Greensted is a village and former

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 ...

, now in the parish of Ongar,

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, strung out along the Greensted Road approximately one mile to the west of

Chipping Ongar Chipping Ongar () is a market town and former civil parish, now in the parish of Ongar, in the Epping Forest District of the county of Essex, England. It is located east of Epping, southeast of Harlow and northwest of Brentwood. In 2020 th ...

. In 1961 the parish had a population of 711.

Toponymy

Greensted's full name is Greensted-juxta-Ongar (Greensted adjoining Ongar) but this title is considered archaic now, and the settlement is known locally by its primary title. Greensted means green place, ''sted'' being in the Anglo-Saxon language, the old word for place (and is still used in modern English words e.g. 'instead', 'steadfast'). Greensted is also both a current English and, as Grønstad, Danish surname. The area of England where Greensted is located is at the edge of the area once known as the

Danelaw The Danelaw (, also known as the Danelagh; ang, Dena lagu; da, Danelagen) was the part of England in which the laws of the Danes held sway and dominated those of the Anglo-Saxons. The Danelaw contrasts with the West Saxon law and the Mercian ...

. There is also a part of

Vestre Bokn Vestre Bokn is an island in Bokn municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. The island is the main island of the municipality. It lies on the northern side of the Boknafjorden at the southern end of the Karmsundet strait. Vestre Bokn lies betwe ...

Rogaland Rogaland () is a Counties of Norway, county in Western Norway, bordering the North Sea to the west and the counties of Vestland to the north, Vestfold og Telemark to the east and Agder to the east and southeast. In 2020, it had a population of 47 ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

, called Grønnestad. About 200 people in Norway has Grønnestad as a last name, likely derived from the farm in the area. Greensted is situated in a large natural clearing, and would have been a logical place to build a settlement in the dense surrounding

Epping Forest Epping Forest is a area of ancient woodland, and other established habitats, which straddles the border between Greater London and Essex. The main body of the forest stretches from Epping in the north, to Chingford on the edge of the London ...

especially as it was near an existing route, the Ongar road, later part of the

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. ...

pilgrimage mentioned in ''

The Canterbury Tales ''The Canterbury Tales'' ( enm, Tales of Caunterbury) is a collection of twenty-four stories that runs to over 17,000 lines written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer between 1387 and 1400. It is widely regarded as Chaucer's ''Masterpiece, ...

''. Greensted, near Ongar, is sometimes confused with Greenstead, in

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 ...

. Both places are located in the county of Essex, but they are over 30 miles apart. Use, where appropriate, of

postcodes A postal code (also known locally in various English-speaking countries throughout the world as a postcode, post code, PIN or ZIP Code) is a series of letters or digits or both, sometimes including spaces or punctuation, included in a postal ...

can reduce the risk of confusion. Postcodes for addresses in Greensted, near Ongar, commence with the letters ' CM', postcodes for Greenstead, near Colchester, commence with ' CO'.

History

Greensted is important because of its longevity: the parish has existed since

Saxon The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...

times, and little has changed. It is also a place that has strong ties with St Edmund, King of

East Anglia East Anglia is an area in the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, a people whose name originated in Anglia, in ...

. King Edmund's body stayed in the church, following his death in 1013, before being moved onwards to

Bury St Edmunds Bury St Edmunds (), commonly referred to locally as Bury, is a historic market town, market, cathedral town and civil parish in Suffolk, England.OS Explorer map 211: Bury St.Edmunds and Stowmarket Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – ...

. On 1 April 1965 the parish was abolished to form Ongar.

Landmarks

While very small, Greensted does have one particular feature of note, being

St Andrew Andrew the Apostle ( grc-koi, Ἀνδρέᾱς, Andréās ; la, Andrēās ; , syc, ܐܰܢܕ݁ܪܶܐܘܳܣ, ʾAnd’reʾwās), also called Saint Andrew, was an apostle of Jesus according to the New Testament. He is the brother of Simon Pete ...

's Church, commonly known as

Greensted Church Greensted Church, in the small village of Greensted, near Chipping Ongar in Essex, England, has been claimed to be the oldest wooden church in the world, and probably the oldest wooden building in Europe still standing, albeit only in part, since ...

, the oldest wooden church in the world. It was featured on a British postage stamp issued in April 1972.''Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogue'' (1982), Part 1: British Commonwealth. London: Stanley Gibbons Publications Ltd., p GB 24. The east end, of brick construction, dates from the sixteenth century, while the brick footings, visible below the timber walls, are a feature of extensive restoration undertaken in the nineteenth century

References

External links

*
Greensted Network
{{Authority control Villages in Essex Former civil parishes in Essex Epping Forest District

Toponymy

History

Landmarks

See also

References

External links