North Essex and South Suffolk

Having started pages on Belchamp Walter, mainly to understand the history of the area, I have decided that a fuller guide of the surrounding area would be of interest to those that are visiting.

Some of the motivation for this is that I was disappointed in that there was little information that was available locally and what there was - was specific to a particular enterprise or just general information that you would find on Wikipedia. In addtion, the information found on Social Media, and there is precious little (in my opnion) is too inter-twined with the "bitching" and moaning of local residents.

The Hickford villages - plus a few in Suffolk.....

My Research Method

Initially I started with the information on what I could find that was related to what I observed in the Church of St. Mary. This lead to searches being made and information found from a variety of sources but primarily, from the historical standpoint, the History and Topology of the County of Essex, by Thomas Wright, 1831/36.

Additional information was gathered from local residents and local Historical societies, but, much of this related to recent history and did not take the "bigger picture" into account. While the history of local residents, current and lately departed, is of general interest (hence the popularity of geneological websites such as Ancestry.com and Wikitree), this information is often limited in its scope.

The Villages:

As I currently live in the area it is quite easy for me to have interest in what I see. This is a beautiful part of the UK and I have no problem in promoting it.

The Hinkford Hundred

The list below is taken from Thomas Wright's History and Topography of Essex (1831/36):

Other villages not in the Hundred and close to Belchamp Walter but are in Suffolk. These include Baythorn End (Baythorne Hall), Wixoe, Stoke by Clare, and Boynton End.

In my attempt to make my pages more "mobile friendly" I am in the process of creating an alfa list that can easily be navigated on phone screen.

Having started my investigations into the history of the local area with Belchamp Walter, I am adding pages for many of the villages and towns above. Thomas Wright focuses on Essex but also references other areas close-by. Suffolk and Norfolk are mentioned frequently. In this guide villages in Suffolk are those often filming locations for the Lovejoy TV series.

The task of transcribing all of Thoams Wright's book for all the villages above is a monumental task. See my page on adjacent villages for the ones I have attempted.