CRESSING, a parish in the hundred of WITHAM,
county of ESSEX, 3 miles (S. E.) from Braintree, containing
489 inhabitants. The living is a discharged
vicarage, in the archdeaconry of Colchester, and diocese
of London, rated in the king's books at £7. 15. 5., and
in the patronage of Andrew Downs, Esq. The church
is dedicated to All Saints. Cressing Temple, anciently
a commandery of the Knights Templars, was given by
King Stephen, with the advowson of the church, in perpetual
alms to that order; on its dissolution these
possessions passed to the Knights Hospitallers of St.
John of Jerusalem, and reverted to the crown at the
general suppression.