Bradfield, Essex

There are signs of people living in the parish area since the Neolithic era. A polished Neolithic stone axe head was found on Bradfield Heath in 1955,^[7] while other tools were found by local archaeologist Samuel Hazzledine Warren.^[8] Finds dating from the Bronze Age include a macehead, crop marks and ring ditches that suggest occupation.^[9][10][11] Although no Roman settlement has been found, occupation in the area has been evidenced by a beehive quern-stone, and pieces of Roman brick and tile within the fabric of St. Lawrence's church.^[11][12]

The village is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and was in the ownership of Aluric Camp (alternatively spelt Aelfric Kemp^[13]) at time of the Norman Conquest in 1066.^[3] The village at that time was called Bradefelda, which was Old English for "Broad Stretch of Open Land",^[14] but has alternatively been named Bradefeld, Bradefeld by Manytre, Bradefeud and Bradeford.^[15] There was a further hamlet called Manestuna (later called Maneston which means hamlet^[16][13]), the site of modern-day Jacques Hall, which was held by Alfelmus before the conquest.^[17][18][19] By the time of the Domesday Book of 1086, the village had transferred to two owners, Roger of Raismes and Roger of Poitou, via the manors of Bradfield and Manestuna, and had 22 households, putting it within the largest 40% of settlements recorded.^[20][21] The village may have been closer to the manor at Nether Hall or the church^[13][22] and have been dispersed in nature.^[23]

The oldest building in the village is the tower of St. Lawrence's church: parts of this date from the 12th century. The misalignment of the tower with the nave leads experts to believe the tower was added to an earlier Anglo-Saxon church on the site.^[13][24] In 1312, Bradfield Hall manor passed to William Franke, who in 1320 received a Royal Charter to hold a market in the village,^[13][25] but by 1848 the market was no longer operational.^[26] The hall passed to the Raynsford family by marriage in 1397, and in 1482 Sir John Raynsford was born there.^[27] The Hall was rebuilt by the Raynsfords in 1500 and was visited by Henry VIII in 1548, but by 1568 the Hall had come under the ownership of the Grimston family.^[27][28] Sir Harbottle Grimston, 1st Baronet was born at the Hall in 1569.^[28] Bradfield Heath, to the west of the church, was one of the heathlands that marked the northerly border of the medieval Royal Forest of Essex^[29] and this was still shown on Chapman and André's 1777 Map of Essex as being open land.^[30] During the 19th century, the heath had started to be enclosed, and houses were scattered around the former heathland, marking the start of the creation of the hamlet.^[3][30] However, in the late 18th century during after the declaration of war by Napoleonic France, a military camp was set up on the heath.^[31][32]

Quick facts Mistley, Thorpe and Walton Railway Act 1863, Long title ...

Mistley, Thorpe and Walton Railway Act 1863
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act for making a Railway from the Great Eastern Railway at Mistley to Walton-on-the-Naze in the County of Essex; and for other Purposes.
Citation	26 & 27 Vict. c. clxxviii
Dates
Royal assent	21 July 1863
Text of statute as originally enacted

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In 1854, Bradfield railway station opened on the Mayflower Line, with just two through platforms. It had no sidings for working local goods traffic, which was the normal scenario in rural East Anglia.^[33][34] Ten years later, there was an accident at Bradfield, in which the engine left the track and dragged the carriages down the embankment.^[35] A year earlier, in 1863, local businessman Robert Free of Mistley put forward plans to Parliament to build a new railway, the Mistley, Thorpe and Walton Railway, which would have gone though the parish at Bradfield.^[36] The project was authorised when the Mistley, Thorpe and Walton Railway Act 1863 (26 & 27 Vict. c. clxxviii), but had failed by 1869. The only remaining structure on the planned line is a bridge, on the Mistley/Bradfield parish boundary.^[37] The station itself closed in 1956.^[38]

The parish was part of Tendring Hundred,^[2] and from 1834, part of the Tendring poor law union.^[39] In 1808 it gained a Wesleyan Methodist chapel,^[40] while in 1840 it gained a Primitive Methodist chapel.^[41] By 1901, the village and the heath were connected by new properties built along The Street, and in 1919 Sir Harris Dunning of Jacques Hall had demolished the former Plough Inn pub to build the village's war memorial.^[42] In 1955, the Bradfield Hall built by the Raynsford family was demolished.^[28] Until recently, the parish was served by two pubs; however in January 2025 the Stranglers Home closed,^[43] while in May 2025, the parish's other pub, The Village Maid, was put up for sale.^[44]

The bedrock geology in the area has been mapped by the British Geological Survey (BGS) as clays, silts and sands of the Thames Group, formed in estuarine or marine environments during the Palaeogene period.^[45] The soil is similar to the fine loam of East Norfolk, but is much stiffer and harder to manage.^[46] The soil is acidic, and survival of bone is poor, but other archaeological material has been preserved, such as flint artefacts, ceramics, building materials and metal.^[47]

Bradfield had been primarily an agricultural economy. In the census of 1801, it was shown that of the 582 inhabitants of the parish, 474 of them were involved in agriculture with only 80 people recorded as working in manufacturing or handicraft.^[65] The parish was once home to two windmills,^[66] while there was a steam mill at Bradwell Hall.^[67] Agricultural trade was moved by wharf set up on the River Stour,^[68] while evidence of a decoy at Jacques Hall indicates that there was also wild fowling in the parish.^[69] Since 2006, the parish has been grouped together with Manningtree, Wix and Mistley as part of Tendring District Council's Employment studies. The 2006 study showed that the largest employment sectors within the area were Health & Social Care and Transport and Communications.^[70] The parish is served by a post office which includes a convenience store.

Bradfield parish has seventeen buildings and structures that are listed on the National Heritage List for England.^[79] An area around St. Lawrence church is a local designated conservation area.^[80]

St. Lawrence Church is the oldest building the parish. The building is grade II listed with the earliest parts of the structure dating from the 12th century. Within the building, one of the windows commemorates Edwin Harris Dunning,^[81] the first pilot to land an aircraft on a moving ship, while there is a further memorial within the north transept. His grave lies in the churchyard, next to his parents.^[82] The church also has a monument in the chantry to the Agassiz family,^[3] while there are tablets in memorial to members of both the Grimston and Unfreville families.^[83]

Jacques Hall is a 19th-century house, rebuilt on the site of a previous hall in red brick with Dutch Gables.^[67] The property was converted to a special school in 1988 but closed down in 2011.^[84] In 2014, planning permission was refused to turn Jacques Hall into a house of multiple occupancy by Tendring District Council.^[85]

• Sir John Raynsford (1482 – 1559), politician, MP for Colchester and High Sheriff of Essex and Hertfordshire for 1537–38.^[103]
• Sir Harbottle Grimston, 1st Baronet (c. 1569 – 1648), politician, MP for Harwich, Knight of the shire for Essex and High Sheriff of Essex.^[104]
• Sir Harbottle Grimston, 2nd Baronet (1603–1685), politician, Speaker of the House in 1660.
• Squadron Commander Edwin Harris Dunning (1892–1917), first pilot to land an aircraft on a moving ship. Lived at Jacques Hall prior to joining the navy. Buried at St. Lawrence church with his mother.^[105]