Newport, Essex
Historical Description
Newport, a village and a parish in Essex. The village stands on the Granta, a tributary of the river Cam, the G.E.R. main line, on which it has a station, and the Roman road to Cambridge, 3 miles SSW of Saffron Walden; was anciently called Newport Pond, from a large pool at the S end of its street, had anciently a castle; had also an hospital for lepers, founded in the time of King John by Richard de Newport, and dedicated to St Leonard; and has now a post, money order, and telegraph office (S.O.), and formerly had fairs on Easter Tuesday and 17 and 18 Nov. The parish comprises 1730 acres; population, 984. Brickmaking is carried on. The manor belonged, in the time of Edward the Confessor, to Earl Harold, and with Shortgrove House, a mansion of red brick in the Queen Anne style, situated on an eminence in a deer park of about 400 acres, belongs now to the Baily family. A quaint old timber dwelling, known as the " Crown " House, is reputed to have been a residence of Nell Gwynne. Another old house in the centre of the village, known as " Monk Barns," was originally a sanitorium belonging to the monks of St Martin-in-the Fields. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of St Albans; net value, £281 with residence. Patron, the Bishop of St Albans. The church stands in the highest part of the village; is a building of rubble in the Perpendicular and Decorated styles; consists of nave, aisles, transepts, and chancel, with lofty turreted tower; and was thoroughly restored in 1858-59. There is a Congregational chapel. The Frankland Grammar School, founded in 1558, has an endowment of over £550 a year, and affords a good classical or commercial education.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
Ancient County | Essex | |
Ecclesiastical parish | Newport St. Mary | |
Hundred | Uttlesford | |
Poor Law union | Saffron-Walden |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Newport from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Newport (St. Mary))
Land and Property
The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Essex is available to browse.
The Essex pages from the Return of Owners of Land in 1873 is online.
Maps
Online maps of Newport are available from a number of sites:
- Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- Google Streetview.
- National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
- OpenStreetMap.
- old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
- Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following newspapers covering Essex online: