Elsenham is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

in north-west

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 ...

in eastern England. Its neighbouring settlements include

Bishop's Stortford Bishop's Stortford is a historic market town in Hertfordshire, England, just west of the M11 motorway on the county boundary with Essex, north-east of central London, and by rail from Liverpool Street station. Stortford had an estimated po ...

, Saffron Walden and Stansted Mountfitchet.

History

Elsenham is recorded in the ''

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

'' of 1086 as ''Alsenham'' and ''Elsenham'' in the Hundred of Uttlesford. Part belonged to Robert Gernon and part to John, nephew of Waleran. The village is best known for Elsenham Jam, which was produced on the Elsenham estate of Sir Walter Gilbey, and marketed with the slogan, "the most expensive jam in the world". Elsenham Jam is no longer produced in Elsenham, the company having moved to

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. In April 2008, Elsenham was short-listed by the Government as a potential site for a 5,000 homes ' eco-town' development.

Notable features

Notable features include Elsenham Hall, the home of Sir Walter Gilbey, St Mary's Church, formerly known as the Little Norman Church on the Hill, and The Pump, which stands in the village centre and was built by Sir Walter Gilbey in memory of his wife. A horse, Golden Miller, who won the Cheltenham Gold Cup five times between 1932 and 1936 and the Grand National in 1934 is buried at Elsenham Stud.

Governance

Elsenham is part of the

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected to t ...

called Elsenham and Henham. The population of this ward at the 2011 Census was 3,679.

Society and leisure

A variety of village events are held each year: a village fete; the Flower Show Society's Annual Show; an Arts & Craft Fair and a firework display in the autumn; and Santa and Gift Galore in December. Elsenham also has a number of small clubs as well as tennis courts, a bowling green, a cricket field, a youth football club and 2 pool teams. The village has a number of small businesses, a pub and a primary school.

Transport

The village is served by a

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

(Elsenham) on the line between Cambridge and London Liverpool Street. Trains usually run every half an hour or every hour, served by Greater Anglia. The village is about four miles from junction 8 of the

M11 motorway The M11 is a motorway that runs north from the North Circular Road (A406) in South Woodford to the A14, northwest of Cambridge, England. Originally proposed as a trunk road as early as 1915, various plans were considered throughout the 1960s ...

and also approximately three miles from Stansted Airport. A highly publicised expansion of the airport could include new road and rail links passing within the village boundaries.

References

External links

{{authority control Villages in Essex Civil parishes in Essex Uttlesford Eco-towns