Stapleford Abbotts

infobox UK place

country = England
latitude= 51.630
longitude= 0.176
official_name= Stapleford Abbotts
civil_parish= Stapleford Abbotts
population = 959
shire_district= Epping Forest
shire_county = Essex
region= East of England

constituency_westminster= Brentwood and Ongar
post_town= ROMFORD
postcode_district= RM4
postcode_area=RM
dial_code= 01708
os_grid_reference= TQ505955

Stapleford Abbotts (the suffix is sometimes spelled ‘Abbots’) is a village and civil parish in the Epping Forest district of Essex. It is located approximately 9 km (6 miles) SW of Ongar and 7 km (4.5 miles) N of Romford and is situated entirely within the M25 motorway. It covers an area of 957 hectares and had a population of 959 in 2001. [http://www.eppingforestdc.gov.uk/Council_Services/planning/census/StaplefordAbbotts.asp Epping Forest District Council – Stapleford Abbotts Parish Profile]

Geography

The parish is mostly rural and agricultural with a scattering of farms and cottages, much of it is green belt protected land. The northern boundary of the parish is formed by the River Roding and the remainder of the parish is crossed by a number of streams that feed into it. As a result the terrain is hilly ranging generally between 30 and 80 metres above sea level.

The village itself consists of a straggle of mostly 20th-century housing stretching for about a mile along the Romford to Ongar road from the boundary with Havering-atte-Bower. The mediaeval church (largely rebuilt in the 19th century) is situated in a relatively isolated position a further mile away from what is now the village, reflecting the fact that there was no single nucleus of settlement until the 20th century. [ A History of the County of Essex: Volume 4: Ongar Hundred (1956), pp. 222-23, "Stapleford Abbots: Introduction". URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=15672. Date accessed: 07 September 2007]

History

The origins of the parish’s name are due to the fact that the principal manor was held by the Abbey of Bury St Edmunds from before the Norman Conquest to the Dissolution. A story is recorded in the abbey's registers that the lord of the manor was miraculously cured of a lingering illness in 1013 by the body of St Edmund as it passed by on its way back to Bury Abbey from London. In gratitude for being cured he gave the manor to the abbey, either then or some time later. [ A History of the County of Essex: Volume 4: Ongar Hundred (1956), pp. 223-28, "Stapleford Abbots: Manors". URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=15673. Date accessed: 07 September 2007]

The population rose from 320 in 1801 to 507 in 1831, then fluctuated within that range until 1921 when it was 391. In the 20th century there has been a gradual increase with the building of houses from the 1930s onwards (in 1951 the population was 731). [ A History of the County of Essex: Volume 4: Ongar Hundred (1956), pp. 222-23, "Stapleford Abbots: Introduction". URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=15672. Date accessed: 07 September 2007]

Historically Stapleford Abbotts was included in the hundred of Ongar. It formed part of the Ongar Rural District Council from 1894 until that authority was absorbed into Epping and Ongar Rural District Council in 1955. Following local government reorganisation in 1974 it has been part of Epping Forest District. The present civil parish retains largely the same boundaries as the ancient parish as it existed prior to the mid-19th century.

References

External links