Elmstead Market is a village in the civil parish of Elmstead, in the

Tendring Tendring is a village and civil parish in Essex. It gives its name to the Tendring District and before that the Tendring Hundred. Its name was given to the larger groupings because it was at the centre, not because it was larger than the other ...

district of

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

, England. It lies 3 km north-east of

Wivenhoe Wivenhoe ( ) is a town and civil parish in north-eastern Essex, England, approximately south-east of Colchester. Historically Wivenhoe village, on the banks of the River Colne, and Wivenhoe Cross, on the higher ground to the north, were two ...

and 6 km east of

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian. Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colches ...

. It is on the

A133 road The A133 road runs between Colchester and Clacton-on-Sea. One end is at Cymbeline Way in Lexden, from where the road runs through the Avenue of Remembrance, bypassing Colchester town centre. It also runs past Wivenhoe Park, through Elmstead M ...

which runs to

Clacton-on-Sea Clacton-on-Sea is a seaside town in the Tendring District in the county of Essex, England. It is located on the Tendring Peninsula and is the largest settlement in the Tendring District with a population of 56,874 (2016). The town is situated a ...

to the south-east and

to the west. In 2018 it had an estimated population of 1,684.

Churches

The

Church of England parish church A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ca ...

is dedicated to

Saint Anne According to Christian apocryphal and Islamic tradition, Saint Anne was the mother of Mary and the maternal grandmother of Jesus. Mary's mother is not named in the canonical gospels. In writing, Anne's name and that of her husband Joachim come o ...

, the mother of the

Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother o ...

and

Saint Lawrence Saint Lawrence or Laurence ( la, Laurentius, lit. "Laurel wreath, laurelled"; 31 December AD 225 – 10 August 258) was one of the seven deacons of the city of Rome under Pope Sixtus II who were martyred in the Persecution of Christians, perse ...

of Rome, a leader of the

Early Church Early Christianity (up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325) spread from the Levant, across the Roman Empire, and beyond. Originally, this progression was closely connected to already established Jewish centers in the Holy Land and the Jewish ...

and a

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

. The main parts of the church have been dated to around 1310; a south chapel was added about 20 years later. The early 14th-century tower only rises one and a half storeys and was never completed. The village used to have a Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, built in 1817. It was demolished in 1999 for a newer chapel to be built in its place. This is now Trinity Methodist Church and is situated on Bromley Road, completed in 2000. In July 2020 it was announced the Methodist church would close. At time of writing, any future use of building yet to be decided.

Transport

There are regular buses operating between Colchester and Clacton, including the X76 Monday to Saturday, operated by

Hedingham & Chambers Hedingham & Chambers is a bus operator, part of the larger Go East Anglia unit within Go-Ahead, consisting of the Hedingham and Chambers brands. The group was formed when Go-Ahead purchased the two firms in June 2012. Since the sale, the two ...

, and the 76 on Sundays, operated by

First Essex First Essex is a bus company operating services in the county of Essex. It is a subsidiary of FirstGroup. History First Essex arose from an amalgamation of Eastern National and Thamesway Buses. First Essex was originally part of the Eas ...

. A number of school services also connect the village to the Colne School and Norman Way in Colchester. The nearest train station is Alresford station ( away) with frequent trains to Colchester, Liverpool Street (London), as well as

Frinton-on-Sea Frinton-on-Sea is a seaside town and (as just Frinton) a former civil parish, now in the parish of Frinton and Walton, in the Tendring district of Essex, England. In 2018 it had an estimated population of 4,837. In 1931 the parish had a populati ...

and

Walton-on-the-Naze Walton-on-the-Naze is a seaside town on the North Sea coast and (as Walton le Soken) a former civil parish, now in the parish of Frinton and Walton, in the Tendring district in Essex, England. It is north of Clacton and south of the port of Ha ...

Schools

The village hosts two schools, Elmstead Primary School and Nursery and Market Field School, the latter of which is a school for students who experience moderate learning difficulties. Elmstead Primary School was rated "good" by

Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a Non-ministerial government department, non-ministerial department of Government of the United Kingdom, His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament of the U ...

in 2014 whilst Market Field has been rated Outstanding in 2015. Market Field School underwent a complete rebuild after receiving funding. The new building was officially opened in March 2016 by

Bernard Jenkin Sir Bernard Christison Jenkin (born 9 April 1959) is a British Conservative Party politician serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for Harwich and North Essex since 2010. He also serves as chair of the Liaison Committee. He was first elected to ...

, MP for

Harwich and North Essex Harwich and North Essex is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament by Bernard Jenkin of the Conservative Party since its creation in 2010. History The seat was created for the 2010 general election follow ...

, and Babs Wiggins, a retired teacher, who taught at Market Field School for nearly 40 years.

Woodland Trust Wood

The

Woodland Trust The Woodland Trust is the largest woodland conservation charity in the United Kingdom and is concerned with the creation, protection, and restoration of native woodland Natural heritage, heritage. It has planted over 50 million trees since 1972 ...

acquired worth of land west of the village. The new woodland creation project has already seen thousands of trees planted and plans to provide a valuable resource for local people and its wildlife. The new woodlands will be a breeding ground for barn owls and buzzards with the opportunity of more wildlife entering the area. With the dramatic fall in water vole numbers in the local area, the Essex Environmental Trust granted the wood an extra £8,000 to maintain and renew its habitat in order to increase numbers.

Notable residents

Beth Chatto Beth Chatto (27 June 1923 – 13 May 2018) was an English plantswoman, garden designer and author known for creating and describing the Beth Chatto Gardens near Elmstead Market in the English county of Essex. She wrote several books about gard ...

(1923–2018), plantswoman, garden designer and author best known for creating the Beth Chatto Gardens near Elmstead Market *James Noah Paxman (1831–1922), founder of the engineering works Davey Paxman & Co of Colchester in 1865, making steam engines, boilers, agricultural machinery and mill gearing. He was born in Elmstead Market where his father, James Paxman, had a forge and engineering works making traction engines. He served as

Mayor of Colchester The Mayor of Colchester sits as non-political chairman of Colchester Borough Council and serves as the civic representative of the borough. The mayoralty is customarily awarded to the most senior councillor of one of the political groups Current ...

in 1887–1888 and 1897–1898. *

Albert Marshall Albert Marshall may refer to: * Albert Marshall (veteran) (1897–2005), British veteran of the First World War and the last surviving British cavalryman to have seen battle on the Western Front * Albert Marshall (American football), American footb ...

(1897–2005), was the last surviving British

cavalryman Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from "cheval" meaning "horse") are soldiers or warriors who fight mounted on horseback. Cavalry were the most mobile of the combat arms, operating as light cavalry in ...

to have seen battle on the Western Front in the

Great War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. *Peter Louis Potter (1925-2019), Lancaster tail gunner in 626 Squadron from

RAF Wickenby Royal Air Force Wickenby or RAF Wickenby was a purpose-built Royal Air Force station constructed late 1942 and early 1943. It lies halfway between Wickenby and Holton cum Beckering, to the south-east of Wickenby close to the B1399 in West Lindse ...

during WW2. Awarded Legion d'honneur in 2017 from France. Served one tour of duty with 31 official operations. Also temporary member of

Auxiliary Units The Auxiliary Units or GHQ Auxiliary Units were specially-trained, highly-secret quasi military units created by the British government during the Second World War with the aim of using irregular warfare in response to a possible invasion of the U ...

Fingringhoe Fingringhoe is a village and civil parish in Essex, England, located five miles south-east of Colchester. The centre of the village is classified as a conservation area, featuring a traditional village pond and red telephone box. The ''Roman Riv ...

Patrol. In October 2022 "Peter Potter Way" was unveiled in the Hunters Chase housing development in Elmstead Market, in memory of Peter.

References

External links

Elmstead Parish Council
{{authority control Villages in Essex Tendring