Abridge is a village in

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

, England. It is on the

River Roding The River Roding () is a river that rises at Molehill Green, Essex, England, then flows south through Essex and London and forms Barking Creek as it reaches the River Thames. Course The river leaves Molehill Green and passes through or near a ...

, southwest of the

county town In Great Britain and Ireland, a county town is usually the location of administrative or judicial functions within a county, and the place where public representatives are elected to parliament. Following the establishment of county councils in ...

Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Colchester and Southend-on-Sea. It is located north-east of London ...

. The village is in the district of

Epping Forest Epping Forest is a area of ancient woodland, and other established habitats, which straddles the border between Greater London and Essex. The main body of the forest stretches from Epping in the north, to Chingford on the edge of the Lond ...

and in the parliamentary constituency of Brentwood and Ongar. It is part of the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

Lambourne Lambourne is a civil parish in the Epping Forest district of Essex, England. It is located approximately 4.5 miles (7 km) south of Epping and 5 miles (8 km) northwest of Romford. It covers an area of , and in 2001 its population was ...

and is served by Lambourne Parish Council. It takes its name from the brick bridge over the River Roding, which is situated just to the north of the modern centre, on the road to

Theydon Bois Theydon Bois ( ) is a village and civil parish in the Epping Forest district of Essex, England. It is south of Epping, northeast of Loughton and south of Harlow. The population was 4,062 as at the 2011 Census. Theydon Bois is inside the M2 ...

History

Abridge lies on the historically important

stagecoach A stagecoach (also: stage coach, stage, road coach, ) is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by ...

route between

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and

Chipping Ongar Chipping Ongar () is a market town and former civil parish, now in the parish of Ongar, in the Epping Forest District of the county of Essex, England. It is located east of Epping, southeast of Harlow and northwest of Brentwood. In 2020 ...

and has been an important crossing point of the River Roding for many centuries. The boundary of the Conservation Area includes the historic core of the village which is evident on the Chapman and Andre Map of 1777. Originally in the parish of

, Holy Trinity Church was built in 1836; before this, parishioners had to walk three miles to Lambourne Church by a footpath. A

Wesleyan Wesleyan theology, otherwise known as Wesleyan–Arminian theology, or Methodist theology, is a theological tradition in Protestant Christianity based upon the ministry of the 18th-century evangelical reformer brothers John Wesley and Charle ...

chapel was built in Abridge in 1833; it became

Congregational Congregationalism (also Congregational Churches or Congregationalist Churches) is a Reformed Christianity, Reformed Christian (Calvinist) tradition of Protestant Christianity in which churches practice Congregationalist polity, congregational ...

in 1844. The hymn tune "Abridge" by Isaac Smith 1734–1805 was named after the village. Listed buildings include the Blue Boar Inn (early 19th century), the group of medieval buildings that form the Roding Restaurant, the 18th-century house immediately northeast of the restaurant, Roding House (late medieval), River Cottage in Ongar Road, and the Maltsters Arms (18th century). To the east of the village is

Stapleford Aerodrome Stapleford Aerodrome is an operational general aviation aerodrome in the Epping Forest district of Essex, England, near the village of Abridge. It is about south of North Weald Airfield and north of Romford. The airfield is just within the ...

formerly RAF Stapleford Tawney of 11 Group east sector.

Geography

The village is in the southwest of the county, from

. It is closer to London, being northeast of central London. It lies on the

and is surrounded by a rural area. The nearest major settlements are

Loughton Loughton () is a suburban town and civil parish in the Epping Forest District of Essex. The town borders Waltham Abbey, Theydon Bois, Chigwell, Chingford, and Buckhurst Hill, and lies north-east of Charing Cross. For statistical purposes ...

to the West,

Chigwell Chigwell is a town and civil parish in the Epping Forest District of Essex, England. It is part of the urban and metropolitan area of London, and is adjacent to the northern boundary of Greater London. It is on the Central line of the Londo ...

to the southwest and

north of the village. It lies within the M25, and its closest major road link is the

M11 motorway The M11 is a motorway that runs north from the A406 road, North Circular Road (A406) in South Woodford to the A14 road (Great Britain), A14, northwest of Cambridge, England. Originally proposed as a trunk road as early as 1915, various plans ...

at junction 5 (towards London only). The main road that links the village with the M11 and Essex and London is the

A113 A113 and its variants are an inside joke and Easter egg in media developed by alumni of California Institute of the Arts, referring to the classroom used by graphic design and character animation students. History Students who have used the cl ...

. Its nearest rail link is Theydon Bois tube station, on the Central line (

Travelcard Zone 6 Fare zone 6 is an outer zone of Transport for London's zonal fare system used for calculating the price of tickets for travel on the London Underground, London Overground, Docklands Light Railway, National Rail services (since 2007), and the Eli ...

), to the north of the village. The 541 bus links the village with

and Epping. It extends to

Harlow Harlow is a town and local government district located in the west of Essex, England. Founded as a Planned community, new town in 1947, it is situated on the border with Hertfordshire, and occupies a large area of land on the south bank of the ...

on Sundays. On Mon-Fri, the 575 service links the town with Epping and

Romford Romford is a large List of places in London, town in east London, east London, England, located northeast of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Havering, the town is one of the major Metropolitan centres of London, metropolitan centr ...

, though these buses are very infrequent.

Sports

Abridge has a local

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

club and

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

club.

Transport

Bus

Currently routes 418 and 575 serve the village. London Transport route 10 ran daily to

London Bridge The name "London Bridge" refers to several historic crossings that have spanned the River Thames between the City of London and Southwark in central London since Roman Britain, Roman times. The current crossing, which opened to traffic in 197 ...

until 1964, with various extensions to Victoria station and

Elephant and Castle Elephant and Castle is an area of South London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark. The name also informally refers to much of Walworth and Newington, due to the proximity of the London Underground station of the same name. The n ...

Rail

The nearest railway stations are

, Debden and

on the

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or as the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent home counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The Undergro ...

. Bus route 418 (Loughton to Epping) serves all of these stations daily.

Notable residents

Alan Curbishley Llewellyn Charles "Alan" Curbishley (born 8 November 1957) is an English former football player and manager. He played as a midfielder for West Ham United, Birmingham City, Aston Villa, Charlton Athletic and Brighton & Hove Albion. He became ma ...

, football club manager

References

External links

* {{authority control Epping Forest District Villages in Essex