Lambourne

infobox UK place
country = England
latitude= 51.638
longitude= 0.130
official_name= Lambourne
civil_parish= Lambourne
population = 1828
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= 020
dial_code1= 01992
os_grid_reference= TQ479961

Lambourne is a civil parish in the Epping Forest district of Essex. It is located approximately 7 km (4.5 miles) S of Epping and 8 km (5 miles) NW of Romford and is situated entirely within the M25. It covers an area of 1048 hectares and had a population of 1828 in 2001 [. [http://www.eppingforestdc.gov.uk/Council_Services/planning/census/Lambourne.asp Epping Forest District Council – Lambourne Parish Profile] ]

Geography

The parish is mostly rural and agricultural, and lies in the valley of the River Roding which forms the northern boundary of the parish. The parish is mostly hilly, rising to above 100 metres in its centre.

There is no actual village called Lambourne, however the principal settlement is the village of Abridge in the far north west of the parish, with the other main concentration of houses at the hamlet of Lambourne End to the south. A scattering of farms and houses is found throughout the rest of the parish.

Stapleford Aerodrome is located in the east of the parish. Another aviation connection is its status as the location of LAM [ [http://www.trevord.com/navaids/lam.htm LAM VOR] ] , a VOR navigational beacon which anchors the North East (NE) Arrival Stack for London Heathrow Airport (ICAO: EGLL / IATA: LHR), which along with Biggin Hill, Kent (BIG - SE Arrivals), Bovingdon, Hertfordshire (BNN - NW Arrivals) and Ockham, Surrey (OCK - SW Arrivals) are London's main holds.

History

Like much of the neighbouring area, Lambourne was thickly wooded in the Middle Ages with forest gradually being cleared for agriculture. A few remnants of the historic Hainault Forest are found in the southern fringe of the parish, and now form part of a country park.

Its population was 505 in 1801 rising to 904 by 1841, remaining at about that level for the next century. [Lambourne: Introduction, A History of the County of Essex: Volume 4: Ongar Hundred (1956), pp. 72-6. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=15567. Date accessed: 20 August 2007.]

Historically Lambourne was included in the hundred of Ongar. It formed part of the Epping and Ongar Rural District from 1894 until that authority was absorbed into Epping Forest District in 1974.

Places of Interest

The mediaeval parish church of St Mary is in an isolated location next to the Hall, as is typical for Essex, rather than near a centre of population. It has an unusual Georgian internal remodelling. [Jenkins, Simon (1999) "England's Thousand Best Churches" Allen Lane, ISBN 0-7139-9281-6]

Hainault Forest Country Park, managed by the Woodland Trust.

References