ROMFORD, a market-town and parish, in the liberty of HAVERING-atte-BOWER, county of ESSEX, 18 miles (S. W.) from Chelmsford, and 12 (E.N.E.) from London, containing 3777 inhabitants. This town is supposed by Dr. Stukeley to occupy the site of the Roman station Durolitum, and he considers its name to be a contraction of Ro- man-ford, in which opinion he is supported by the eminent antiquary Smart Lethellier, Esq.; others, however, derive it from a ford over a small stream running into the Thames, called the Rom, which intersects the town, and is crossed by a bridge. It is situated on the high road from London to Bury, Colchester, Ipswich, Harwich, Norwich, and Yarmonth, and is consequently a great thoroughfare, consisting chiefly of one long and wide street, which is well paved, and lighted with -gas, according to the provisions of an act of parliament passed in the year 18195 the houses are tolerably goodi and the inhabitants are well supplied with water. The market, held on Wednesday, was granted so early as 1247; it is the general market for all kinds of agriricultural produce, cattle &c., and is numerously attended; another is held on Monday for hogs; and one on Tuesday for calves: there is an annual fair on Midsummer-day for horses and cattle, and a statute fair for hiring servants, on the market days next before and after the 29th of September: the marketplace and tolls have been recently purchased of the crown by Hugh Macintosh, Esq. This town, which, with Hornchurch and Havering, constitutes "the liberty of Havering atte Bower," was formerly considered one of the wards of Hornchurch, but by an act of parliament passed for the regulation of the poor, in 1786, it is recognized, so far as relates to civil jurisdiction, as a separate parish, and comprises the wards of Collier Row, Harold's Wood, Noke Hill, and the Town; as regards ecclesiastical affairs it is still partly dependent on the parish of Hornchurch. The earliest charter was granted by Edward the Confessor, which has received several confirmations and additions; the government is vested in the high steward, the deputy steward, and one justice elected by the inhabitants of the liberty, all of whom exercise magisterial authority:' they are a corporation, and have a patent authorising them at their own quarter sessions, which are held on the Friday after the county quarter sessions, to try for all manner of offences, high treason not excepted, upon payment of a trifling fee, but no commission of this kind has been applied for of late years; and also to hear and determine, every three weeks, all actions for debt, trespasses, ejectments, and replevins, in a court of ancient demesne. The tenants of this liberty claim exemption from toll every where throughout the realm, both for goods and cattle sold, and provisions purchased; from payment towards the county expenses, and also a personal exemption from being empannelled on juries and inquests, save within their own liberty, with various other privileges; the county magistrates have no jurisdiction within the liberty. The court-house is in the market-place, and beneath it is a small gaol for the liberty. During the war there were cavalry barracks, built of wood, but they have since been pulled down. The living is in the nature of a vicarage, in the peculiar jurisdiction and patronage of the Warden and Fellows of New College, Oxford, who appoint a commissary. The great and small tithes of the whole liberty, were given by William of Wykeham to the Warden and Fellows of New College, Oxford, founded by him; the great tithes being now demised to two laymen, and the small tithes of Romford to the chaplain of Romford, and those of Hornchurch to the chaplain of Hornchurch,, The church, dedicated to St. Edward the Confessor, was erected in 1407, and consists of a nave, north aisle, and chancel, with a tower at the west end; in the east window is the figure of the patron saint, in fine old painted glass; there are several ancient monumental tablets and effigies, of which the most remarkable are, one to Sir Anthony Coke, Ambassador to Queen Elizabeth, who died in 1576, and was interred here; and two others to the memory of Sir George Hervey, Knt., and his daughter. There are places of worship for Independents and Wesleyan Methodists, the first having a small endowment of £20 per annum, and a house for the minister. A free school, for children of both sexes, was erected in 1728, and has been endowed with various benefactions, amounting to more than £1300; it is further supported by voluntary contributions, and contains sixty boys and thirty girls. An almshouse was founded by Roger Reed, in 1483, for the support of five poor men, whose widows are allowed £20 a year for life, with clothes and coal; the present value of the endowment is £280 per annum: the almshouse was rebuilt in 1784. The workhouse is a commodious building, erected in 1787, at an expense of £4000, under the provisions of an act of parliament, whereby the management of the poor is confided to thirty guardians, exclusively of the two churchwardens. Here were anciently a guild and a chantry; the revenue of the former was valued, at the dissolution, at £4. 10. 2., and that of the latter at £ 13; also an hospital, a cell to that of Mount St. Bernard, in the Savoy, London, founded at an early period, and dedicated to St. Nicholas and St. Bernard. Francis Quarles, the poet, and author of " The Divine Emblems," cup-bearer to the Queen of Bohemia, and afterwards secretary to Archbishop Usher, whom he accompanied to Ireland, was a native of this place; he died in 1644.