Bowers Gifford
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| Bowers Gifford | |
| Essex | |
|---|---|
 St Margaret's | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | TQ7588 |
| Location: | 51°33’36"N, 0°31’12"E |
| Data | |
| Post town: | Basildon |
| Postcode: | SS13 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Basildon |
Bowers Gifford is a small village and ancient parish in southern Essex. It is located east of Basildon, between Pitsea and Thundersley. Pillboxes in the surrounding fields testify to its wartime role in defending the Thames Estuary which it overlooks.
The place-name 'Bowers Gifford' is first attested in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it appears as Bura, meaning 'cottages', from the Old English bur, in modern English bower. The 'Gifford' element relates to its lords of the manor: in 1243 the land was held by William Giffard.[1]
The most historic surviving building is the fourteenth-century St Margaret's church.
References
- ↑ Eilert Ekwall, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names, p.56.
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Gifford Bowers Gifford) |
- Basildon Heritage
- Basildon Borough History - Bowers Gifford & North Benfleet
- Bowers Gifford & North Benfleet Parish Council
- Bowers Gifford & North Benfleet Residents Association
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