Manningtree in 1837
Manningtree is in the hundred of Tendring, on the estuary of the Stour, 60 miles from London, through Chelmsford and Colchester. This place was anciently known by the name of Sciddinchou ; the origin of its present appellation, formerly written Many-Tree, is not known. It is a small place, irregularly laid out. The church or chapel, built out of the ruins of a more ancient one, which stood on a site not far removed from that of the present building, was formerly very small, but has been lately enlarged. There are meeting-houses for Independents, Quakers, and Methodists.
The parish, or rather the chapelry, by the return of 1831, comprehended only 30 acres, and had 241 inhabited houses. and a population of 1,237, a very small proportion of which was agricultural. Manningtree appears to be the residence of an unusual proportion of genteel families. A consider able trade in malt is carried on ; and corn, coal, deals, iron and fish are imported. The market is on Thursday.
The living is a perpetual curacy, united with the rectory of Mistley (of which parish the chapelry of Manningtree is a dependency) and the vicarage of Bradfield. The whole are of the yearly value of £698, with a glebe-house. They are in the archdeaconry of Colchester.
The chapelry contained, in 1833, one national school, containing 223 children ; and one Sunday-school, with 60 children.
Mistley is adjacent to Harwich. Mistley Hall, the seat of the Rigby family, is on a pleasant eminence in the midst of gardens and plantations elegantly laid out. On the bank of the Stour is a quay with warehouses, at which considerable trade in corn, malt, and coal is carried on. These belong to the proprietor of the mansion.
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