PRITTLEWELL, a parish in the hundred of ROCHFORD,
county of ESSEX, 19 miles (S. E.) from Chelmsford,
containing, with Milton, 1922 inhabitants. The
living is a vicarage, in the archdeaconry of Essex, and
diocese of London, rated in the king's books at £ 18.13.4.,
and in  the patronage of the Bishop of London. The
church, dedicated to St. Mary, is a handsome structure
in the later English style of architecture, with a fine
pinnacled tower, which serves as an excellent sea-mark.
The parish borders on the Thames, and includes Southend,
a noted bathing-place, a short distance above which
is Crow Stone, marking the extreme eastern boundary
of the jurisdiction of the lord mayor of London, as conservator
of the river. A Cluniac priory, in honour of St.
Mary, and subordinate to the abbey of Lewes in Sussex,
was founded here, in the reign of Henry II., by Robert
Fitz-Swaine, which at the dissolution had a revenue of
£194. 14. 3. Mrs. Scrattons and others gave a house
and land in support of a free school for sixteen poor
children.