In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Messing like this:
MESSlNG, a village and a parish in Witham district, Essex. The village stands 2 miles E of Blackwater river, 2¾ ENE of Kelvedon r. station, and 3¾ SE of Coggeshall; is supposed to have got its name from Saxon words, signifying "the field of trampling, ''in allusion to a battle between Queen Boadicea and the Romans; and has a post office under Kelvedon, and a fair on the first 'Tuesday of July. ...
The parish comprises 2,549 acres. Real property, £4,217. Pop., 813. Houses, 164. The property is much subdivided. The manor belonged formerly to the Luckyns, and belongs now to the Earl of Verulam. An ancient camp was on Harborough Hall Farm; and Roman pottery has been found. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Rochester. Value, £370. * Patron, the Earl of Verulam. The church is an ancient edifice, founded by Sir William de Messing; has been modernized and considerably enlarged; includes two new transepts, and a red brick and compo tower; and contains oak-panelling of the time of James I., a finely carved font, a piscina, and two brasses. There are a national school, and charities £4.
Messing through time
Messing is now part of Colchester district. Click here for graphs and data of how Colchester has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Messing itself, go to Units and Statistics.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Messing, in Colchester and Essex | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/6829
Date accessed: 27th April 2024
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