Copford is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of Parish (administrative division), administrative parish used for Local government in England, local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below district ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

, England, west of

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian. Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colc ...

. The hamlet of

Copford Green Copford Green is a hamlet within the civil parish of Copford and the district of Colchester in Essex, England. It is near the A12 and A120 roads, and is south west of Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. ...

is found a short distance to the south. The poet

Matthew Arnold Matthew Arnold (24 December 1822 – 15 April 1888) was an English poet and cultural critic who worked as an inspector of schools. He was the son of Thomas Arnold, the celebrated headmaster of Rugby School, and brother to both Tom Arnold, li ...

noted he was struck by ''"the deeply rural character of the village and neighbourhood."''

History

Copford was originally a manor held by the

Bishop of London A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or offic ...

's office. Upon the death of

Edmund Bonner Edmund Bonner (also Boner; c. 15005 September 1569) was Bishop of London from 1539 to 1549 and again from 1553 to 1559. Initially an instrumental figure in the schism of Henry VIII from Rome, he was antagonised by the Protestant reforms introdu ...

in 1569 (also buried here) the land briefly became property of

The Crown The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has differen ...

until 1609 when it returned to private ownership once more . The

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activitie ...

of St Michael is renowned for its 12th-century

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

wall paintings that are among the best in England. The church door has been found to have human skin attached, possibly as a gruesome remnant of the ancient

punishment Punishment, commonly, is the imposition of an undesirable or unpleasant outcome upon a group or individual, meted out by an authority—in contexts ranging from child discipline to criminal law—as a response and deterrent to a particular a ...

meted out to those who invaded the sanctity of the church.Wall, J. Charles (1912), ''Porches and Fonts.'' Pub. Wells Gardner and Darton, London. P. 41 - 42. Adjacent to the church is the manorial house of

Copford Hall Copford Hall is a manorial seat and Grade II listed country house, with gardens by Capability Brown, in the village of Copford, Essex, England, 46 miles (74 km) from London. The building was at one time owned by the bishops of London, and it ...

Governance

Copford is part of the electoral ward called Copford and West Stanway. The population of this ward at the 2011 Census was 1,915.

Transport

Copford is situated about half a mile east of the junction between the A12 and A120 at

Marks Tey Marks Tey is a large village and electoral ward in Essex, England; it is located six miles west of Colchester. Facilities Marks Tey is one of a group of villages called the Teys, also including Great Tey and Little Tey. Its main features inc ...

. The closest rail link is the

Great Eastern Main Line The Great Eastern Main Line (GEML, sometimes referred to as the East Anglia Main Line) is a major railway line on the British railway system which connects Liverpool Street station in central London with destinations in east London and th ...

, which connects London Liverpool Street to Norwich, and stops at Marks Tey station. The village is served by the 70 and 71 bus services at the London Road end, thus giving access to Colchester, Chelmsford and Braintree via public transport. Copford Green and the neighbouring village of Easthorpe are served every Wednesday by a community bus for which tickets must be purchased in advance.

Community

Copford is divided into 3 distinct areas of population, the largest of which is the Queensberry Avenue Estate with some 250 houses. London Road/School Road (down to the Village Hall) has approx. 190 dwellings, and the Copford Green area a further 150. The village has a Hall built in the early 1990s, and a School parts of which date back to Victorian times, and the majority of which was rebuilt with the addition of a new School Hall in 2002. The Parish Council owns two play parks (one behind the Village Hall, the other on Queensberry Avenue), and woods complete with a picnic area and several walks.

Notable people

Benjamin Lay Benjamin Lay (January 26, 1682 – February 8, 1759) was an Anglo-American Quaker humanitarian and abolitionist. He is best known for his early and strident anti-slavery activities which would culminate in dramatic protests. He was also an autho ...

, American abolitionist and Quaker

References

External links

History of the Parish of CopfordCopford at Streetmap.co.uk
{{authority control Villages in Essex Borough of Colchester