My Adventures 3: Danbury to Papermill Lock Essex Circular 17th August 2023

GPX File here.

On Thursday the 17th August 2023, I drive to Danbury and park on Well Lane. I am doing a recce of a walk for the cadets to walk next week.

I Walk off up Well Lane and turn right onto Bell Hill. I pass the War memorial on my left by Elm Green.

The aftermath of the First World War saw the biggest single wave of public commemoration ever with tens of thousands of memorials erected across England. This was the result of both the huge impact on communities of the loss of three quarters of a million British lives, and also the official policy of not repatriating the dead which meant that the memorials provided the main focus of the grief felt at this great loss.

One such memorial was raised at Danbury as a permanent testament to the sacrifice made by 24 members of the local community who lost their lives in the First World War.

Danbury War Memorial was unveiled on 31 July 1920 by Field Marshal Sir WR Robertson. It was built to the Cross of Sacrifice design which was devised in 1919 by Sir Reginald Blomfield (1856-1942) for war cemeteries abroad, although it was also widely adopted in Britain.

The memorial consists of a c 7.3m high Portland stone Latin cross rising from an octagonal plinth on a four-stepped base. A bronze Sword of Sacrifice is fixed to the south face of the cross.

The south face of the plinth bears the incised inscription IN THANKFULNESS TO GOD/AND IN MEMORY OF THE MEN OF DANBURY WHO FELL IN THE GREAT WAR MDCCCCXIV MDCCCCXVII. The names of the 24 First World War fallen are recorded on the north, east and west faces of the plinth.

I turn left down Colemans Lane that becomes a bridle path, this starts to rise sharply upwards.

I walk on through the woods on Lingwood Common.

After a pleasant climb up through the woods I emerge out onto Little Baddow Road where it meets The Ridge in Little Baddow.

I head straight across onto Runsell Lane. I walk down the road before turning left onto Litchborough Park and onto a track and through a wood called Poors Piece.

I turn right at the top of the footpath that now runs inline with Fir Tree Lane and down the path. Here there are numerous huge Wood Ant nests!

The southern wood ant, also known as the 'red wood ant' or 'horse Ant', is an aggressive predator, equipped with large, biting jaws and the ability to spray formic acid in defence. It feeds on a wide variety of invertebrates, which the workers collect from the area surrounding their colony. Southern wood ants build large nests out of soil, twigs, leaves and pine needles. They can be found in open, sunny spots in both coniferous and broadleaved woodland, as well as on heathland and moorland. Colonies can sometimes number up to half a million individuals comprising non-reproducing female workers, a queen (or queens) that produces eggs, and males that mate with the queen. In spring, a generation of sexual males and females is raised, which take to the air to mate. Fertilised females then shed their wings and disperse to form new colonies.

The Beefsteak Fungus, Fistulina hepatica.

This mushroom is best cooked in a creamy recipe, or mixed with other mushrooms due to the slight acidic taste. The wood of trees infected with the beefsteak fungus develops brown rot, which makes the wood richer, darker and of great interest to the furniture building trade.

I turn left down another path that leads me through Pheasanthouse Wood.

The path opens up to gorgeous views across the Chelmer and beyond.

I turn right by The Warren Estate and out pass Tofts.

I cross the road called Tofts Chase and take the path immediately opposite.

I follow this path alongside a field full of Sweetcorn.

The path eventually leads me down to The River Chelmer.

A narrowboat full of tourists passes by.

We now reach Papermill Lock with its amazing tearoom that does Cream Teas and the best cake and a welcome stop!

The original water mill on the lower island at Little Baddow was built in Saxon times, and by 1573 a second mill, Huskards, had been built on the same island. Both mills were run by one John Hawes, who was fined 2 shillings because:

'by penning of his waters above his mark hath and doth damage to all the Queen's tenants and farmers of the honour of Bewleigh in drowning the meadows and low grounds and for not drawing up his gates upon rage of waters in the hay time and also hath marred a certain highway or lane leading from Baddow bridge unto the mill called Huskardes mill which the said miller is to repair and amend for the avoidance of further inconvenience'.At that time Huskards Mill operated as both a corn mill and as a mill for fulling cloth. In the 1750's it became the first paper mill in Essex, run by Thomas Hodges and employing 3 men with papermaking skills and an apprentice. In around 1800 the mill was taken over by Benjamin Livermore who continued to operate it as a paper mill for almost another twenty years until it was re-converted for grinding flour. Following the creation of the canal in 1797 a wharf was built here, together with an overnight bothy for the bargees, stables for the horses (now the tea house), and paddocks for livestock.

In its heyday in the mid 19th century up to 60,000 tons of freight was carried along the 14 miles of the navigation, rising 77ft via 12 locks between Heybridge Basin, on the Blackwater Estuary, and Springfield Basin, close to the heart of Chelmsford. Much coal, corn and timber was transhipped in Heybridge Basin between seagoing ships and navigation barges, though local freight was carried, too, with every parish having its waterside wharf. Wood and iron was taken to Chelmsford to build the Great Eastern Railway, which, in turn, took freight away from the waterway, heralding its decline. With dwindling traffic, horse-drawn barges survived into the 1950s, and the last diesel lighter loaded timber from a Scandinavian steamer for Browns Wharf in 1972.

Soon after the last barge “Julie” took semi-retirement, the traditional passenger barge “Victoria” opened up the navigation’s tranquil waters to the public, and since the 1970s the Company has looked to leisure for its future, with moorings for private cruisers and narrowboats, canoeing, fishing and walking. The Canal Centre at Paper Mill, with its Old Stables Tea Rooms, river trips and hire boats, opened in 2002.

I stop for a can of Pepsi Max and a slice of Chocolate and honeycomb cake.

I set off again and continue along the Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation's footpath.

A view across the Chelmer to a reservoir beyond.

After about half a mile I take a footpath on our left and across farm Fields towards the Church of St Mary The Virgin.

The church was built over a period of 400 years between 1100 and 1500, the oldest part being the Norman North wall of the nave. The nave was extended in the fourteenth century to create a chantry chapel for the Filliol family and the present chancel and tower were built at the same time.

The porch was added in about 1400 and the tower was adapted for bells at the same time. The tenor bell, is one of the oldest in the diocese and by 1925 there was a ring of five bells. This number was increased to eight in 1986 and the bells are still rung on Sundays and special occasions.

The rood loft staircase and the priest’s door in the chancel, now plastered up, were built in about 1420.

Little Baddow like many English villages the mainly car owning population has led to a decline in the number of shops in the village. While the community once supported several businesses there are now none left. There are two pubs, The Generals Arms and The Rodney, the Elm Green Preparatory School and a village hall. There are two long established churches, the Anglican St Mary the Virgin and the United Reformed Church. Both churches are architecturally interesting and have long histories. The Church of St Mary the Virgin 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.

Wall Painting in Nave of St. Christopher; 15th-century (discovered 1922).

I leave the church and walk on crossing Church Road.

Opposite sits Little Baddow Hall Fruit Farm.

The middle part of the house was built in the 15th century or possibly earlier, and this block was extended towards the N. about the end of the 16th century. This extension has been partly destroyed and the S. cross-wing re-built in modern times; there is also a modern addition on the W. side. On the W. side the upper storey of the original block projects. The late 16th-century chimney-stack at the N. end has grouped diagonal shafts. Inside the building the central block has an original roof of two bays with a king-post truss. There are also king-post trusses of a lighter type in the 16th-century extension and the wall between these two parts is double with a hollow between. The middle room on the ground floor has exposed ceiling-beams, one with mortices for the former braces and straining-beam.

I walk across the Fruit Farm following the paths pass a field full of plum trees.

The path is straight across the newly ploughed and rolled field, at least it is easy to walk across.

Then I come upon a muddy boggy patch, I try to find a way around, trampling through nettles getting stung in my shorts. Nope no way around, I notice a black plastic pipe running through the bog. I step on this and leap across.

I walk out on Hurrells Lane.

I turn left and follow the road to a bend where I take a footpath across a field.

I cross the field and then cross the stream and down more paths. Past New Lodge Farm and out onto Graces Lane.

I cross over onto a path that hugs the lane.

The path leads me down between Riffhams and Great Graces Farm.

I take a path that lead me into Hall Wood.

I climb back up out of Hall Wood into a common with a view back to Riffhams.

An early C19 house surrounded by a park laid out in 1815 following advice from Humphry Repton.

The estate of which Old Riffhams was a capital messuage was owned by the Clerke family up until 1801. In the late C18 Martha, daughter and heiress of Robert Clerke, married Charles Phillips, who in default of heirs, left the estate to his great-nephew John Robert Spencer. On inheriting in 1809, John took the additional name of Phillips. Instead of altering the old manor house, he chose to build a new mansion on a spectacular site c 600m to the south-west of the old one. He began the house, which he called Riffhams, in 1815, the same year in which Humphry Repton (1752-1818) was called in to give advice on the grounds. Although a Red Book was not prepared, Repton advised on the location of the new house and prepared 'a panoramic sketch of the views from the site proposed for Riffham's Lodge' (Repton watercolour (copy), UEA). In 1836 Wright included an engraving in his History of Essex which shows the early C19 flower gardens and shrubberies. John Spencer died in 1874, aged eighty-seven years. The estate was inherited by his son Major John Charles Spencer-Phillips but was let to a Mrs E Kirk and then to Mr and Mrs Charles Parker in c 1904. During their tenancy the Danbury Flower Show was held in the grounds. In 1928 the house was occupied by Sir Adam and Lady Richie and in 1933 Percy Tyrell Spencer Phillips put it on the market. It was purchased by Sir Follett Holt, a railway engineer. Sir Follett's son sold Riffhams in c 1968 to the Benson family. In 1976 the estate was again put up for sale and the house and park were purchased by the Hindmarch family. The estate remains in single private ownership.