Littlebury

Littlebury is a village and civil parish in the Uttlesford district, north-west Essex, England. The village is approximately a mile and a half from the market town of Saffron Walden, 12 miles (20 km) south from Cambridge, the nearest city, and 23 miles (37 km) northeast from the county town and city of Chelmsford.

Littlebury
Littlebury
Location within Essex
Population869 (2011)
OS grid referenceTL516396
Civil parish
  • Littlebury
District
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townSAFFRON WALDEN
Postcode districtCB11
Dialling code01799
PoliceEssex
FireEssex
AmbulanceEast of England
UK Parliament

The parish of Littlebury includes the village of Littlebury Green and the hamlets of Catmere End and Chapel Green at the west, and parts of the estate of Audley End at the southeast. The parish had a population of 869 at the 2011 census.[1]

History

The area has been inhabited since prehistoric times, with Bronze Age tools having been found at Little Chesterford and Iron Age sherds to the east of the village. Ring Hill Fort to the west of Audley End is believed to date from the Iron Age, and there is significant evidence of Roman settlement.[2]

The name Littlebury first appears in a 10th-century will as lytlan byrig and in 1008 as Lithanberi.[2]

The village is located on the medieval London to Newmarket road (now the B1383 and A11) as well as the River Cam. A Roman road crossed the parish at Littlebury Green, which is referred to as Streetly Green in some historic records.[3]

The parish was owned by Ely Abbey from the ninth century, and was retained by the Crown following Dissolution. In 1601 it was sold to Thomas Sutton and in 1603 fell to the Earl of Suffolk. It passed between the Earls of Suffolk, owners of Audley End house, until in 1762 it was bequeathed to Lord Braybrooke.[2][3]

The Cambridge to Liverpool Street line passes through the village and it formerly had its own station.

Church
Holy Trinity church, Littlebury

The parish church of Holy Trinity was built on the site of a Roman camp. The first record of it dates from 1163 and the church was considerably altered between 1870 and 1874.[2] It houses a beautiful stone font with decorated oak canopy.

St Peter's church at Littlebury Green was built in 1885.[2] The village formerly supported a chapel, situated on Chapel Green, but no trace of it remains.[3]

Governance

An electoral ward in the same name exists. This ward stretches south to Arkesden with a total population at the 2011 census of 1,708.[4]

Amenities

The village has a pub, the Queen's Head, a fourteenth-century coaching inn.

Notable people

The architect Henry Winstanley (1644-1703) was a resident of Littlebury. He was clerk of the King's works at Newmarket and Audley End under Charles II and built the first Eddystone lighthouse.[3]

Other residents include Thomas Sutton, Master of the Ordnance in the North, and Joan Bradbury, widow of Thomas Bradbury who founded a school in the 17th century.[2]

See also

References
  1. "Parish population 2011". Retrieved 26 September 2015.
  2. "Littlebury - history". Recorders of Uttlesford History.
  3. White (1848). White's Directory of Essex.
  4. "Ward population 2011". Retrieved 26 September 2015.
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