Bulmer, Essex

Little Henny (previously spelt Little Henney) is a hamlet and civil parish in the Braintree district in the county of Essex, England. It shares a parish council with Great Henny and Twinstead called "Hennys', Middleton & Twinstead". It is near the town of Sudbury in Suffolk. In 2001 the parish had a population of 48.

Belchamp Hall is a Queen Anne style country house in Belchamp Walter, near Braintree, Essex, England. It is a privately owned Grade II* listed building.It is constructed of red brick in two storeys in a double-pile plan form with a gabled peg-tile roof with attics. The front facade has nine bays with a parapet. The central bay projects and is surmounted by a pediment. The house was built c.1720 in place of an original Elizabethan house and offers good views across the valley of the Belchamp Brook to the village of Bulmer. The interior panelling is Elizabethan or Jacobean, probably from the original building. Numerous family portraits by well-known artists decorate the walls. The surrounding parkland, significantly reduced in size since 1741, is itself Grade II listed.

Borley Rectory was a house located in Borley, Essex, famous for being described as "the most haunted house in England" by psychic researcher Harry Price. Built in 1862 to house the rector of the parish of Borley and his family, the house was badly damaged by fire in 1939 and demolished in 1944. The large Gothic-style rectory had been alleged to be haunted ever since it was built. These reports multiplied suddenly in 1929 after the Daily Mirror newspaper published an account of a visit by Price, who wrote two books supporting claims of paranormal activity. Price's reports prompted a formal study by the Society for Psychical Research (SPR), which rejected most of the sightings as either imagined or fabricated and cast doubt on Price's credibility. His claims are now generally discredited by ghost historians. However, neither the SPR's report nor the more recent biography of Price has quelled public interest in these stories, and new books and television documentaries continue to satisfy public fascination with the rectory. A short programme commissioned by the BBC about the alleged manifestations, scheduled to be broadcast in September 1956, was cancelled owing to concerns about a possible legal action by Marianne Foyster, widow of the last rector to live in Borley Rectory. In 1975 the BBC aired a programme entitled The Ghost Hunters that focused on the house and conducted interviews with several psychic researchers, including Peter Underwood. It also featured a late-night psychic investigation of nearby Borley Church.

Borley Church is the parish church in Borley, Essex. The church is in the ecclesiastical parish of Borley and Liston, one of the Fifteen Churches of the North Hinckford Benefice in the Diocese of Chelmsford of the Church of England. The church is a Grade I Listed building, notable for its topiary walk and a large monument to Sir Edward Waldegrave (a member of Mary I of England's privy council) and his wife.

Borley is a village and civil parish in rural north Essex, England close to the border with Suffolk. It is located near the River Stour. The closest town is Sudbury, Suffolk, approximately 3 km (1.9 mi) southeast of Borley; Sudbury is also the Post Town used by Royal Mail for Borley. The neighbouring parishes are Foxearth, Belchamp Walter and Bulmer.

Ballingdon is a suburb of the town of Sudbury and former civil parish, now in the parish of Sudbury, in the Babergh district, in Suffolk, England. Once a separate village in the county of Essex. It is the only part of the town to the south of the River Stour. In 1951 the parish had a population of 458. The village developed on the important ancient highway from Braintree and Halstead in Essex to Sudbury and Bury St Edmunds. It grew adjacent to a bridge (today known as Ballingdon Bridge) over the River Stour. It dates back to at least the 13th century, and remains the only crossing of the river for several miles in either direction. Ballingdon and Brundon (which formed the township of Ballingdon-cum-Brundon, then in Essex) were added to the borough of Sudbury (and the county of Suffolk) in 1888 as part of the Local Government Act. Around that time it had a population of 831. In 1972 the owners of Ballingdon Hall, responding to a housing development on adjacent land, had it moved half a mile up Ballingdon Hill on the back of a large transporter; the event was watched by 10,000 people. Ballingdon came to be home to many businesses, evidence of which can be seen in the architecture of the buildings, with large shop windows and other tell-tale signs. This was because before Ballingdon became part of Suffolk it was cheaper to open a business on the Essex side of the river, as no levy had to be paid to Sudbury town council. By 2011 only eight businesses remained open outside the industrial units, just three of them retail outlets. Ballingdon was home to two brickworks, long since vanished, but maps of their locations can be found online. The Allen family operation (on Middleton Road) was the most advanced, and barges made their way up a specially constructed cut from the River Stour, which passed the brickworks and even continued under Middleton Road. The clay was sourced locally, and brick makers were expected to meet a target of 1,000 bricks per day. The hand-making of bricks has long since been superseded by machines, but can still be seen at Bulmer Brick and Tile, who offer tours to schools and adults. Today Ballingdon Street is a conservation area and contains numerous listed buildings. King's Marsh Stadium, home of A.F.C. Sudbury, is located in the area. In September 2018, Ballingdon held its first fete in living memory, raising money for the Eden Rose Coppice. The fete, held on Kone Vale, has also taken place in 2019 and 2022, raising a total of £9,000 in its first three events for local good causes.

Amalgamated Football Club Sudbury is a football club based in Sudbury, Suffolk, England. The club was formed in 1999 by the merger of Sudbury Town and Sudbury Wanderers, the process giving rise to the name Amalgamated Football Club Sudbury. and went on to win the Eastern Counties League Premier Division five seasons in a row as well as reaching the final of the FA Vase in three successive seasons, records for both competitions. They are currently members of the Southern League Premier Division Central and play at the King's Marsh Stadium in the Ballingdon-Brundon area of Sudbury.

Belchamp was a rural district in Essex in England. It was formed under the Local Government Act 1894 from that part of the Sudbury rural sanitary district which was in Essex (the rest going to form the Melford Rural District in West Suffolk). The rural district contained the following parishes: Alphamstone Belchamp Otten Belchamp St Paul Belchamp Walter Borley Bulmer Bures Foxearth Gestingthorpe Great Henny Lamarsh Liston Little Henny Middleton North Wood Pentlow Twinstead Wickham St PaulOriginally, the rural district also contained part of the parish of Ballingdon, the rest of which was in West Suffolk. The Essex part of the parish was transferred to West Suffolk (and the borough of Sudbury) in 1896. Belchamp rural district was abolished in 1934 under a County Review Order, and merged into the Halstead Rural District.

Sudbury Common Lands is a 50.3 hectare Local Nature Reserve in Sudbury in Suffolk. It is owned and managed by the Sudbury Common Lands Charity. This site has ancient wetland with ponds and ditches, and there are locally uncommon species such as flowering rush, tubular water-dropwort and round-fruited rush. There is also grassland which has never been ploughed, and it has diverse grasses and wildflowers. There is access from Melford Road.

Brundon is a hamlet in the Babergh district, in the English county of Suffolk. It is located on the River Stour near the town of Sudbury (its post town). For transport there is the A131 road nearby. Brundon was recorded in the Domesday Book as Branduna. Brundon Hall is a grade II* listed 18th century building which stands near the former Brundon water mill.

Belchamp Walter is a village and civil parish in Essex, England. It is located approximately 5 km (3.1 mi) west of Sudbury, Suffolk and is 35 km (22 miles) north-northeast from the county town of Chelmsford. It is near Belchamp St Paul and Belchamp Otten. The village is in the district of Braintree and in the parliamentary constituency of Braintree. The parish is part of the Stour Valley South parish cluster and has a population of 198 (2011 census).Belchamp Hall is a country house in the village which stands near the church. It was the filming location for the fictional "Felsham Hall" in the "Lovejoy" television series.

Gestingthorpe (pronounced GEST-ing-thorp, 'guesstingthorpe') is a village and a civil parish in the Braintree district, in the English county of Essex. It is approximately halfway between the towns of Halstead in Essex and Sudbury in Suffolk. The nearest railway station is in Sudbury, which offers a shuttle service to Marks Tey and at the extremes of the day to Colchester. The village is situated at a set of crossroads, North End Road, Nether Hill, Sudbury Road and Church Street. In the 19th century the Manor of Over Hall in Gestingthorpe was the home of the Oates family, whose most famous son, the Antarctic explorer Captain Lawrence Oates, was born in Putney, London on 16 March 1880. The Oates were originally a West Riding of Yorkshire family until they succeeded to the manor. In 1913 his brother officers erected a memorial to Captain Oates in the parish church of St Mary the Virgin. Just north of the village is Gestingthorpe Roman Villa, the site of a farmstead in the Celtic and Roman periods. The site has produced many archaeological finds including roof tiles, glass and a small ring with an engraving of a lion attacking a deer. The property remains a working farm, but visitors are accepted by appointment.The parish church of St Mary the Virgin is a Grade I listed building.The church has a ring of 6 bells.