Mundon 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 Dengie peninsula in

Maldon District Maldon District is a local government district in Essex, England. The district is managed by ''Maldon District Council'', which is based in Maldon, the largest town in the district. The district also includes the town of Burnham-on-Crouch and ...

in the county of Essex, England. It lies 3 miles south-east of

Maldon Maldon (, locally ) is a town and civil parish on the Blackwater Estuary in Essex, England. It is the seat of the Maldon District and starting point of the Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation. It is known for Maldon Sea Salt which is prod ...

. The manor of Munduna passed from the king's thegn Godwin to

Eudo Dapifer Eudo Dapifer (sometimes Eudo fitzHerbertBarlow ''William Rufus'' p. 474 and Eudo de Rie); (died 1120), was a Norman aristocrat who served as a steward (server, Latin 'dapifer') under the kings William the Conqueror, William II Rufus, and Henry ...

at the

Norman Conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, French people, French, Flemish people, Flemish, and Bretons, Breton troops, all led by the Du ...

. The place-name 'Mundon' is first attested 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, where it appears as ''Munduna''. The name means 'Munda's hill'. Until the Dissolution of the Monasteries Mundon formed part of the estates of

St John's Abbey, Colchester St John's Abbey, also called Colchester Abbey,Ashdown-Hill, John (2009) Mediaeval Colchester's Lost Landmarks. Published by The Breedon Books Publishing Company Limited. () was a Benedictine monastic institution in Colchester, Essex, founded in ...

; it passed to

Thomas Cromwell Thomas Cromwell (; – 28 July 1540) was an English statesman and lawyer who served as List of English chief ministers, chief minister to King Henry VIII from 1534 to 1540, when he was beheaded on orders of the king, who later blamed false cha ...

before being returned to the

Duchy of Lancaster The Duchy of Lancaster is an estate of the British sovereign. The estate has its origins in the lands held by the medieval Dukes of Lancaster, which came under the direct control of the monarch when Henry Bolingbroke, the then duke of Lancast ...

, which held the right of presentation to the vicarage until the 20th century.St Mary's Church, Mundon
The 14th-century timber-framed Church of St. Mary, built within the remains of the moat of Mundon Hall, and likely on Saxon and Norman foundations, has been disused since the 1970s, but is currently in the care of

Friends of Friendless Churches Friends of Friendless Churches (FoFC) is a registered charity formed in 1957, active in England and Wales, which campaigns for and rescues redundant historic places of worship threatened by demolition, decay, or inappropriate conversion. As ...

, supported by

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

. Following a long period of remedial work, the church re-opened to visitors in August 2009. The entire church was underpinned, and much structural work was carried out by Bakers of Danbury. The church was re-glazed, and now, internally, appears lighter than it has in recent years. It is a grade I listed building. Mundon Hall is now represented by an 18th-century farmhouse of rendered and whitewashed brick. The village was struck by an F1/T2 tornado on 23 November 1981, as part of the record-breaking nationwide tornado outbreak on that day.

Mundon Furze

The Furze is one of the last areas of surviving

ancient woodland In the United Kingdom, ancient woodland is that which has existed continuously since 1600 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (or 1750 in Scotland). The practice of planting woodland was uncommon before those dates, so a wood present in 1600 i ...

in the Dengie peninsula. The dominant tree species are oak and ash.

Pedunculate Oak ''Quercus robur'', the pedunculate oak, is a species of flowering plant in the beech and oak family, Fagaceae. It is a large tree, native to most of Europe and western Asia, and is widely cultivated in other temperate regions. It grows on soi ...

(''Quercus robur'') dominates the northern half of the Furze.

Bramble ''Rubus'' is a large and diverse genus of flowering plants in the rose family, Rosaceae, subfamily Rosoideae, most commonly known as brambles. Fruits of various species are known as raspberries, blackberries, dewberries, and bristleberries. I ...

(''Rubus fruticosus'') covers most of the ground layer, with small wet areas supporting

Pendulous Sedge ''Carex pendula'' (pendulous sedge, also known as hanging, drooping or weeping sedge) is a large sedge of the genus ''Carex''. It occurs in woodland, scrubland, hedges and beside streams, preferring damp, heavy clay soils. It is sometimes grown ...

(''Carex pendula'') and Soft rush (''Juncus effusus''). Several houses have been built in the southern part of this ancient wood.

White House Farm Canal

From 1832 to about 1880 a private canal operated from White House Farm to the River Blackwater.White House Canal
/ref>

References

External links

* ttp://www.essexchurches.info/church.asp?p=Mundon&ty=e Mundon St Mary on Essex Churches websitebr>Information and photographs of Mundon village
{{authority control Villages in Essex Maldon District