ROCHFORD, a market-town and parish in the
hundred of ROCHFORD, county of ESSEX, 19 miles
(S. E.) from Chelmsford, and 40 (E. by N.) from London,
containing 1382 inhabitants. It is situated on the
small river Roche, from which it is supposed to derive
its name, and is an irregularly built town, neither lighted
nor paved, supplied with water from a spring, by a
pump erected in the market-place. The trade is principally
in corn. The river Crouch is navigable to Broomhills,
within about a mile of the town. The market
is on Thursday; and the fairs are on Tuesday and
Wednesday in Easter week, and on the Wednesday and
Thursday after the 29th of September, chiefly for toys;
there is a market-house, built of wood, but not used
as such, being occupied only as a store-room for wool.
The magistrates for the hundred hold their sittings here
on Thursday, once a fortnight, and occasionally weekly,
for general business. The living is a rectory, in the
archdeaconry of Essex, and diocese of London, rated
in the king's books at £20, and in the patronage of the
Hon. W. T. L. P. Wellesley. The church, situated about
a quarter of a mile west from the town, is dedicated
to St. Andrew; it is a plain edifice, consisting of a nave,
chancel, and two aisles, with a lofty tower of very
fine ancient brickwork. A new gallery, the seats in
which are free, was erected in 1827, at the expense of
£40, by the Incorporated Society for building and enlarging
churches and chapels, and the church'was repaired
and beautified in 1828. There is a place of
worship for Independents. A National school, for an
unlimited number of children of both sexes, is supported
chiefly by subscription. Almshouses, in which
six poor persons are lodged, and receive a weekly
allowance, were founded and endowed by Lord Riche,
about the middle of the sixteenth century. Rochford
Hall, the greater part of which was destroyed by fire,
about sixty years since, was the birthplace of the unfortunate
Anne Boleyn, queen of Henry VIII.: it stands
a short distance west of the town. Rochford gave
theititle of earl to the family of Nassau, which, on the
death of the late earl, Sept. 3rd, 1830, became extinct.