The parish boundaries seem, in part, to defy any sense of logic. Witness the north east finger of Laindon surrounded on three sides by Great Burstead. Why would that area not logically be part of Great Burstead? Of course I understand that the boundaries were probably dictated by ecclesiastical authorities but why would the church determine that the residents in this area were better served by a church further away than by a nearer church in Great Burstead? Or perhaps serving the residents was not a primary concern. Perhaps the primary concern was the good old power struggle where one church was intent on extending its own size and importance at the expense of neighbouring churces. And residents! At times I understand that parish boundaries were sometimes decided by the boundaies of farms. Again, what farm would evolve to comprise property so thin and narrow. Most unlikely, I would have thought, in a non mechanised and forested age. It would have taken half the day to get to a far lying piece of the farm! As the monarch says in The King and I ‘”tis a puzzlement.”
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The parish boundaries seem, in part, to defy any sense of logic. Witness the north east finger of Laindon surrounded on three sides by Great Burstead. Why would that area not logically be part of Great Burstead? Of course I understand that the boundaries were probably dictated by ecclesiastical authorities but why would the church determine that the residents in this area were better served by a church further away than by a nearer church in Great Burstead? Or perhaps serving the residents was not a primary concern. Perhaps the primary concern was the good old power struggle where one church was intent on extending its own size and importance at the expense of neighbouring churces. And residents! At times I understand that parish boundaries were sometimes decided by the boundaies of farms. Again, what farm would evolve to comprise property so thin and narrow. Most unlikely, I would have thought, in a non mechanised and forested age. It would have taken half the day to get to a far lying piece of the farm! As the monarch says in The King and I ‘”tis a puzzlement.”
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