Great Baddow is an urban 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 the Chelmsford borough 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 is close to the city of

Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Southend-on-Sea and Colchester. It is located north-east of London a ...

, and, with a population of over 13,000,Great Baddow Parish Council
published 2005, accessed 2011-10-13 is one of the largest villages in the country.

History

Great Baddow's name is believed to have been derived from the River Beadwan, now known as the

River Chelmer The River Chelmer is a river that flows entirely through the county of Essex, England, running from the northwest of the county through Chelmsford to the River Blackwater near Maldon. Course The source of the river is in the parish of Debden i ...

, which marks the northern boundary of the village. ''Beadwan'' is thought to be a Celtic word of uncertain meaning, possibly "birch stream" or a reference to the goddess

Badbh In Irish mythology, the Badb (Old Irish, ), or in Modern Irish Badhbh (, )—also meaning "crow"—is a war goddess who takes the form of a crow, and is thus sometimes known as Badb Catha ("battle crow").http://www.dil.ie/5114 ''badb'', Author: ...

. In

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 ...

period the manor of Great Baddow was held by the

Earls of Mercia Earl of Mercia was a title in the late Anglo-Saxon, Anglo-Danish, and early Anglo-Norman period in England. During this period the earldom covered the lands of the old Kingdom of Mercia in the English Midlands. First governed by ealdormen under th ...

, and in the 13th century by

Robert de Brus, 5th Lord of Annandale Robert V de Brus (Robert de Brus), 5th Lord of Annandale (ca. 1215 – 31 March or 3 May 1295), was a feudal lord, justice and constable of Scotland and England, a regent of Scotland, and a competitor for the Scottish throne in 1290/92 in the ...

whose widow launched a legal challenge over its ownership on his death in March 1295. After passing to the Crown,

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...

later granted it to

Catherine of Aragon Catherine of Aragon (also spelt as Katherine, ; 16 December 1485 – 7 January 1536) was Queen of England as the first wife of King Henry VIII from their marriage on 11 June 1509 until their annulment on 23 May 1533. She was previously ...

. During the reign of

Edward VI Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) was King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death in 1553. He was crowned on 20 February 1547 at the age of nine. Edward was the son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour and the first E ...

it was held by the Paschals, before being sold to J.A. Houblon in 1736. According to information in the local church of St Mary, the rebel leader

Jack Straw John Whitaker Straw (born 3 August 1946) is a British politician who served in the Cabinet from 1997 to 2010 under the Labour governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. He held two of the traditional Great Offices of State, as Home Secretary ...

led an ill-fated crowd (the "men of Essex") from the churchyard to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, in one of the risings in the 1381

Peasants' Revolt The Peasants' Revolt, also named Wat Tyler's Rebellion or the Great Rising, was a major uprising across large parts of England in 1381. The revolt had various causes, including the socio-economic and political tensions generated by the Black ...

. In 1731, Jasper Jeffrey founded Great Baddow Free School, and in 1830 two National Schools were built. By 1933, there were 7 daily schools, 2 daily and Sunday schools, and a further 2 boarding schools. Great Baddow is recorded as having had a population of 1,445 in 1801, a figure that had risen to 2,022 in 1841. White's Directory of Essex 1848 reports Great Baddow as being 'one of the handsomest villages in Essex' having 'many scattered farms and neat houses', also noting that it had an annual pleasure fair on 14 May.

William Calcraft William Calcraft (11 October 1800 – 13 December 1879) was a 19th-century English hangman, one of the most prolific of British executioners. It is estimated in his 45-year career he carried out 450 executions. A cobbler by trade, Ca ...

, the hangman and a

cobbler Cobbler(s) may refer to: *A person who Shoemaking, repairs, and sometimes makes, shoes Places * The Cobbler, a mountain located near the head of Loch Long in Scotland * Mount Cobbler, Australia Art, entertainment and media * The Cobbler (1923 ...

by trade, was born at Baddow in 1800. Following the

Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 The ''Poor Law Amendment Act 1834'' (PLAA) known widely as the New Poor Law, was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed by the Whig government of Earl Grey. It completely replaced earlier legislation based on the ''Poor Relief ...

, responsibility for the poor of Great Baddow was removed from the parish and transferred to the

Chelmsford Union Chelmsford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Southend-on-Sea and Colchester. It ...

on 10 August 1835. The Post Office Directory of Essex 1851, which lists the principal residents and trade persons of the parish of Great Baddow, includes 24

farmer A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer mig ...

s, 8 beer retailers, 4 shoemakers, 3

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...

, 2

dressmaker A dressmaker, also known as a seamstress, is a person who makes custom clothing for women, such as dresses, blouses, and gown, evening gowns. Dressmakers were historically known as mantua (clothing), mantua-makers, and are also known as a mod ...

s, and notes that the

vicar A vicar (; Latin: ''vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pref ...

is residing in the Vineyards.

The Great Baddow Mast – a former

Chain Home Chain Home, or CH for short, was the codename for the ring of coastal Early Warning radar stations built by the Royal Air Force (RAF) before and during the Second World War to detect and track aircraft. Initially known as RDF, and given the off ...

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...

transmitter tower, originally sited at RAF

Canewdon Canewdon is a village and civil parish in the Rochford district of Essex, England. The village is located approximately northeast of the town of Rochford, while the parish extends for several miles on the southern side of the River Crouch. C ...

– was moved to the outskirts of Great Baddow around 1954 and is used by

BAE Systems BAE Systems plc (BAE) is a British multinational arms, security, and aerospace company based in London, England. It is the largest defence contractor in Europe, and ranked the seventh-largest in the world based on applicable 2021 revenues. ...

for equipment testing. The last remaining example of a Chain Home tower maintaining its platforms, it was made a listed building by

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked wit ...

in October 2019 and given a Grade II status.

Development

During the early part of the 20th century, Great Baddow grew through

ribbon development Ribbon development refers to the building of houses along the routes of communications radiating from a human settlement. The resulting linear settlements are clearly visible on land use maps and aerial photographs, giving cities and the countrysid ...

towards

and

Galleywood Galleywood is a village surrounded by countryside in Essex; it is situated on the outskirts of the city of Chelmsford, about 30 miles from London. The A12 trunk road passes nearby, which connects to the M25 in London. Galleywood sits astride a ...

. In 1936,

Marconi's Wireless Telegraph Company The Marconi Company was a British telecommunications and engineering company that did business under that name from 1963 to 1987. Its roots were in the Wireless Telegraph & Signal Company founded by Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi in 1897 ...

opened the Marconi Research Laboratory in Great Baddow (now BAE Systems Applied Intelligence Laboratories), bringing together their various radio, television and telephony research teams in a single location.Birthplace of Radio
, Invest Essex, accessed 2011-10-13 As the electronics industry developed, the campus expanded during the 1940s and 1950s to include research into radar, general physics, high voltage, vacuum physics and semiconductors. Great Baddow expanded considerably in the 1950s with the construction of Rothmans Estate, which provided housing for workers at Marconi's and

English Electric Valve Company English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national i ...

in Chelmsford. The village has continued to expand over subsequent years. The Vineyards, in the centre of the old village, was once a Georgian house set in wooded groundsPlanning Brief, The Vineyards
Chelmsford Borough Council Town Planning Services, June 2004, accessed 2011-10-13 which later became a hotel. It was demolished in the mid-1960sTHE issue on everyone's lips at the moment in Great Baddow – the demolition of Marrable House – was exactly the same this time 50 years ago.
This is Essex, published 2011-02-17, accessed 2011-10-13 before the advent of conservation legislation, to make way for the construction of the Vineyards shopping centre and later the Marrable House office block, both constructed with a 'scale, form, layout and architecture' that Chelmsford Council now considers to 'jar with its historic surroundings'. Despite this, the shopping centre continues to thrive and, since refurbishment in the 2000s, the flats above are highly regarded and sought-after properties. Marrable House, a six-storey office block was described at the time of its construction in 1968 as 'one of the worst examples of town and country planning in the country' and subsequently once voted as one of England's ugliest buildings, was demolished in the Spring of 2016, and was replaced with a 53-flat development made up of one to two bedrooms in two buildings named Heron Gate. The development was completed in spring 2018. A corner of the grounds of the former Vineyards mansion were retained and form a green area to the west of the Vineyards development. A library was also opened on the western edge of the development in September 1981, replacing the former building in Bell Street. In 1967, a

fire station __NOTOC__ A fire station (also called a fire house, fire hall, firemen's hall, or engine house) is a structure or other area for storing firefighting apparatuses such as fire engines and related vehicles, personal protective equipment, fire h ...

was opened in Great Baddow to replace the former station which occupied a converted hut in Brewery Fields,

, once part of the Galleywood race course complex. Great Baddow has three pubs – The White Horse, The Blue Lion and The Star as well as a family-run brewery, Chelsmford Brewing Company. Recently closed was The Beehive Pub and The King's Head. The former Baddow Brewery, previously owned by the Baddow Brewery Co Ltd, built in 1868 and extended in 1878 by George Scamell, is now a Grade II building and houses local businesses.Great Baddow Village Website
/ref> Great Baddow is also home to the Pontlands Park Country Hotel and the Baddow Antique Centre. The centre of Great Baddow is now a

Conservation Area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...

and contains over 30

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

Geology

Great Baddow lies to the south east to central Chelmsford, on higher ground that is thought to mark the edge of the main ice mass during the

Anglian glaciation The Anglian Stage is the name used in the British Isles for a middle Pleistocene glaciation. It precedes the Hoxnian Stage and follows the Cromerian Stage in the British Isles. The Anglian Stage is correlated to Marine Isotope Stage 12 (MIS 12), ...

.Geology of the county around Chelmsford,

British Geological Survey The British Geological Survey (BGS) is a partly publicly funded body which aims to advance geoscientific knowledge of the United Kingdom landmass and its continental shelf by means of systematic surveying, monitoring and research. The BGS h ...

, CR Bristow, published HMSO 1985, An outcrop of glacial sand and gravel 3 km long and 0.8 km wide is beneath the village, which used to be extracted from several pits in the area, including Beehive Pit (now beneath Harbeard Tye), Baddow Hall Pit (now beneath Baden-Powell Close), to the south of the A1114 Princes Road (now in the grounds of Moulsham High School) and on what is now an area of open land off Waterson Vale. Smaller pits were also located off the Galleywood Road (near what is now Hollywood Close) and off Pitt Chase. The area is overlain with

head A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple animals may ...

, while the lower levels of the sand and gravel are mixed with

London Clay The London Clay Formation is a marine geological formation of Ypresian (early Eocene Epoch, c. 56–49 million years ago) age which crops out in the southeast of England. The London Clay is well known for its fossil content. The fossils from t ...

. A

Sarsen stone Sarsen stones are silicified sandstone blocks found in quantity in Southern England on Salisbury Plain and the Marlborough Downs in Wiltshire; in Kent; and in smaller quantities in Berkshire, Essex, Oxfordshire, Dorset, and Hampshire. Geology ...

from the Beehive Pit used to stand outside The Beehive pub.

Education

The village secondary school is

Great Baddow High School Great Baddow High School is a comprehensive secondary school in Chelmsford, Essex, England. It is a sports college with academy status and with science as a second specialism. It draws its students from primary schools in the Chelmsford area. ...

, a sports and science college on Duffield Road. Primary schools include Baddow Hall Infant and Junior Schools at the border of Great Baddow, Beehive Lane County Primary School, Larkrise Primary School, (formerly Rothmans Primary School), and Meadgate County Primary Schools.

Nearby villages include

* Sandon *

Danbury Danbury is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, located approximately northeast of New York City. Danbury's population as of 2022 was 87,642. It is the seventh largest city in Connecticut. Danbury is nicknamed the "Hat City ...

Little Baddow Little Baddow is a village to the east of Chelmsford, Essex. The name ''Baddow'' comes from an Old English word meaning 'bad water', and which was the original name of the River Chelmer. The village is positioned on one of the many elevated hills ...

Rettendon Rettendon is a small village and civil parish in the Borough of Chelmsford in Essex, England, about south east of the city of Chelmsford. Situated near the River Crouch, the village was once owned by the Bishop of Ely. The A130 formerly passe ...

* Moulsham *

Chelmer Village Chelmer Village is a housing, retail and industrial development in the east of Chelmsford, Essex. The development was started by Countryside Residential PLC in 1978, using a holistic approach to create a self-contained community on previously gr ...

References

External links

* http://www.ingreatbaddow.co.uk/ Business and Community Life in Great Baddow. Replacing Great Baddow On-line, which goes offline on 30 January 2011.
The Great Baddow Blog – News From Around Great Baddow

Great Baddow Parish Council

Website for the Great Baddow Team Ministry
– includes

of the village
Great Baddow Online – Website for the village communityPictures of Great Baddow Pubs in the 1970sThe Beehive Public HouseBaddow Life – The Life of Great Baddow
{{authority control Villages in Essex Civil parishes in Essex Chelmsford