St Michael and All Angels Church, Copford

Copford Hall is a manorial seat and Grade II listed country house, with gardens by Capability Brown, in the village of Copford, Essex, England, 46 miles (74 km) from London. The building was at one time owned by the bishops of London, and its grounds are described in Pevsner as "almost the beau idéal of what to the foreigner is an English landscape scene".The present house is a large, square red-brick building with stone dressing and ornamentation, the façade the result of alterations in the early 1800s. However, the majority of the structure dates back to 1720, and parts of the inside to the early 1600s. The extensive grounds include canals, fishponds and water features. On the lowest pool is a classical boathouse. Part of the possessions of the bishopric See of London before the Norman conquest of England, it came into the possession of the Crown and was sold by King James I of England to the Mountjoy family. It was purchased from them by John Haynes in 1626, who later went to North America where he served as governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and then as the first governor of the Connecticut Colony. His son, Cromwell's Major General Hezekiah Haynes, took it over in 1657. It passed to a cousin by marriage, Major John Haynes Harrison of the Essex Militia, who married the heiress daughter of Reverend John Fiske and his wife Sarah in 1783. Their children included Fiske Goodeve Fiske-Harrison. It was later owned by his descendant A. B. C. Harrison, Lord of the Manor of Copford, former High Sheriff and Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Essex and, former MP for Maldon in Essex.

Copford Green is a hamlet within the civil parish of Copford and the district of Colchester in Essex, England. It is near the A12 and A120 roads, and is 3 kilometres (2 mi) south west of Colchester. The parish church of St Michael's & All Angels, with sections dating back as far as 1130, is adjacent to Copford Green, as is the manorial house of Copford Hall.

Copford Place is a grade II listed building in Copford, Essex, England. It dates to the 17th or 18th century and is two storeys in height. During the Second World War it was used as part of a prisoner of war camp for Italians. After the war Copford Place was converted to a retirement home and housed the painter Tirzah Garwood. It was converted to flats in 1998 but fell empty when building regulations meant it could not continue in this role. In 2020 an application was made to convert Copford Place into flats and erect additional houses in its grounds. The building was badly damaged by arson in November 2024, the same month a decision was due to be made on the application.

Copford is a village and civil parish in the City of Colchester district of Essex, England. It is 3 kilometres (2 mi) west of Colchester, and the hamlet of Copford Green is found a short distance to the south. The poet Matthew Arnold noted he was struck by "the deeply rural character of the village and neighbourhood."

Stanway is a village and civil parish in Essex, England near Colchester and within Colchester Borough. 'Stanway' is an Anglo-Saxon name for the 'stone way' of the Roman road, now the A12. Stanway is about 3 miles (5 km) west of Colchester city centre on the B1408 (former A12), near the junction of the A12 and the A1124 at Eight Ash Green. Colchester Zoo, The Stanway School, Graham Coxon and Damon Albarn, founder members of Blur, met at the local school, The Stanway School. Stanway is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086.The £4.3m A12 bypass opened in 1970. Local pubs include the Princess Charlotte (the first pub in the UK to be named after Princess Charlotte of Wales) and the Swan on London Road, and Live and Let Live on Millers Lane. There are five schools – three primary schools,Lexden Springs School and The Stanway School which has academy status, and describes itself as a "Humanities and Maths & Computing College". Four of the five schools are close together, on adjacent roads with the third primary behind the Tollgate shopping centre. An ever-expanding shopping district comprising The Tollgate Centre and Stane Park occupies an area close to the A12, these centres are home to national retailers such as B&Q, Sainsbury's, Homebase, Next and Marks and Spencer (having closed its city centre store in 2022). Further shops and businesses such as the Co-op, Halfords and Hatfields occupy the Peartree road area,

Heckfordbridge or Heckford is a hamlet in the civil parish of Birch, in the county of Essex, England. The settlement is on the B1022 road, between Colchester and Tiptree. near to Colchester Zoo.

Hardy's Green is a hamlet in civil parish of Birch in the Colchester district, in the county of Essex, England. Nearby settlements include the large town of Colchester.

Colchester Zoo is a zoological garden situated near Colchester, England. The zoo opened in 1963 and celebrated its 60th anniversary on 2 June 2023. It is home to many rare and endangered species, including big cats, primates and birds as well as many invertebrates and fish species.

Birch is a village and civil parish in the City of Colchester district of Essex, England. It is located approximately 5 miles (8 km) south-west of Colchester and 17 miles (27 km) north-east of the county town of Chelmsford. The village is in the parliamentary constituency of North Essex. There is a parish council.The parish incorporates the hamlet of Heckfordbridge. It is only 2.5 miles (4 km) from Abberton Reservoir. The parish church of St. Peter and St. Paul is a Grade II listed building, but has been derelict since it closed in the late 20th century. In 2023 it is threatened with demolition as the Church of England cannot afford to repair it. According to the 2001 census, Birch had a population of 817, increasing to 873 at the 2011 Census.

Marks Tey railway station is on the Great Eastern Main Line (GEML) in the East of England, serving the large village of Marks Tey, Essex. It is 46 miles 49 chains (75.02 km) down the line from London Liverpool Street and on the GEML is situated between Kelvedon to the west and Colchester to the east. Marks Tey is also the southern terminus of the Gainsborough Line to Sudbury. Its three-letter station code is MKT. The "up" (London-bound) platform 1 has an operational length for nine-coach trains, the "down" (Colchester-bound) platform 2 can accommodate 11-coach trains and platform 3 (for the Sudbury branch) has an operational length for two-coach trains.The station was opened in 1843 by the Eastern Counties Railway. It is located on Station Road, just off the A120 road that runs through the village, parallel to the railway. The station is currently operated by Greater Anglia, who also operate all trains serving it, as part of the East Anglia franchise.

Eight Ash Green is a village and civil parish in the City of Colchester district of Essex, England. It is on the A1124 road, near Junction 26 (Eight Ash Green Interchange) of the A12 road. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 1,730. The parish was formed on 1 April 1949 from Copford, Fordham, Stanway, and Aldham.

Aldham is a village and civil parish in the City of Colchester district of Essex, England. It is located 4+1⁄2 mi (7.2 km) west of Colchester. The village is in the parliamentary constituency of Harwich and North Essex. The village has its own parish council.The ancient parish covered 1,847 acres (747 ha) but local-government boundary changes reduced this to 1,770 acres (720 ha) by the mid-twentieth century. The village borders Fordstreet, Marks Tey and the River Colne to the north. The parish is geographically on an incline, with the land sloping from around 170 feet (50 m) in the northwest down to around 60 feet (20 m) near the Roman River, where it is susceptible to flooding.The 2001 census gave the parish population as 513, decreasing to 491 at the 2011 census. It is 1+2⁄3 miles (2.7 km) from the A12 road, a major trunk road.