Helions Bumpstead
Encyclopedia
Helions Bumpstead is a small village in Essex
located near Haverhill
and the Essex
/Suffolk
/Cambridgeshire
borders. It is 2 miles from Steeple Bumpstead
. Helions Bumpstead has "the greens"; Pale Green , Wiggens Green , and Drapers Green . There are four roads into and out of the village they are; Mill Road, Water Lane, Sages End Road and Camps Road. The centre of the village is marked by the crossroads and village green. There is also a meadow with a pond in the centre of the village.
The main defining features of the village are the Three Horseshoes public house, the village post office, the village hall, and St Andrew's Church; the village is in the Diocese of Chelmsford
and shares its priest with St Mary's, Steeple Bumpstead. There is also a Gospel Hall in the village. The village hall has recently been undergoing refurbishment with money raised over the years from events and grants given to the village. The hall has had the interior stage removed to increase the space for functions; been given a knew slate tile pitched roof; been repainted; and, more recently, had an extension to the storage area.
Every year Helions Bumpstead has its own Summer Fête including a Dog Show and evening party, and Christmas Bazaar. A harvest supper is organised every year to raise funds for the up-keep of St. Andrew's church. A Farmer's Market is held every 3rd Saturday of the month in the village hall which brings in a collection of people from various surrounding towns and villages. A village magazine is printed quarterly, compiled of news articles and pieces of writing by villagers. It is subsidised by the sale of advertising space, which also adds to funds for the village hall.
One of the most famous WW2 planes called the mosquito was tested on the airfield near Castle Camps
. Many of the hangers that the planes were built in can still be found today.
There is a Boxing Day walk every year, people meet at the Three Horseshoes pub and walk different routes each year around the village.
On the year of her majesty Elizabeth II
's Golden Jubilee
, there was a large fair in the honour of her. Pictures of the event were taken and a board was put up inside the hall to commemorate it. These pictures are no longer on display. Also, the Silver Jubilee
was when Helions Bumpstead was presented with its village sign, including the village symbol (a red badge with a white diagonal cross).
There is an Equestrian Centre on Camps Road, on the edge of the village.
Helions Bumpstead was well known to historians in the time of Edward the Confessor
, before the Norman Conquest. Then the whole area of which we know now as Steeple
and Helions Bumpstead, was called collectively Bumsteda, or variations of this earliest way of spelling. As more people drifted into this area, two distinct centres developed, with the Helions part taking on the title of Bumpstead Magna (Great) and the Steeple district Bumpstead Parva (Little).
Bumsteda is not an easy name to sort out. History books tell us it means `a place where flax or hemp grows'. This could well be true, as several osier beds were discovered in parts of the village, such as Bumpstead Hall and Drapers Green. It is in the Sages End area where a spring, called the `Dropping Well', was the source of the best water in the village. It was noted as running at four gallons a minute in a report by Dr. Hubert Airy in 1871 when he visited the village to investigate the poor sanitary state that existed there. Even in the summer months the spring ran nearly two gallons each minute, enticing the inhabitants of Castle Camps
to walk there when really hot weather dried up their watering holes. `Dropping Well' was the source of much of Helions Bumpstead's water, as it made its way down Sages End road to join the main rivulet near the Three Horse Shoes public house, thence to flow eastward into the River Stour
and to the sea at Harwich
.
The village history seems to take off from William the Conqueror and the compiling of the Domesday Book. The new King of England rewarded an officer of his invading army by granting him the Manor of Bumstead. The officer by the name of Tihell, came from a village in France named Hellean
, in the Morhihan district of Brittany. It was here in England that he built a Manor House on a hill facing due east, and then on a small mound not half a mile away, he built his Church. In the seventeenth and eighteenth century the Lords of the Manor were the Reynolds family, which produced several distinguished politicians and judges.
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
located near Haverhill
Haverhill, Suffolk
Haverhill is an industrial market town and civil parish in the county of Suffolk, England, next to the borders of Essex and Cambridgeshire. It lies southeast of Cambridge and north of central London...
and the Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
/Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
/Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire is a county in England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the northeast, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west...
borders. It is 2 miles from Steeple Bumpstead
Steeple Bumpstead
Steeple Bumpstead is a village near Braintree, Essex, England, south of Haverhill.The parish church does not actually have a steeple, however the Congregational Church has a small Victorian one. It is believed that the Steeple referred to was actually located on the A1307 close to what is now the...
. Helions Bumpstead has "the greens"; Pale Green , Wiggens Green , and Drapers Green . There are four roads into and out of the village they are; Mill Road, Water Lane, Sages End Road and Camps Road. The centre of the village is marked by the crossroads and village green. There is also a meadow with a pond in the centre of the village.
The main defining features of the village are the Three Horseshoes public house, the village post office, the village hall, and St Andrew's Church; the village is in the Diocese of Chelmsford
Diocese of Chelmsford
The Diocese of Chelmsford is a Church of England diocese, part of the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers Essex and the five East London boroughs of Barking and Dagenham, Havering, Newham, Redbridge, and Waltham Forest, and is co-terminous with the boundaries of the Catholic Diocese of...
and shares its priest with St Mary's, Steeple Bumpstead. There is also a Gospel Hall in the village. The village hall has recently been undergoing refurbishment with money raised over the years from events and grants given to the village. The hall has had the interior stage removed to increase the space for functions; been given a knew slate tile pitched roof; been repainted; and, more recently, had an extension to the storage area.
Every year Helions Bumpstead has its own Summer Fête including a Dog Show and evening party, and Christmas Bazaar. A harvest supper is organised every year to raise funds for the up-keep of St. Andrew's church. A Farmer's Market is held every 3rd Saturday of the month in the village hall which brings in a collection of people from various surrounding towns and villages. A village magazine is printed quarterly, compiled of news articles and pieces of writing by villagers. It is subsidised by the sale of advertising space, which also adds to funds for the village hall.
One of the most famous WW2 planes called the mosquito was tested on the airfield near Castle Camps
Castle Camps (village)
Castle Camps is a village in Cambridgeshire, England, south-east of Cambridge and near to the borders of Suffolk and Essex and to the town of Haverhill....
. Many of the hangers that the planes were built in can still be found today.
There is a Boxing Day walk every year, people meet at the Three Horseshoes pub and walk different routes each year around the village.
On the year of her majesty Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
's Golden Jubilee
Golden Jubilee
A Golden Jubilee is a celebration held to mark a 50th anniversary.- In Thailand :King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world's longest-reigning monarch, celebrated his Golden Jubilee on 9 June 1996.- In the Commonwealth Realms :...
, there was a large fair in the honour of her. Pictures of the event were taken and a board was put up inside the hall to commemorate it. These pictures are no longer on display. Also, the Silver Jubilee
Silver Jubilee
A Silver Jubilee is a celebration held to mark a 25th anniversary. The anniversary celebrations can be of a wedding anniversary, ruling anniversary or anything that has completed a 25 year mark...
was when Helions Bumpstead was presented with its village sign, including the village symbol (a red badge with a white diagonal cross).
There is an Equestrian Centre on Camps Road, on the edge of the village.
History
From Portrait of Helions Bumpstead by Roy BrazierHelions Bumpstead was well known to historians in the time of Edward the Confessor
Edward the Confessor
Edward the Confessor also known as St. Edward the Confessor , son of Æthelred the Unready and Emma of Normandy, was one of the last Anglo-Saxon kings of England and is usually regarded as the last king of the House of Wessex, ruling from 1042 to 1066....
, before the Norman Conquest. Then the whole area of which we know now as Steeple
Steeple Bumpstead
Steeple Bumpstead is a village near Braintree, Essex, England, south of Haverhill.The parish church does not actually have a steeple, however the Congregational Church has a small Victorian one. It is believed that the Steeple referred to was actually located on the A1307 close to what is now the...
and Helions Bumpstead, was called collectively Bumsteda, or variations of this earliest way of spelling. As more people drifted into this area, two distinct centres developed, with the Helions part taking on the title of Bumpstead Magna (Great) and the Steeple district Bumpstead Parva (Little).
Bumsteda is not an easy name to sort out. History books tell us it means `a place where flax or hemp grows'. This could well be true, as several osier beds were discovered in parts of the village, such as Bumpstead Hall and Drapers Green. It is in the Sages End area where a spring, called the `Dropping Well', was the source of the best water in the village. It was noted as running at four gallons a minute in a report by Dr. Hubert Airy in 1871 when he visited the village to investigate the poor sanitary state that existed there. Even in the summer months the spring ran nearly two gallons each minute, enticing the inhabitants of Castle Camps
Castle Camps
Castle Camps was a Norman Castle located in what is now the civil parish of Castle Camps, Cambridgeshire.-Owners:Castle Camps was originally a Saxon manor, belonging to Wulfwin, a Thane of King Edward the Confessor. After the Norman invasion, William the Conqueror gave the manor to Aubrey de Vere...
to walk there when really hot weather dried up their watering holes. `Dropping Well' was the source of much of Helions Bumpstead's water, as it made its way down Sages End road to join the main rivulet near the Three Horse Shoes public house, thence to flow eastward into the River Stour
River Stour, Suffolk
The River Stour is a river in East Anglia, England. It is 76 km long and forms most of the county boundary between Suffolk to the north, and Essex to the south. It rises in eastern Cambridgeshire, passes to the east of Haverhill, through Cavendish, Sudbury and the Dedham Vale, and joins the...
and to the sea at Harwich
Harwich
Harwich is a town in Essex, England and one of the Haven ports, located on the coast with the North Sea to the east. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the northeast, Ipswich to the northwest, Colchester to the southwest and Clacton-on-Sea to the south...
.
The village history seems to take off from William the Conqueror and the compiling of the Domesday Book. The new King of England rewarded an officer of his invading army by granting him the Manor of Bumstead. The officer by the name of Tihell, came from a village in France named Hellean
Helléan
Helléan is a commune in the Morbihan department of Brittany in north-western France.-External links:* * -References:* *...
, in the Morhihan district of Brittany. It was here in England that he built a Manor House on a hill facing due east, and then on a small mound not half a mile away, he built his Church. In the seventeenth and eighteenth century the Lords of the Manor were the Reynolds family, which produced several distinguished politicians and judges.