Great Canfield
| Great Canfield | |
| Essex | |
|---|---|
 St Mary's Church | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | TL5825118352 |
| Location: | 51°50’29"N, 0°17’45"E |
| Data | |
| Population: | 414 (2011[1]) |
| Post town: | Dunmow |
| Postcode: | CM6 |
| Dialling code: | 01279 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Uttlesford |
Great Canfield is a village and a parish in the Dunmow hundred of Essex. The village, which sits at the south-east edge of its civil parish, is approximately three miles south-west of the small town of Great Dunmow, and a mile north-west of High Roding. The civil parish contains the hamlets and small settlements of Hope End Green, Hellmans Cross, Bacon End, Baconend Green, and Puttocks End. The River Roding defines the parish border at the south-east, and for a mile cuts through the parish before providing part of the north-east border.
History
Great Canfield parish contains listed buildings and historic landscapes, and records dating to the Domesday Book. One entry found in the Domesday Book describes Great Canfield as having a "Value to the Lord in 1066 [of] £6"[2] and agricultural resources from years 1066 to 1086: "Meadow 51 acres. Woodland 160 pigs. 1 mill."[2] Great Canfield has historically a grounding in agricultural practices until recent years of industrialization and the re-distribution of work labour.
St Mary's Church at Great Canfield is of particular interest. The church is typically Norman and thought to have been constructed between 1100-1150. It is described as being "in the shadow of an old Motte and Bailey and it was perhaps built on the site of an earlier church". The church contains a 13th-century painting of The Virgin Mary and baby Jesus, which is described as of "exceedingly good quality".[3] St Mary's is part of a six-church Group ministry in west Essex—the other churches are St Mary the Virgin in Aythorpe Roding, St Andrews's in Halstead, St Mary the Virgin in High Easter, All Saints in High Roding, and The Church of St Margaret of St Antioch.[4] The group shares a part-time priest who conducts services in each of the member churches.
At the centre of Great Canfield village, 125 yds south-east from the church, are the earthwork remains of Great Canfield Castle. The 280-ft- diameter and 48-ft-high remains are of a motte-and-bailey castle. The remains are set within a wooded area bounded south-east to north-east by a bend of the River Roding, a feed from which was used to supply water to the castle moat. Great Canfield Castle is documented from 1154 to 1216, and might be associated with the de Vere Earls of Oxford.[5]
Isaac Lodge, recipient of the Victoria Cross for action during the Second Boer War, was born in the village.
References
- ↑ "Civil Parish population 2011". http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadKeyFigures.do?a=7&b=11123887&c=CM6+1JP&d=16&e=62&g=6426440&i=1001x1003x1032x1004&m=0&r=0&s=1443364169155&enc=1. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Great Canfield Open Domesday; Great Canfield; Great Canfield entry one". http://opendomesday.org/place/TL5918/great-canfield/.
- ↑ "Great Canfield St Mary's Church; The Church Of England". http://www.achurchnearyou.com/great-canfield-st-mary/.
- ↑ "Great Canfield The Six Parishes; The Six Parishes". http://www.thesixparishes.org.uk/.
- ↑ Historic England. "Canfield Castle (372888)". PastScape. http://www.pastscape.org.uk/hob.aspx?hob_id=372888. Retrieved 9 June 2015
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Great Canfield) |
