Little Bardfield, Essex
Historical Description
Bardfield, Little, a village and a parish in Dunmow union, Essex, on the south bank of the river Blackwater, 10 miles E by N from Elsenham station on the G.E.R., and 10 NW from Braintree. Acreage, 1808; population of the civil parish, 268; of the ecclesiastical, 293. Post town, Braintree; money order and telegraph office, Great Bardfield. The living is a donative in the diocese of St Albans; net value, £78. The church is a small but very ancient building of flint, consisting of chancel, nave, and south aisle, with an embattled western tower. There are five endowed almshouses.
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 | Little Bardfield St. Catherine | |
Hundred | Freshwell | |
Poor Law union | Dunmow |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Churches
Church of England
St Katherine (parish church)
The church of St. Katherine is a small and very ancient building of flint, of presumed Saxon date, consisting of chancel, nave, south porch and an embattled western tower containing 2 bells: the windows were inserted during the Decorated period; the organ chamber was added by the Rev. Richard Henry White M.A. rector 1864-1906, and contains a fine organ of the 17th century by Harris: the south porch was repaired in 1894 at the expense of Richard Creed esq, and a figure of St. Katherine placed over the entrance: there is a rood cross with emblems of the Evangelists and the Agnus Dei: upon the cross, which stands on the rood beam, Mr. R. Creed F.R.I.B.A. has placed the figure of Our Lord, designed by the donor, as well as those of the Virgin Mary and St. John: the chancel has a good east window, designed by the late G. F. Bodley R.A. and a reredos of alabaster: Mr. Creed has also placed two tapestry curtains on each side of the altar; also some memorial brasses: the church has 150 sittings.
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Little Bardfield from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Bardfield, Little (St. Catherine))
- Kelly's Directory of Essex, Hertfordshire, and Middlesex, 1914
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 Little Bardfield 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: