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Boxted, Essex

Borough of ColchesterPhillips family (New England)Villages in Essex

Boxted is a village and civil parish in the City of Colchester district of Essex, England. It is located approximately 5 miles (8 km) north of Colchester and 24 miles (39 km) northeast of the county city of Chelmsford. The village is in the parliamentary constituency of North Essex. There is a Parish council. The village was the site of a series of skirmishes between Parliamentary and Royalist troops in July 1648, known as the Battle of Boxted Heath. Two historic manors are located in the parish: Boxted Hall and Rivers Hall, which are both mentioned in the Domesday records. Boxted was split into two settlements, "Boxted" and "Boxted Cross", during the plague when non-infected villagers moved across the valley from 'Old Boxted' to escape infection. A timber-framed cottage called Songers is reputedly the oldest private dwelling in Essex dating back to 1280. In 1630 the village vicar, George Phillips, and many other Boxted residents emigrated to America as part of the Great Migration. Phillips subsequently founded a church at Watertown on the Charles River in Massachusetts. Other Boxted residents went to Ipswich, Massachusetts. Today Boxted can be easily reached from Colchester along Boxted Straight Road, which is often mistaken for a Roman road, but is in fact a relatively modern road based upon an old heathland track; many other local roads are much older. Parts of the Boxted parish - such as Old Boxted - are within the Dedham Vale conservation area where development of buildings etc. is tightly controlled. Old Boxted is not developing as fast as Boxted Cross, which contains a broad mix of modern housing developments and has now extended considerably along Straight Road. Recently the school has moved from Old Boxted to Boxted Cross. At Boxted Cross is a village hall overlooking the George V playing fields where Boxted Lodgers football team and Boxted Cricket club play. In 2017 the Boxted Runners was founded by Vanessa Dolling, a local running group catering for all abilities. By 2018 they had grown to a membership of over 100. They held the first Boxted 10k event in 2018 raising over £6,000 for the local Primary School. Boxted Heath to the southern end of the parish is mostly divided into nearly 70 small holdings which were originally built by the Salvation Army in the early 20th century under an initiative to create a land settlement or colony. These small holdings replaced the Priory farm that was here in the 19th century, although the old farm house and some outbuildings still remain. No public houses are trading in the village since the Wig & Fidget closed in about 2005. The Cross Inn ceased trading in the mid-1980s and was converted into residential usage. The Queen's Head (Queen's Hd Rd/Ellis Rd corner) closed in 1972 and was demolished after several years as a retirement home. Most of the other pubs - such as the Fox (near the church) and Thatchers (Mill Rd) - closed much earlier.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Boxted, Essex (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors).

Boxted, Essex
Essex Way, Colchester Boxted

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Latitude Longitude
N 51.9628 ° E 0.9028 °
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Essex Way

Essex Way
CO4 5TJ Colchester, Boxted
England, United Kingdom
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Great Horkesley
Great Horkesley

Great Horkesley is a village in the City of Colchester district of Essex, England, approximately 3 miles north of Colchester. Horkesley is located in what is known as "Horkesley Heath", which is a combination of two villages: Great Horkesley and, to the north, Little Horkesley which is an entirely different Parish. Horkesley is a modern name for the original Saxon name of "Horkaslay" which means "farm land for herds" (mainly sheep) though now it has many fields growing a variety of crops from corn to hemp. A few years ago an archaeological dig was made in woods on Coach Road, where a Bronze Age bronze smelting pit was found. Much Of Great Horkesley was a marsh, with very boggy ground, until it was drained by farmers. This is the reason why the main road is called "The Causeway" as it was a firm, and safe route of passage. Development in the north of Colchester threatens to encroach on Great Horkesley. Housing targets set by the East of England Regional Assembly have led Colchester Borough Council to plan more than 2,200 new homes on the remaining green space between town and village along the A134 by 2021. The Church of England has 2 churches in the parish. There is a thriving Residents Association in the parish. Great Horkesley Cricket Club was reformed in 1975 and played its home matches at The Chantry at the northern end of the village. Its origins can be traced back to at least 1861 when they were bowled out for 6 in the first innings against Layer Breton CC - home games then were played at Horkesley Park. Due to uncertainty over development plans for the area, the club has temporarily moved its games to Mile End Playing Fields just a short distance from the village. In 2014, Great Horkesley Cricket Club and Lexden Cricket Club merged to form a new club called Great Horkesley & Lexden Cricket Club and will have two teams playing in Division Two and Five of the North Essex Cricket League. They will play first team games at Mile End, and second team games at Spring Lane, Lexden. The village has good bus links into Colchester, with services every 30 minutes from both Arriva Colchester’s route 2 and First Essex’s route 87.