACHES. To LONDON, the Royal Mail, the Magnet, and the Telegraph (from Norwich), call at the George Inn every morning; and coaches, from BURY, CAMBRIDGE, HAVERILL, HOLT, NORWICH, SWAFFHAM and WALDON, call at the same Inn every day (Sunday excepted) - the Red Rover, from the Queen's Head, and the Tally-ho! from the Green Man, every Monday morning at a quarter before seven, and every other morning at a quarter before eight.
To BURY, CAMBRIDGE, HAVERILL, HOLT, SWAFFHAM, WALDON, &c. coaches (from London), call at the George Inn, daily.
To NORWICH, the Magnet and the Telegraph (from London), call at the George Inn, every night.
CARRIER. To LONDON, Samuel Nash, from his house, every Mon. & Fri. evening.
CONVEYANCE BY WATER. To LONDON, Barges (from Bishops Stortford), occasionally call at Harlow Bridge wharf.
Transcribed by CG
The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales...., by John Marius Wilson. circa 1866
HARLOW, a village, a parish, a sub-district, and a hundred in Essex. The village stands adjacent to the Eastern Counties railway, near the river Stort and the boundary with Herts, 6 miles SSW of Bishop-Stortford; was once a market town; is a seat of petty sessions; and has a head post-office. A railway station with telegraph, a police station, a good inn, and a fair on 28 and 29 Nov. The parish contains also the hamlet of Potter-street, near which a famous fair for horses and cattle, called Harlow-Bush fair, is held on 9 and 10 Sept. Acres, 4,000. Real property, £10,964. Pop., 2,377. Houses, 493. The manor-house, called Harlow-Bury, long in possession of the noble family of North, and occupied since 1736 by the Barnard family, is an ancient edifice recently modernized. An ancient chapel in its grounds is supposed to have been used by the monks of Bury St. Edmunds; retains a fine Norman door; and has been partly demolished, partly converted into a granary. Moor Hall is the seat of J.W.P. Watlington, Esq. The living is a vicarage, and there are also two p. curacies, St. John and St. Mary, in the diocese of Rochester. Value of the vicarage, £383; of St. John, £100; of St. Mary, not reported. Patron of the vicarage, the Hon. Wm. North; of St. John, J.W.P. Watlington Esq.; of St. Mary, the Vicar of Harlow. The parish church stands on a rising ground; is ancient, cruciform, and good; and includes two chantry chapels, which went into disuse, but were restored in 1857 and 1862. St. John's church is recent and in the early English style. St. Mary's church stands about 2 miles S of the parish church, and is recent and picturesque. There are two Baptist chapels, two national schools, a school college, a free school, a school for educating juvenile criminals, and charities £155.
SHEERING, a parish, with a village, in Epping district, Essex; 1¾ miles ESE of Sawbridgeworth r. station. It has a post-office under Harlow. Acres, 1,628. Real property, £3,044. Pop., 499. Houses, 196. the property is divided among a few. Both Sheering Hall and Quickbury are manor-houses. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Rochester. Value, £507. Patron, Christchurch, Oxford. The church is good; and there is a slightly endowed school.
Transcribed by Noel Clark
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