Elsenham is a village and

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 ...

in north-west

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 ...

in eastern England. Its neighbouring settlements include

Bishop's Stortford Bishop's Stortford is a historic market town and civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district, in the county of Hertfordshire, England. It is in the London metropolitan area, London commuter belt, near the border with Essex, just west of the ...

Saffron Walden Saffron Walden is a market town and civil parish in the Uttlesford district of Essex, England, north of Bishop's Stortford, south of Cambridge and north of London. It retains a rural appearance and some buildings of the medieval period. Th ...

and

Stansted Mountfitchet Stansted Mountfitchet is an England, English village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Uttlesford district, Essex, near the Hertfordshire border, north of London. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 5,533, increasi ...

History

Elsenham is recorded in the ''

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

'' of 1086 as ''Alsenham'' and ''Elsenham'' in the Hundred of Uttlesford. Part belonged to Robert Gernon and part to John, nephew of Waleran. The village is best known for Elsenham Jam, which was produced on the Elsenham estate of Sir Walter Gilbey, and marketed with the slogan, "the most expensive jam in the world". Elsenham Jam is no longer produced in Elsenham, the company having moved to

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. In April 2008, Elsenham was short-listed by the Government as a potential site for a 5,000 homes ' eco-town' development.

Notable features

Notable features include Elsenham Hall, the home of Sir Walter Gilbey, St Mary's Church, formerly known as the Little Norman Church on the Hill, and the

village pump A well is an excavation or structure created on the earth by digging, driving, or drilling to access liquid resources, usually water. The oldest and most common kind of well is a water well, to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The ...

which stands in the village centre and was built by Sir Walter Gilbey in memory of his wife. A horse,

Golden Miller Golden Miller (1927–1957) was a Thoroughbred racehorse who is the most successful Cheltenham Gold Cup horse ever, winning the race in five consecutive years between 1932 and 1936. He also is the only horse to win both of the United Kingdom's p ...

, who won the

Cheltenham Gold Cup The Cheltenham Gold Cup is a Grade 1 National Hunt horse race run on the New Course at Cheltenham Racecourse in England, over a distance of about 3 miles 2½ furlon ...

five times between 1932 and 1936 and the

Grand National The Grand National is a National Hunt horse race held annually at Aintree Racecourse in Aintree, Merseyside, England. First run in 1839, it ...

in 1934, is buried at Elsenham Stud.

Governance

Elsenham is part of the

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected t ...

called Elsenham and Henham. The population of this ward at the 2011 Census was 3,679.

Society and leisure

A variety of village events are held each year: a village fete; the Flower Show Society's Annual Show; an Arts & Craft Fair and a firework display in the autumn; and Santa and Gift Galore in December. Elsenham also has a number of small clubs as well as tennis courts, a bowling green, a cricket field, a youth football club and two pool teams. The village has a number of small businesses, a pub and a primary school.

Transport

The village is served by a

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

(Elsenham) on the line between Cambridge and London Liverpool Street. Trains usually run every half an hour or every hour, served by Greater Anglia. The village is about four miles from junction 8 of 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 ...

and also approximately three miles from

Stansted Airport Stansted Airport is an international airport serving London, the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It is located near Stansted Mountfitchet, Uttlesford, Essex, northeast of Central London. As London's third-busiest airport, Stan ...

. A highly publicised expansion of the airport could include new road and rail links passing within the village boundaries.

References

External links

{{authority control Villages in Essex Civil parishes in Essex Uttlesford Eco-towns