KIRBY, a parish in the hundred of TENDRING, county
of ESSEX, 11 miles (S. E.) from Manningtree, containing
853 inhabitants. The living is a discharged vicarage,
consolidated with those of Thorpe le Soken, and Walton
le Soken, in the peculiar jurisdiction of the Sokens, the
wills and records being deposited at the residence of
the Lord of the Manor, at Harwich; it is rated in the
king's books at £ 10, and in the patronage of W. P. Honeywood,
Esq. The church is dedicated to St. Michael.
There is a place of worship for Wesleyan Methodists.
The parish is bounded on the north by a creek of the
North sea, which runs up to Landermere. Here is a
wharf for loading and unloading small craft, which
occasionally sail to London with corn. A fair is held
on the festival of St. Ann, when the lord of the manor
holds his annual court.