Chelmsford Rural District was a local government district in

Essex Essex () is a Ceremonial counties of England, county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the Riv ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

from 1894 to 1974. It surrounded, but did not include, the town of

Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Southend-on-Sea and Colchester. It is located north-east of Londo ...

;Vision of Britain �
Chelmsford RD

historic map
) which formed a municipal borough. It was formed as a

rural district Rural districts were a type of local government area – now superseded – established at the end of the 19th century in England, Wales, and Ireland for the administration of predominantly rural areas at a level lower than that of the a ...

in 1894, based on the Chelmsford rural sanitary district.Vision of Britain �
Chelmsford RSDhistoric map
) It included the parishes of: *

Boreham Boreham is a village and civil parish, in Essex, England. The parish is in the City of Chelmsford and Chelmsford Parliament constituency. The village is approximately northeast from the county town of Chelmsford. History Boreham is listed ...

* Broomfield *

Buttsbury Buttsbury is a village and former civil parish (once ancient parish) in the Chelmsford (borough), Chelmsford district of Essex, England, a contraction of Botwulf of Thorney, Botulph's Perry, Pirie, a major saint who died in 680. It is sometimes ...

Chignal St James Chignall St James is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Chignall, in the Chelmsford district in Essex, England. The village is situated 3½ miles northwest by west from the county town of Chelmsford. In 1881 the parish had ...

Danbury Danbury is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, located approximately northeast of New York City. Danbury's population as of 2022 was 87,642. It is the seventh largest city in Connecticut. Danbury is nicknamed the "Hat City ...

East Hanningfield East Hanningfield is a small village in south Essex, England. It is situated to the southeast of Chelmsford and to the northwest of South Woodham Ferrers, with a population of ? It is surrounded by the villages of Butts Green, Bicknacre, Woodha ...

* Good Easter * Great Baddow *

Great Leighs Great Leighs is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Great and Little Leighs, in the Chelmsford district of Essex, England, halfway between Chelmsford itself and Braintree. In 1931 the parish had a population of 728. History ...

* Great Waltham * Highwood *

Ingatestone and Fryerning Ingatestone and Fryerning is a civil parish in the Brentwood borough of Essex, England. The parish includes the villages of Ingatestone and Fryerning, and covers an area of . History The civil parish was formed on 24 March 1889 by merging the ...

* Little Baddow *

Little Leighs Little Leighs is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Great and Little Leighs, in the Chelmsford district in the English county of Essex. In 1931 the parish had a population of 158. On 1 April 1949 the parish was abolished and ...

* Little Waltham * Margaretting * Mashbury * Pleshey * Rettendon * Roxwell * Runwell * Sandon * South Hanningfield * Springfield *

Stock In finance, stock (also capital stock) consists of all the shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided.Longman Business English Dictionary: "stock - ''especially AmE'' one of the shares into which ownership of a compan ...

* West Hanningfield * Widford *

Woodham Ferrers Woodham Ferrers is a small village and former civil parish about southeast of Chelmsford, located between South Woodham Ferrers and Bicknacre, now in the civil parish of Woodham Ferrers and Bicknacre in the county of Essex, England. The village ...

Writtle The village and civil parish of Writtle lies west of Chelmsford, Essex, England. It has a traditional village green complete with duck pond and a Norman church, and was once described as "one of the loveliest villages in England, with a ravis ...

During 1934 there were some changes to the district boundary. The municipal borough of Chelmsford expanded and gained from the rural district, including parts of the parishes of Broomfield, Springfield, Widford, and Writtle. At the same time were transferred from Buttsbury parish to form part of

Billericay Urban District Billericay ( ) is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Basildon, Essex, England. It lies within the London Basin and constitutes a commuter town east of Central London. The town has three secondary schools and a variety of open spaces. It i ...

. Later that year, an area of , made up of

Mountnessing Mountnessing is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Brentwood in south Essex, England. It is situated to the north-east of Brentwood, south-west of Ingatestone. A large proportion of the houses are situated on the Roman Road (formerly ...

and parts of the parishes of Downham,

Ramsden Bellhouse Ramsden Bellhouse is a village and civil parish in Essex in the east of England. It is in the Borough of Basildon and in the parliamentary constituency of Billericay. The River Crouch flows through Ramsden Bellhouse, flowing under Church Road. ...

Ramsden Crays Ramsden Crays is a civil parish in the Basildon (district), Basildon district of Essex, England. It lies north of Basildon and west of Wickford, Essex, Wickford. The parish includes the village of Crays Hill and is located north of the A127 road, ...

and

Shenfield Shenfield is a commuter suburb of Brentwood, in the borough of Brentwood, Essex, England. In 2020, the suburb was estimated to have a population of 5,396. History The old village (now town), by the church and Green Dragon pub, lies along the ...

, was gained from the abolished Billericay Rural District. Also at this time was gained from the parish of Hockley in Rochford Rural District. The district was abolished in 1974 and its former area was merged with the municipal borough of Chelmsford to form the current non-metropolitan district of Chelmsford, which inherited the borough charter. The parishes of

and

became part of the district of Brentwood. The former council offices in New London Road are now used as a Jobcentre Plus.

References

Further reading