Littlebury

Littlebury
Littlebury
Littlebury shown within Essex
Population 869 (2011)
OS grid reference TL516396
District
Shire county
Region
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town SAFFRON WALDEN
Postcode district CB11
Dialling code 01799
Police Essex
Fire Essex
Ambulance East of England
EU Parliament East of England
UK Parliament

Littlebury is a small village in north-west Essex. It has a population of around 600, increasing to 869 at the 2011 census,[1] which includes the two hamlets of Littlebury Green and Catmere End. It lies around a mile and a half from the market town of Saffron Walden and fifteen miles south of Cambridge, the nearest city.

Situated in the Uttlesford district, the parish of Littlebury includes the hamlets of Catmere End, Chapel Green, and Littlebury Green which lie to the west and south-west of the church. It also includes parts of the estate of Audley End.

History

The area has been inhabited since prehistoric times, with Bronze Age tools having been found at Little Chesterford and Iron Age sherds to the east of the village. Ring Hill Fort to the west of Audley End is believed to date from the Iron Age, and there is significant evidence of Roman settlement.[2]

The name Littlebury first appears in a 10th-century will as lytlan byrig and in 1008 as Lithanberi.[2]

The village is located on the medieval London to Newmarket road (now the B1383 and A11) as well as the River Cam. A Roman road crossed the parish at Littlebury Green, which is referred to as Streetly Green in some historic records.[3]

The parish was owned by Ely Abbey from the ninth century, and was retained by the Crown following Dissolution. In 1601 it was sold to Thomas Sutton and in 1603 fell to the Earl of Suffolk. It passed between the Earls of Suffolk, owners of Audley End house, until in 1762 it was bequeathed to Lord Braybrooke.[2][3]

The Cambridge to Liverpool Street line passes through the village and it formerly had its own station.

Church

Holy Trinity church, Littlebury

The parish church of Holy Trinity was built on the site of a Roman camp. The first record of it dates from 1163 and the church was considerably altered between 1870 and 1874.[2] It houses a beautiful stone font with decorated oak canopy.

St Peter's church at Littlebury Green was built in 1885.[2] The village formerly supported a chapel, situated on Chapel Green, but no trace of it remains.[3]

Governance

An electoral ward in the same name exists. This ward stretches south to Arkesden with a total population at the 2011 census of 1,708.[4]

Amenities

The village has a pub, the Queen's Head, a fourteenth-century coaching inn.

Notable people

The architect Henry Winstanley (1644-1703) was a resident of Littlebury. He was clerk of the King's works at Newmarket and Audley End under Charles II and built the first Eddystone lighthouse.[3]

Other residents include Thomas Sutton, Master of the Ordnance in the North, and Joan Bradbury, widow of Thomas Bradbury who founded a school in the 17th century.[2]

See also

The Hundred Parishes

References

  1. ↑ "Parish population 2011". Retrieved 26 September 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Littlebury - history". Recorders of Uttlesford History.
  3. 1 2 3 4 White (1848). White's Directory of Essex.
  4. ↑ "Ward population 2011". Retrieved 26 September 2015.
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