Bures Hamlet
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- Bures Hamlet
| Bures Hamlet | |
|---|---|
 | |
  Bures Hamlet Location within Essex | |
| Population | 792 (Parish, 2021)[1] |
| Civil parish |
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| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Police | Essex |
| Fire | Essex |
| Ambulance | East of England |
Bures Hamlet is a civil parish in the Braintree district of Essex, England.[2] The civil parish corresponds to the part of the ancient parish of Bures St Mary which lay in Essex; the rest of the parish, including its parish church, was in Suffolk. Since 1866 the old parish has been split into two civil parishes: Bures Hamlet in Essex and Bures St Mary in Suffolk. The village of Bures straddles the two parishes. Bures railway station is in the part of the village in the parish of Bures Hamlet. The parish of Bures Hamlet also includes rural areas, particularly to the west of Bures, including the small hamlet of Daws Cross. At the 2021 census the parish of Bures Hamlet had a population of 792.
The Bures Hamlet area historically formed part of the ancient parish of Bures St Mary, also known as Bures. The parish straddled the boundary between Essex and Suffolk. The parish church and the historic core of the village were in the Suffolk part of the parish. From the 17th century onwards, parishes were gradually given various civil functions under the poor laws, in addition to their original ecclesiastical functions. In some cases, the civil functions were exercised by subdivisions of the parish rather than the parish as a whole. In the case of Bures, the parish was split into two parts for administering the poor laws: the part in Suffolk and the part in Essex. In 1866, the legal definition of 'parish' was changed to be the areas used for administering the poor laws, and so the parts in each county became separate civil parishes.[3] The Essex parish was just called "Bures" until 1974, when its name was changed to "Bures Hamlet".[4]
Although classed as a separate civil parish since 1866, Bures Hamlet remains part of the ecclesiastical parish of Bures St Mary. It therefore forms part of the Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich, unlike the rest of Essex which is in the Diocese of Chelmsford.[5]
