Village of Belchamp Walter

The Village of Belchamp Walter

Walter St Paul Otten History Kelly's Review

The Un-Official Belchamp Walter website

Belchamp St. Paul - The Belchamps - Belchamp Walter - Belchamp Otten

21 July 2026 - Some actual identifiable interest from the village - Hall Road

Belchamp Walter Village Hall

Belchamp Walter Parish Council

Parish.uk

There seems to be interest in how much property is worth (what they sold for).

Waverley House, Gestingthorpe Road - June 2025 - £640,000
3 South Waver Cottage - around the same time as Waverly - around £400,000
Ashcroft - 20 May 2021 - £475,000
Fern Lodge, North Road - 01 Apr 2022 - £230,000 (now let [rented out] and houser estimate value as 399,398)

Rightmove seem to have become a little coy with regards to selling prices and want you to register with them if you want to know the current or last selling price for a property. 3 South Waver is an example. I have this as 40,000 which could be a little high as it is only a 3 bed end-terrace. Waverley on the other hand is a detached property and the new owners, Fall 2025, must have put at lest 100,000 in renovations (judging by the construction workers and the cars in the driveway) Waverley is probably now around the 800,000 (it sold in June 2025 for 640,000

There are a number of other properties that have recently sold on Gestingthorpe Road but I am not really interested in them. They are former council developments and mainly semi-detatched or bungalows in the 300,000 price range.

Other properties

1, Croft Cottages, Hall Road - 09 Feb 2023 - £425,000
Field House, Bells Road

These notes are primarily for my own use, however I get the feeling that they are also seem by search engine robots and those making searhes to determine how much a house is worth (current value) that they will find my pages. Also, with the increased use of AI this text may be included in results of searches even though I have designed my pages such that you do nit see the notes unless you know the hot-key. In as far as obfuscation and trying to outwit the search engine algorithms and trying to boost your SEO rankings - I think that this is all changed now in the days of AI.

Mission Hut

https://postcodefinder.net/

An interesting article from the Halstead Advisor, 1973 describes the village as it was neary 50 years ago. Names of residents of the time are there.

Belchamp Walter

Belchamp Walter is a village on the Essex Suffolk border.

History Church Roads Maps Mill Long Pond

Top

The Crossroads and pond

Belchamp Walter, the village pond

The Crossroads and Duck Pond - circa 1950

Belchamp Walter, The Crossroads and Pond around 1950

The photograph of the crossoads shows a view taken from the "Old Bake House" looking West towards the pond. The "Smithy" is on the left and the houses on the other side of the pond are no longer there and were possibly a work-house.

The Forge buiilding has been redeveloped and formerly had a workshop (seen in the photograph) and a circular structure, possibly the the remains of the forge fire pit/cooling pond, beside it.

As recently as 2015 you could see this structure which looked like a fish pond.

The current village at the cross-roads and duck pond, are relatively modern. I believe that the original village centred around the church and Belchamp Brook, South of what is now Belchamp Hall. The brook and the flood plain between Belchamp Walter and Bulmer/Gestingthorpe were probably used for farming and possibly the location of the vineyard. The brook had been diverted at one point to serve as a mill race for the water mill that is now The Old Mill.

The water mill was not listed and was converted to a holiday rental

The Village Sign

The village sign that is to be seen at the pond at the crossroads and designed by villager Nigel for the Millenium celebrations 2001.

The Millenium Sign

Belchamp Walter, Millenium Sign

The date of 904AD, and its relevance, is yet to be established.

There is a date of 940AD, taken from Birch’s Cartularium Saxonicum, (1885-1893)

School House

The New School House was built in 1871.

The New School House

Belchamp Walter, Village Hall

The full history of the New School House and why it was built and who financed it are detailed on my page on the School. The village in the mid to late 19th century saw many changes in the village.

8 Bells Pub

Now a private house. It is now called Bell House and is located on Bells Road, Belchamp Walter.

The former 8 Bells Pub

Belchamp Walter, 8 Bells

The pub was named after the 8 Bells in St. Mary's Church.

1923 Map

A map of the village from around 1923

map_1923

The maps show the 4 major roads of the Village. Of note here is location of Cottage Row on what is now Bells/Soft Road.

P. H. Reaney says about Belchamp Walter and its inhabitants/Major dwellings:

EYSTON HALL is Eston 1199 FF, Eston Belcham 1231 ib., Eston(e)halle 1321, 1345 FF, 1463 Pat, Easton-hall 1768 M. 'East farm.' v. tun.

NORTHEY'S FM (6") is Northey(e) 1254, 1255 Ass (p), (wood) 1277 Ipm, 1777 C. 'North woodland enclosure.' v. (ge)hæg.

ST MARY HALL is La Marie Halle 13th AD. The church is dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Sometimes called Merry Hall (M ii, 329).

SEVEN FARMS (local) is Seven Formes 1777 C. This is where the brook crosses the road from Belchamp Walter to Borley through a brick culvert. Formerly there was a washway which in flood-time had to be crossed by pedestrians over seven plank stools or forms (ER x, 60-1). Cf. Four Fourmes Pasture and Lower Fourmes infra 629.

CLARK'S FM, LARGESS FM, LARRETT'S FM (6") and PUTTOCK END are probably to be associated with the families of Richard le Clerk (1265 FF), Andrew Large (1319 SR), Richard Lariot (1503 Deed) and Peter Puttok (1255 Ass).

CROW'S FM and FISHER'S FM (6") are Crows and Fishers 1777 C. HOPKIN'S FM is Hopkins 1768 M. WAIT'S FM is Wights t. Jas I ChancP.

Seven Farms

The Seven Farms mentioned by Reaney (Seven Formes) still floods, but not so much at the location that he describes. The road to Foxearth, Temple End, still floods as does Otten Road South of Eyston Hall.

The 1777 Chapman and Andre map shows Goldington, Smeeton and Kitchins. (Kitchen Hill)

Copyright and License

I have reproduced postcards and maps on this on other pages on this website. I have tried to adhere to both copyright and licensing issues. Please let me know if I am in violation and I will remove these images.

This website is totally non-commercial and the Creative Commons SA (CC-by-SA) licence often is valid but in some cases assumed.

March/April 2023 - This page is being updated.

It should be the "entry point" for anyone who is actually interested ib Belchamp Walter, I admit that I have been spending most of my time updating the ancient history of the village and the Wall Paintings in the Church in particular.

The roads in Belchamp Walter - the houses and where families lived.

Hall Road - the crossroads towards the church and hall
Gestingthorpe Road - From the Crossroads/Duck Pond towards the treatment plant - may have been Poplar Road in the 19th Century
Bells Road - Soft Road
North Road - the location of the Village Hall/New School House
Green Common
Chapel Hill
Yeldham Road, Otten Road, Puttock End - Northwood (North End - now Little Yeldham)

Temple End

Temple End is a road and location that falls within the boundaries of the parish of Belchamp Walter. The road

The road Temple End starts at Otten Road (the road to Sudbury, Borley, Rodbridge and Ballingdon) and runs North towards Foxearth.

Belchamp Walter

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