OCKENDON (South), a village and a parish in Orsett district, Essex. The village stands 3¾ miles N N W of Grays r. station, and 6½ S W of Romford; and has a post-office under Romford. The parish is sometimes called Ockendon-Rokely. Acres, 2, 907. Real property, £6, 349. Pop. in 1851, 1,021; in 1861, 1, 267. Houses, 231. The increase of pop. arose mainly from the con-version of a large farm into a market-garden, and from extensive drainage operations. The property is much subdivided. There are several ancient mounds. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Rochester. Value, £845.* Patron, the Rev. P. Lawrence. The church is ancient; was variously restored, enlarged, and rebuilt in 1866; has a richly carved Norman doorway and a round tower, the latter raised to an additional height of 18 feet in 1866; includes a chapel restored in 1863, and a new chancel built in 1866; cost, for the work done in the latter year, exclusive of the chancel, £2, 173; and contains a canopied brass of Sir J. Bruyn of 1480, and two other brasses. There are chapels for Independents and Wesleyans, and a British school.

(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))