Essex

Essex is a county in the east of England. It is bounded by Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Greater London to the south-west, Kent across the River Thames to the south, and the North Sea to the east. It has an area of 1,420 square miles (3,700 km2), with a coastline of 400 miles (640 km), and a population according to the 2011 census of 1,393,600. At the top level of local government are Essex County Council and two unitary authorities, Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock. Under the county council, there are twelve district and borough councils.Local nature reserves (LNRs) are designated by local authorities under the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949. The local authority must have legal control over the site, by owning or leasing it or having an agreement with the owner. LNRs are sites which have a special local interest either biologically or geologically, and local authorities have a duty to care for them. They can apply local bye-laws to manage and protect LNRs.As of August 2016 there are forty-nine local nature reserves in Essex. Nine are also Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), three are also scheduled monuments and four are managed by the Essex Wildlife Trust. The largest is Southend-on-Sea Foreshore with 1,084 hectares (2,680 acres), which is part of the Benfleet and Southend Marshes SSSI, an internationally important site for migrating birds. The smallest is Nazeing Triangle at 0.5 hectares (1.2 acres), which is a small pond and wildflower meadows surrounded on all three sides by roads.

The Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation is the canalisation of the Rivers Chelmer and Blackwater in Essex, in the east of England. The navigation runs for 13.75 miles (22.13 km) from Springfield Basin in Chelmsford to the sea lock at Heybridge Basin near Maldon. Initial plans faced spirited opposition from Maldon, which were overcome by avoiding the town and terminating at Heybridge, and the navigation opened in 1797. There were some teething problems, and the engineer John Rennie was called back on two occasions to recommend improvements. The impact of the railways was less severe than on many canals, as there was never a direct line between Chelmsford and Maldon. The sea lock at Heybridge was enlarged after the Second World War, but trade gradually declined and ceased in 1972. Unlike most canals, it was not nationalised in 1948, and remained under the control of the original company. The first leisure boats to use the navigation did so in 1973, when the Inland Waterways Association organised a rally at Chelmsford. Springfield Basin was restored in 1992, but the proprietors faced bankruptcy in 2003, and after two years of negotiation, Essex Waterways Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Inland Waterways Association, took over responsibility for management, although the proprietors retained ownership. Because Essex and Suffolk Water abstract water from the navigation to supply Hanningfield Reservoir, they have a statutory obligation to maintain the outer gates at Heybridge sea lock, to prevent salt water entering the drinking water supply. They undertook major refurbishment work at the lock during the winters of 2016/17 and 2017/18, including replacement of the outer sea gate with a new design. A long-standing ambition, first proposed in 1985, has been to provide a better destination at Chelmsford, by providing access for boats to the town centre. A proposed link from Springfield Basin has been thwarted by road building in the area, but a plan to replace the automatic weir below Chelmsford Town Centre with a new structure incorporating a navigation lock was recommended in 2020.

Mowden is a hamlet in the civil parish of Hatfield Peverel, in the Braintree district, in the county of Essex, England. It is about 5 miles away from the city of Chelmsford and about 1 and a half miles away from the large villages of Boreham and Hatfield Peverel. It is also about a mile away from the main A12 road. There is also the hamlet of Nounsley nearby.

Little Baddow is a village to the east of Chelmsford, Essex. The name Baddow is believed to have been derived from the River Beadwan, now known as the River Chelmer, which marks the northern boundary of the village. Beadwan is thought to be a Celtic word of uncertain meaning, possibly "birch stream" or a reference to the goddess Badbh.The village includes woodlands owned by the National Trust and Essex Naturalist Trust. Although there are no shops or businesses in the village, there are two pubs, The Generals Arms and The Rodney, a village hall, and Elm Green Preparatory School. Churches are the Anglican St Mary the Virgin and the United Reformed Church. St Mary's is a Grade I listed building with a late 11th-century core. It contains a 14th-century 'Devil's door', dating to the time when medieval Christians believed the North of side of a church to be the abode of the Devil.The village sports ground and clubhouse is used by Little Baddow Cricket club and the local running club, Little Baddow "Ridge" runners. The manor was once a possession of Robert the BruceThomas Hooker who founded the colony of Connecticut lived in the village and was a school teacher there before going to Holland and then to New England.Eric Eastwood settled in Little Baddow after he started work at Marconi Research Laboratory in 1948. He lived there until his death in his home in 1978.

The River Ter is a river in Essex, England that houses various aquatic creatures. The river rises in Stebbing Green and flowing via Terling it joins the Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation at TL794089 near Rushes Lock. A small part of it, the River Ter SSSI near Great Leighs, has been a geological Site of Special Scientific Interest since 1994.

Elm Green Preparatory School is a day school which takes boys and girls from 4 to 11. Many pupils move on at 11 to local grammar schools, others to day independent or maintained schools, with a few taking up places at boarding schools. The Headmistress, Ann Milner, is a member of the Incorporated Association of Prep. Schools and the school is a member of ISCis.

Hatfield Peverel is a village and civil parish at the centre of Essex, England. It is located 6 miles (10 km) north-east from Chelmsford, the nearest large city, to which it is connected by road and rail. The parish includes the hamlets of Nounsley and Mowden. Hatfield means a 'heathery space in the forest'; Peverel refers to William Peverel, the Norman knight granted lands in the area by William the Conqueror after the Norman invasion of 1066. Sited on high ground east of the River Ter, between Boreham and Witham on the A12, it is situated in the southern extremity of the Braintree District Council area (to which it elects two members). In 2020, the built-up area subdivision had an estimated population of 3,226. In 2011, the built-up area which includes Nounsley had a population of 3,950 and the parish had a population of 4,376.Hatfield Peverel is the site of a priory founded by the Saxon Ingelrica, wife of Ranulph Peverel and reputed to be the mistress of William the Conqueror, to atone for her sins, and dissolved by Henry VIII.

Blake's Wood & Lingwood Common is a 93.2-hectare (230-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Danbury in Essex. It is owned by the National Trust and the local planning authority is Chelmsford City Council.The soils on this site are glacial sands and gravels over London clay, resulting in a mixture of woodland, heath and bog habitats. Blake's Wood is ancient woodland on a sloping site, with valleys and streams. The main trees are oak, together with other species such as hornbeam and sweet chestnut. There is a wide variety of birds, such as hawfinches and nightingales, and the underlayer is dominated by bluebells and primroses. The heath is being invaded by trees and bracken. Acid grassland is dominated by red fescue, and there are two rare moths, Deltote bankiana and Elaphria venustula.There is access from Riffhams Chase, which separates the two parts of the site, with the wood to the north and the common to the south.

Danbury Ridge Nature Reserves are a group of nature reserves totalling 101 hectares near Danbury in Essex, England. They are managed by the Essex Wildlife Trust, and most of them are in Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs). Two areas, the Backwarden and Hitchcock's Meadow, are part of Danbury Common SSSI, and Woodham Walter Common, Birch Wood, Pheasanthouse Wood, Poors Piece, Scrubs Wood, and a small area in Pheasanthouse Farm, are part of Woodham Walter Common SSSI.Woodham Walter Common is woodland on gravel upland sloping down to streams on both sides. Birch Wood is hornbeam coppice, with ground flora including wood anemones and wood spurges. Pheasanthouse Wood is mixed woodland, with a bog area which has sphagnum moss. In Poors Piece there are oak pollards and a marsh area. Scrubs Wood is mainly hornbeam and chestnut coppice, while Backwarden, which is owned by the National Trust, has varied habitats including a pond, woodland and heathland. Hitchcock's Meadow also has diverse habitats such as flower-rich ancient pasture, woodland and marsh. Dormice are common in the reserves.There is access to Woodham Walter Common from Common Lane.

Woodham Walter Common SSSI is an 80-hectare (200-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Danbury in Essex. The site includes six nature reserves within the Danbury Ridge Nature Reserves, managed by the Essex Wildlife Trust. These are Woodham Walter Common itself, Birch Wood, Pheasanthouse Wood, Poors' Piece, Scrubs Wood and a small area in Pheasanthouse Farm. The largest part of the SSSI is the 32.3-hectare (80-acre) Woodham Walter Common, which is managed by the Wildlife Trust on behalf of Maldon District Council and Woodham Walter Parish Council.The site is on glacial sand and gravel over London clay. it has a number of areas of oak and hornbeam woodland on former heathland. It also has two botanically rich valleys, each of which has a stream along it. Poors' Piece and Pheasanthouse Wood have ancient woodland. Uncommon ground plants are pill sedge, broad-leaved helleborine and lady-fern. There are common brimstone and speckled wood butterflies, nightingales, hawfinches, badgers. and dormice.There is access to Woodham Walter Common from Common Lane.

Ulting is a small village and civil parish in the Maldon district, in the county of Essex, England. It shares its borders with Langford and Nounsley. It the location of Ulting Wick garden.

Hatfield Peverel Priory (also known as Hatfield Priory) was a Benedictine priory in Essex, England, founded as a secular college before 1087 and converted into priory as a cell of St Albans by William Peverel ante 1100. It is in the English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England and is located on the south side of the village of Hatfield Peverel, about 5 miles north-east of Chelmsford. At the Dissolution of the Monasteries, a timber-frame structure dominated the property.According to tradition the priory was founded by the Saxon Ingelrica, wife of Ranulph Peverel and reputed to be the mistress of William the Conqueror, to atone for her sins. The parish church, St Andrew's (Church of England) is the surviving fragment of the Norman priory church nave. The property was acquired by the Wright family when John Wright, a coachmaker, first landed his family in Essex in 1764. The current house, in a park designed by Richard Woods in 1765 and built in 1769, stands on a rise of land overlooking the Chelmer valley. The property passed to Wright's son, John Wright II, who died in 1796 without a male issue. The estate then passed under entail to his nephew (i.e. his sister's son) Peter Luard, who took the name and arms of Wright as required under the will. Peter (Luard) Wright, elder brother of William Wright Luard of The Lodge, Witham (and father of Admiral William Luard), occupied and expanded the property considerably. John Wright V, having suffered financial difficulties, in 1912 let the estate to Philip Charles Tennant (1867–1936), 7th son of Robert Tennant (1828-1900) of Chapel House in the parish of Conistone, Yorkshire, Member of Parliament for Leeds from 1874 to 1880. Tennant eventually purchased Hatfield Priory in 1928, following the death of the widow of John Wright V. In 1935, one year before his death, Tennant sold it to the Marianhill Mission, a Catholic lay brotherhood, which made it their European headquarters until their closure in 1972, when the property, now with derelict grounds, was purchased as a speculation by Dolph Claydon, a property developer, who quickly sold it on to Derek Marriott who used it as a school, which closed in 1979. In 2000 the property was owned by Adrian and Fiona Cowell, who have undertaken much restoration to house and grounds.