Foxearth
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Foxearth 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 ...
on the borders of north
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 ...
and
Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...
in
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
, between
Long Melford Long Melford, colloquially and historically also referred to as Melford, is a large village and civil parish in the Babergh district, in the county of Suffolk, England. It is on Suffolk's border with Essex, which is marked by the River Stour ...
and
Cavendish Cavendish may refer to: People * The House of Cavendish, a British aristocratic family * Margaret Cavendish (1623–1673), British poet, philosopher, and scientist * Cavendish (author) (1831–1899), pen name of Henry Jones, English auth ...
. The neighbouring parishes are Borley,
Belchamp Walter Belchamp Walter is a village and civil parish in Essex, England. It is located approximately west of Sudbury, Suffolk and is 35 km (22 miles) north-northeast from the county town of Chelmsford. It is near Belchamp St Paul and Belchamp O ...
,
Belchamp Otten Belchamp Otten is a village and civil parish in Essex, England. It is located approximately west of Sudbury, Suffolk, and is north-northeast of the county town of Chelmsford. It is near Belchamp St Paul and Belchamp Walter Belchamp Walte ...
, Liston and
Pentlow Pentlow is a village and civil parish in the Braintree (district), Braintree district, in the county of Essex, England. It is just south of the River Stour, Suffolk, River Stour, and nearby settlements include the villages of Foxearth and Cavend ...
. In 2001 the parish had a population of 303.


History

Foxearth is an ancient settlement in north Essex. The
parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...
is about in circumference; from
Sudbury Sudbury may refer to: Places Australia * Sudbury Reef, Queensland Canada * Greater Sudbury, Ontario ** Sudbury (federal electoral district) ** Sudbury (provincial electoral district) ** Sudbury Airport ** Sudbury Basin, a meteorite impact cra ...
seven from
Halstead Halstead is a town and civil parish in the Braintree District of Essex, England. Its population of 11,906 in 2011London 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 ...
. The lands are very good loamy clay soil. Foxearth has always been predominantly agricultural, and had its own
watermill A watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as mill (grinding), milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in ...
that originally fell within a separate parish, Weston, until the year 1286, when the two manors became united. In the reign of
Edward the Confessor Edward the Confessor ( 1003 – 5 January 1066) was King of England from 1042 until his death in 1066. He was the last reigning monarch of the House of Wessex. Edward was the son of Æthelred the Unready and Emma of Normandy. He succeede ...
, the parish was in the possession of nineteen sochmen and four freemen; The
Domesday 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 ...
survey shows that the small manor of Foxearth Hall, had become the property of Richard Fitz-Gilbert, ancestor of the lords of
Clare Clare may refer to: Places Antarctica * Clare Range, a mountain range in Victoria Land Australia * Clare, South Australia, a town in the Clare Valley * Clare Valley, South Australia Canada * Clare (electoral district), an electoral district * Cl ...
. Literally "fox’s den", the village is recorded as Focsearde in the Domesday Book (1086) and
mediaeval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and t ...
spellings varied somewhat — Foxherde (1202),the Feet of Fines for Essex 1202 and Foxherthe (1232), Foxhierd (1221 & 1428), Foxhole (1212 and 1314), Foxhierd (1246), also Foxhirde (1246), Foxerht (1261), Foxeyerde (1294), Foxherne (1362), Foxhorn (1363), Foxzerd (1428) and finally Foxearth (1594). Until the mid-nineteenth century, Foxearth was a typical agricultural village. The village was transformed by wealthy vicar, Rev. John Foster. In order to loosen the grip of the farmers on the community, Foster funded a
brewery A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of b ...
in the village in 1878 to provide alternative employment. The brewery was run by three generations of the Ward family. Under the Wards' influence, the village was rebuilt in red brick, with flint walls, with the brewery providing employment. It was one of the pioneers in the production of bottled beers and also produced several non-alcoholic bottled drinks. The brewery was sold to
Taylor Walker & Co Taylor Walker was a large English brewery. History Taylor Walker & Co was founded in 1730 in Stepney as Salmon and Hare, and later became Hare and Hartford. In 1796 John Taylor acquired Hare's share, and the company took the name Taylor Walker i ...
in 1957, and the last brew of of Small Best Bitter Ale was made on 19 February the following year. Although the brewery was bought back in a reverse takeover bid in 1960, it was sold again by the Ward family in 1963 to Charrington United Breweries. The brewery site was sold in 1988 with the final demolition of the building begun in the 1990s. It is now a housing estate.


St. Peter and St. Paul's church

The parish church of St. Peter and St. Paul's stands on the east side of the village. The walls are of
flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Historically, flint was widely used to make stone tools and start ...
rubble with stone dressings, and the roofs with
tile Tiles are usually thin, square or rectangular coverings manufactured from hard-wearing material such as ceramic, Rock (geology), stone, metal, baked clay, or even glass. They are generally fixed in place in an array to cover roofs, floors, wal ...
and
lead Lead () is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Pb (from Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a Heavy metal (elements), heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale, soft and Ductility, malleabl ...
. The church has a tower,
nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...
, with a north aisle, and formerly a south aisle, and a
chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...
; adjoining the north side of which is Kemp's Chapel, which belongs to the hall. The whole building is of stone, and at the west end there is a square tower with eight
bell A bell /ˈbɛl/ () is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be m ...
s (now dormant save the automatic clock chimes) and which formerly had a
spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spire ...
. The nave is of uncertain date, but circa 1350 a north aisle was added and the chancel was rebuilt. The north aisle was rebuilt and widened around 1450, and Kemp's Chapel was added; the chancel arch was possibly removed at the same time. The west tower was added in 1862 by Rev John Foster, and the church was restored and the south porch added at around the same time. The chancel, by , has an east window of ''c.'' 1350, and of the three cinquefoiled
ogee An ogee ( ) is an object, element, or curve—often seen in architecture and building trades—that has a serpentine- or extended S-shape (Sigmoid curve, sigmoid). Ogees consist of a "double curve", the combination of two semicircle, semicircula ...
lights with leaf
tracery Tracery is an architectural device by which windows (or screens, panels, and vaults) are divided into sections of various proportions by stone ''bars'' or ''ribs'' of moulding. Most commonly, it refers to the stonework elements that support th ...
in a two-centred head; the internal and external labels are chamfered. In the north wall is a
Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...
doorway, and further west a
two-centred arch A pointed arch, ogival arch, or Gothic arch is an arch with a pointed crown meet at an angle at the top of the arch. Also known as a two-centred arch, its form is derived from the intersection of two circles. This architectural element was partic ...
of ''c.'' 1450 and two hollow
chamfer A chamfer ( ) is a transitional edge between two faces of an object. Sometimes defined as a form of bevel, it is often created at a 45° angle between two adjoining right-angled faces. Chamfers are frequently used in machining, carpentry, fur ...
ed orders; the responds are moulded and shafted, with moulded bases and
capitals Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...
. In the south wall are two windows; the eastern is of ''c.''1350, partly restored and of two cinquefoiled lights with tracery in a segmental pointed head, under a chamfered label; the western window is
Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...
, except the internal splays and hollow chamfered rear arch, which are of the 15th century. Between the windows is a Victorian doorway. There is no chancel arch, but between the chancel and the nave is a chamfered and moulded beam, probably of the 15th century.The Monuments of North West Essex. A survey commissioned by H.M.Government in 1909


Sources

* ''Foxearth Brew'' - Richard Morris (book covering the Brewery's existence)
Complete text of Richard Morris's book. Foxearth Brew



Local history site for Foxearth


References


External links

{{authority control Villages in Essex Civil parishes in Essex Braintree District