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On Good Friday the 2nd April 2021 I drove to Great Dunmow and parked up in Church Street
( CM6 2EY).
From here I walked up to St Marys Church.
The earliest known reference to a church in Great Dunmow is in a Saxon will dated 1045 but we do not know where the church was located. The earliest recorded vicar was Geoffrey de Dunmow in 1197.
The first church on the present site was probably built about 1250. It was almost entirely rebuilt around the middle of the 14th century in the Decorated style of that period, a task that took about 150 years. All that now remains of the earlier church is the archway of the south door and some stones that were re-used in the north arcade of the nave.
It was almost entirely rebuilt around the middle of the 14th century in the Decorated style of that period, a task that took about 150 years. The chancel, nave and north and south aisles remain.
I leave the locked church and walk through its Car Park and follow a path across farm fields.
I cross the River Chelmer and across Bigods Lane and onto the path beyond.
I pass Marks Farm and a field of Rape that is just starting to bloom.
The path joins a track that I continue to follow.
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| The first Cowslip I've seen this year. |
After a fair bit of walking along the track I turn left onto The Broadway that I follow for a short way before turning right onto another footpath.
I wall past William's Farm and beside more fields.
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| Stebbing comes into view. |
I pass through Stebbing Park behind which is The mound on which the medieval Stebbing Castle once sat.
Stebbing Park is a mid 16th century house with later additions and alterations.
There is a footpath that will take you with a view of the mound, but I instead opted to take the road into Stebbing to see the village.
The village has two pubs and a bowling green and has a population of about 1,500.
In the late 13th century the manor of Stebbing passed briefly to the Scottish noble house of Douglas by virtue of the marriage of William the Hardy, Lord of Douglas to Eleanor de Lovaine, the widow of William de Ferrers of Groby. Eleanor was a ward of Edward I, and had her late husband's manors of Stebbing and Woodham Ferrers made into a dowry for a future remarriage. Douglas absconded with Eleanor, when she was attending to her late husband's estates in Scotland, and married her c.1288. Douglas, a significant figure on the Scottish side during the First Scottish War of Independence, had his English manors finally forfeited by 1298 when he died of mistreatment in the Tower of London. His son Hugh Douglas having been captured previously at Stebbing in 1296, by the Sheriff of Essex.
Stebbing's name, which is Saxon, was written in the Doomsday book in a Latinised form as ‘Stibinga’ and ‘Stabinga.’ It is believed to have derived from the Old English for tree stump, ‘stybb,’ dwellers among the stumps, i.e. land cleared for settlement, and ‘ing’ a meadow. Strength is given to this theory by the derivation of Bran End. Written as ‘Brandonande’ from the Old English ‘brende dun ende’ meaning, ‘district by the burnt hill.’ This again suggests woodland clearance. An alternative origin proposes that Stybba was a Saxon Chief’s name, i.e. ‘Stybba’s Ing’ meadow or place.
When the Normans arrived in 1066 the village had probably been in existence for three or four hundred years and was held by Siward, a Saxon thegn. It is almost certain that by this time the settlement pattern of housing and fields were already established. By 1086 two Norman Lords, Henry de Ferrers and Ranulf Peverell are recorded in Little Doomsday as holding the village between them. The de Ferrers family initially prospered, indeed there is evidence that in the 14th century William, Lord Ferrers, made Stebbing his family home and that somewhere in the village there existed a great house fit for a noble family.
Earlier, in 1181, William de Ferrers 3rd Earl of Derby gave the Church and it lands, part of his Stebbing holding, to the Knights Hospitallers where it remained until their dissolution in 1540. It then became known variously as Friars (Freers) or Priors Hall.
I walk on along this pretty village past its two pubs, that are still sadly closed due to the lockdown.
I reach St Mary the Virgin Church up on top of the hill.
The Grade I listed church was built mainly around 1360. An outstanding feature is the stone rood screen, one of only three that survive in Europe (the others are at Great Bardfield and in Trondheim). The earliest written record referring to the present church dates from 1377, when it was reported of Henry de Ferrers that he was “said to have been born in the Abbey of Tilty and baptised in the church of St. Mary the Virgin, Stebbing”. During work inside the church a few years ago part of the foundations of an earlier building were uncovered along with coins of King Henry II (1154 - 1189). During restoration work in 2010 remnants were discovered of medieval wall paintings.
Opposite the church sits the war memorial on the green.
At a public meeting held in April 1919, the decision was made to erect a war memorial in Stebbing on the green opposite Church Farm. Stebbing War Memorial was executed by JB Slythe Monumental Mason of Witham at a cost of £215 10s and unveiled by Captain Percy Holt, of Porters Hall, at a ceremony on 29 May 1920. The service was led by the vicar, Reverend WW Judges, assisted by the congregational minister Reverend James Mogg.
The memorial commemorates 20 local servicemen who died during the First World War. Following the end of the Second World War an inscription was added to the base commemorating those who died in that conflict. Conservation and repair work was carried out in 2014, funded by War Memorials Trust, including the correction of one name.
I take the road to the right of the memorial (Brook end) and follow the road down.
Along this road I pass the spectacular Priors Hall.
A fine half-timbered house dating from the 16th century or earlier. The Knights Hospitaller had a hall here and this became one of the three manor houses of Stebbing.
Further down the road I take a footpath on my right passing through more farmland.
On my right, I pass a solar farm. I wonder how much power it generates on such a cloudy day?
Crossing more fields, I divert off onto another path for a sneaky peek at Merks Hall.
Built to designs by Quinlan Terry in 1984-1986.
Interesting news story from 2000 from its former owner.
I walk back up to the path and cross more fields on my way back to Great Dunmow.
As I approach Great Dunmow I can see Church End Mill.
Church End Mill was built by William Redington, a miller from Harlow in 1822 for John Fuller. It incorporated second-hand machinery from a smock mill from an unknown location and the total cost of the mill was £564 10s 6d. In 1840, a new cast iron windshaft and Patent sails were fitted, but the windshaft snapped during a gale on 13 November, less than three months after it had been fitted. The sails landed on the outbuildings connected with the mill. The mill remained in the ownership of John Fuller until his death in 1887. The mill did little trade after 1894, and ceased work c1902, the sails being removed then. By 1907 it was being used as a studio and during World War II was used as an observation post, the cap having been removed by then. A new cap was fitted in 1974 by millwright Philip Barrett-Lennard. The mill has been house converted, with no machinery remaining inside.
I make my way out onto St Edmunds Lane, pass the Cricket Club and turn right onto Braintree Road where after a short distance I walk through a park alongside the River Chelmer pictured above.
I eventually walk out onto Mill Lane.
Walking up Mill Lane, I pass the presently closed Great Dunmow Museum.
A local history museum with changing displays illustrating the history of Dunmow from Roman times to the present day, including the Dunmow Flitch.
A Roman small town developed on the junction between Stane Street and the Roman roads which ran north-east to south-west from Sudbury to London and north-west to south-east from Cambridge to Chelmsford. The main settlement area spread westwards from the road junction, with cemeteries on the outskirts. There was a second Roman settlement at Church End immediately to the north of present-day Great Dunmow. The site likely included a rural Roman Temple.
I walk out onto The High Street.
I walk up to see some of the area.
Between the occupation by the Romans and the time of the Saxons, the town acquired its name – in AD951 it was named Dunemowe, and later Dommawe. In the Domesday Book, Dunmow had seven manors, some of which still exist, in name at least – including Bigods, Newton Hall (seat of the Henniker baronets), Merks Hall, Minchins and Shingle Hall. The earliest record of a church in the town is in 1045, and in 1197 Geoffrey de Dunmow was rector.
In medieval times, Dunmow was a thriving commercial centre, with market charters granted in 1253 and two fairs held annually until the 19th century. Dunmow's Corporation was granted in 1555 and confirmed in 1590.
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| An old water pump on the High Street. |
Both Roman settlements were reoccupied during the Saxon period, at Great Dunmow in the seventh century and at Church End in the later Saxon period. The earliest medieval settlement appears to have been a continuation of the late Saxon settlement at Church End, where the parish church is located. The granting of a market charter may mark the time of the movement of the main focus of settlement from Church End to the High Street and market-place. The medieval and post-medieval development of Great Dunmow is reflected both in the surviving built heritage, which includes 167 Listed Buildings, and the below-ground archaeology.
Easton Lodge became RAF Great Dunmow in World War II and for a time was home to squadrons from the USAAF and the RAF. The site of the former air field is now owned by Land Securities who hope to build a development including around 9,000 homes alongside significant supporting community, commercial and retail infrastructure, intending to call it Easton Park. The crews of two aircraft based at RAF Great Dunmow were killed in aircraft crashes very close to the town on 20 March and 21 November 1945.
A recently declassified military nuclear bunker on the outskirts of the town was sold for a reported £22,000 and is now used as a secure data centre for nuclear weapons research.
I head back up the High Street and walk down Market Place.
I pass the Old Town Hall.
This building was the offices of the former Dunmow Corporation from 1555 to 1885.(When the Corporation was abolished of the reform act of that year.
I walk on down North Street until I reach the Doctors Pond.
The two houses here belonged to Doctors in the 18th century in those times leeches were used alot in medicine to treat many aliments , Its thought the Doctors kept the leeches in this pond.
Born in Dunmow Lionel Lukin (1742-1834)is famous for inventing his non-sinkable lifeboat. it is said he used the pond to test out models:
Long before the Royal Naval Lifeboat Institute was formed he invented this boat that was essentially a shell with air bags around it and he tested models of it out on the doctors pond.
It is said in history that when he made a full scale model of the boat someone pinched it and he never got it back !!
I walk on down North Street and out onto The Causeway.
I take a path through a park past a skatepark and back towards my car.
I walk onto Church Street and I am now back at my car after a 7.5 mile walk.
