South Weald

Coordinates: 51°37′34″N 0°16′01″E / 51.626°N 0.267°E / 51.626; 0.267
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
South Weald
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
List of places
UK
England
Essex
51°37′34″N 0°16′01″E / 51.626°N 0.267°E / 51.626; 0.267

South Weald is a mainly farmland and park settlement and former civil parish, on the western edge of Brentwood, in the Brentwood district, in Essex, England. The civil parish of South Weald was absorbed by Brentwood Urban District in 1934.[1] In 1931 the civil parish had a population of 6370.[2]

South Weald contains

North Weald
is centred 6 miles (10 km) northwest.

Origin

Though only 18 miles from London, the large parish of South Weald even today retains a strongly rural character. The name ‘Weald’ means forest, and in early times the parish lay in one of the most wooded parts of Essex. Today, perhaps South Weald is most known to locals due to the Weald Country Parks.

With South Weald being such a large parish (over 5,000 acres) it was inevitable that small hamlets should grow up in addition to the village clustered south of the parish church. These included Coxtie Green, Pilgrims Hatch and Brook Street. Yet another hamlet, straddling the main road in the highest part of the parish, developed into the busy urban centre of Brentwood.

Early history

The South Weald Camp covering about seven acres, now home to both weald country park and South Weald Cricket Club (divided by Sandpit Lane), has been dated back as far as the Iron Age.[3]

Looking beyond that, it's certain from

Maldon. But in the period of recorded history the main road from London to Harwich
was the basis of Brentwood Development and certainly brought the whole parish in the picture of national events.

This is evidenced when the

bordars
, who normally held less land than the villeins, and three serfs. The canons had two ploughs for their communal agriculture. The canons also had 25 swine, 65 sheep and other animals; the woodland was measured as capable of feeding 200 swine and there was 1 ½ acres of meadow. In all, the estate was valued at six pounds, a sum which is however impossible to relate to in present-day value.'

The village of South Weald itself can compare with the most famed of Essex parishes, for it has distinct houses and a natural beauty of curve and gradient. The Tower Arms, with the date 1704 and the initials A.L.L.A above the entrance, was called Jewells according to a map of 1788, when the Spread Eagle, an earlier name of the Tower Arms, was on the other side of the road, west of the church; in 1684 it was called the Eagle and Crown and said to adjoin the churchyard. On the curve opposite the church and down Vicarage Lane there is a variety of architecture from the sixteenth century Wealdcote to the graceful Regency buildings of the Post office and its neighbour. Further down the Lane the Old Vicarage, with the arms of the Bishop of London and the entrance, is the fourth vicarage of which there is record.[4]

On 1 April 1934 the parish was abolished and merged with Brentwood.[5]

Further reading

Wikisource has original text related to this article:
  • W. Wilford A walk-around guide to the Parish Church of St Peter, South Weald 1985, revised 1992 and 2002
  • Douglas Scott Hewett The Church of St Peter, South Weald 1950
  • Gladys A. Ward A History of South Weald and Brentwood 1961

References

  1. ISBN 978-0197227213
    . Retrieved 3 January 2015.
  2. ^ "Population Statistics South Weald CP/AP through time". Vision of Britain. Retrieved 11 February 2018.
  3. ^ "South Weald Cricket Club - About us". www.southwealdcricketclub.co.uk. Retrieved 2021-01-27.
  4. ISBN 9780860253037
    .
  5. ^ "Relationships and changes South Weald CP/AP through time". A Vision of Britain through Time. Retrieved 30 June 2023.
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