Welcome to this website about the community of Chrishall in Essex.
Chrishall is a small village on a hilltop in the very north west of Essex, close to the borders of Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire, in the East of England. This website is particularly aimed at the local community and the genealogist who perhaps has never visited Chrishall and wishes to visualise the kind of community whence his or her ancestor came. It is run by…
“I stumbled accidentally across some aspects of its history, and began to learn and think more about it, but then – as I studied the records – people began to rise up out of them. Where before I had seen only names on lists, individual characters began to shake their shoulders and stand up. It was as though these dead were being awakened, resurrected. They seemed close, as though they had something to say.”
(quote from In a Country Churchyard by Ronald Fletcher. Although this quote refers to Westleton in Suffolk, we hope you come to feel the same about Chrishall charcters and history.)
Welcome to our online exhibition
Recent updates to existing content:
- June 2021: a tragic tale connected with Butler Berry – see the link from the Vicars of Chrishall page
- April 2021: Added some new researchers’ resources. So many great databases now coming on line – that include Chrishall records! – so get searching!
- March 2021: Found the name of the baker in the photograph and updates to road names.
George and Mary Pitches
(Photos kindly loaned by Maree Harris, Australia) George Pitches was born in Chrishall in 1837, the son of James and Mary Pitches (nee Kemp). James was the Innkeeper of the Red Cow. George married Ellen (nee Manning) in 1858 and emigrated to Australia the same year,...
Joseph and Mary Pitches
Among the first families to leave the village, Joseph and Mary Pitches arrived in Melbourne on 7th January 1849. According to Mrs Richardson’s research for the history of the chapel they lived at Camps Cottage in Broad Green. They opened their house for church...
The Cane Family
Joseph and Ann Cane are listed on the 1841 census both aged 35. Joseph was a farmer and they had 8 children at the time of the 1841 census. However several of these children were destined to end up in Australia. The Cane exodus to Australia really started with their...
Exodus childrens activities
(These links all open in a new window) Have a go at making this pop up galleon "We can have free passage": activities from an Australia Digital Classroom "Migration to Australia in the 1800s" more digital classroom activites from the State Library of New South Wales...
Corby Family
The Chrishall Archive Group receives correspondence from time to time from the descendants of people who emigrated from Chrishall and last year David Corby in Australia emailed with information about his family history. His great-grandfather, William Corby was born in...
Exodus – the Ships
These are the ships that we know took Chrishall people on their way to their new life in Australia. A 'Bark' or 'Barque' was a ship with at least three masts. ConstantThe Constant was a 535 tonne Bark built in Durham in 1843, initially as a convict ship. She made four...