Good Easter
| Good Easter | |
| Essex | |
|---|---|
 Crossroads at Good Easter | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | TL624122 |
| Location: | 51°47’5"N, -0°21’15"E |
| Data | |
| Post town: | Chelmsford |
| Postcode: | CM1 |
| Dialling code: | 01279 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Chelmsford |
Good Easter is a village and parish in the Dunmow hundred of Essex. The village is located near the A1060 road, six miles north-west of the city of and county town of Chelmsford.
History
The name 'Good Easter' refers not to the Christian festival 'Easter', but to the 11th-century Estre (in the Domesday book as Estra), from the Old English eowestre meaning a sheep fold, or 'a place at the sheep fold'. By 1200 the place was called Godithestre, the 'Good' part of today's place name derived from the Anglo-Saxon woman's name of Godgyth or Godgifu, who probably held possession of the place. The sister village of High Easter to the north, has the same origin, except that the 'High' part refers to the Old English heah (meaning geographically high), that place being Heyestre in 1254.[1][2]
The ecclesiastical parish benefice was in the gift of the Dean and Chapter of St Paul's. The parish church of St Andrew registers date to 1538. In 1902 the church contained 250 sittings. The church was restored in 1878 at a cost of £600. On 22 March 1885 there was a fire which damaged the church; it was restored in 1886 at a cost of £2,200; in 1891 three of the five bells were replaced and two more added, and in 1910 a new organ was installed at the expense of the vicar.[3]
Parish land is of marl and clay overlaying white clay. In the late 19th to early 20th century, crops grown were largely wheat, barley and beans. In 1881 the population was recorded as 520. By 1901 population was recorded as 488 in the civil, and 534 in the ecclesiastical parish.
A public elementary school for boys and girls was erected in 1844. A school board of five members was formed in 1872 for a Board School for boys and girls, which was built in 1874 at a cost of £1,200, accommodating 100 pupils, which in 1882 had an average attendance of 97. In 1895 the school was enlarged to accommodate 130 pupils, and had an average attendance of 70 and 18 infants, and in 1902 of 67 and 30 infants. By 1902 a police station existed in Good Easter under the charge of a constable. [3]
Notable people
Horticulturist Beth Chatto was born in Good Easter.[4]
References
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Good Easter) |
- ↑ Mills, Anthony David (2003); A Dictionary of British Place Names, Oxford University Press, revised edition (2011), p. 168. ISBN 019960908X
- ↑ "Place-name Meanings in Uttlesford", Recording Uttlesford History. Retrieved 29 January 2018
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Kelly's Directory of Essex: 1882 p.130; 1902 p.189; 1914 p.270
- ↑ "Ben Shephard, Martina Cole, Beth Chatto and Ruthie Henshall - why they love Essex", Essex Life, 20 February 2013. Retrieved 29 January 2018
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