Heydon, Essex
| Heydon | |
| Essex | |
|---|---|
 Holy Trinity, Heydon | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | TL429393 |
| Location: | 52°1’59"N, -0°4’59"E |
| Data | |
| Population: | 206 (2001) |
| Post town: | Royston |
| Postcode: | SG8 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | South Cambridgeshire |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
South Cambridgeshire |
Heydon is a village in Essex, in the hilly north-western corner of that shire, just a mile south of the plunging scarp and the Icknield Way beneath it which marks the boundary with Cambridgeshire. To the south of Heydon is Great Chishill and to the west is Chrishall.
Heydon has the King William IV Pub as its only pub. The village also has the Wood Green Animal Shelter Small Animals Rescue Home. And on the edge of Heydon it has its own golf course "Heydon Grange Golf Club" consisting of an 18-hole and 9-hole golf course with driving range.
The village stands at one of the highest places in Essex, with the actual county top at nearby village Chrishall.
Parish church
The parish church is Holy Trinitty, an unusual church, both old and new because of its twentieth century history.
Though it is a tiny village and it has not been a parish on its own since 1800, Heydon maintained a church on its own. Holy Trinity at the beginning of the twenetieth century was a fine church, modestly sized yet confident, in the Gothic style with crenalated walls. In 1940 it was hit by a bomb, presumably dropped by a German bomber on the way back from a raid over the Midlands as nowhere nearby was targetted. The bomb destroyed the northern half of the nave, the tower and other parts.
The church was rebuilt in the 1950s and with 1950s style joined oddly to original Gothic parts. It cannot be said to be attractive; the the tower is barely more than a brutal brick box. Nevertheless, inside the church a more loving restoration was made.