Roydon is a village located in the Epping Forest district of the county 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 located 1.5 miles (2.4 km) west of Harlow, 3.5 miles (5.7 km) east of Hoddesdon and 4.6 miles (7.4 km) northwest of Epping, forming part of the border with Hertfordshire. The village lies on the Stort Navigation and River Stort. Roydon 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 ''Ruindune'', and appears later as ''Reidona'' in ''c.'' 1130, as ''Reindon'' in 1204, and as ''Roindon'' in 1208. The village has a village shop, sub post office,

pharmacy Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medication, medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it ...

and church. The church, St Peter's, dates from the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

and was given Grade I listed status on 20 February 1967.

Briggens House Briggens House is a Grade II listed 18th-century house and parklands near the village of Roydon, Essex, England. It has a number of features from the garden designer Charles Bridgeman from 1720. There are also some remains of the pleasure garden ...

dating back to the 18th century was used as a forgery centre for the WW2

SOE SOE may refer to: Organizations * State-owned enterprise * Special Operations Executive, a British World War II clandestine sabotage and resistance organisation ** Special Operations Executive in the Netherlands, or Englandspiel * Society of Opera ...

Transport

Train

The village is served by

Roydon railway station Roydon railway station is on the West Anglia Main Line serving the village of Roydon in Essex, England. It is down the line from London Liverpool Street and is situated between and stations. Its three-letter station code is RYN. The stat ...

on the West Anglia Main Line, with trains operated by

Greater Anglia Greater Anglia (legal name Transport UK East Anglia Limited) is a British train operating company owned as a joint venture by Transport UK Group and Mitsui & Co. It operates the East Anglia franchise, providing the commuter and inter-city ser ...

linking the village to London Liverpool Street and

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge beca ...

Bus

Education

The village has its own

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ed ...

, Roydon Primary School. The original school building was built in 1876.

Poplars

Roydon is known for its black poplar trees, particularly the World's End Poplar. The Roydon Countrycare Section of the Roydon Society received £3,467 from the

Heritage Lottery Fund The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom. History The fund's predecessor bodies were ...

for the Black Poplar Project.

Recreation

The village is the home of the Roydon Marina Village. The holiday complex comprises a 315 berth marina, camp site, holiday lodges, residential homes, hotel and restaurant called ''Pizza and Steak''. The area encompasses Roydon Mill, a three-storey, brick-built

mill Mill may refer to: Science and technology * * Mill (grinding) * Milling (machining) * Millwork * Textile manufacturing, Textile mill * Steel mill, a factory for the manufacture of steel * List of types of mill * Mill, the arithmetic unit of the A ...

, built in 1906.

Angling Angling is a fishing technique that uses a fish hook or "angle" (from Old English ''angol'') attached to a fishing line to tether individual fish in the mouth. The fishing line is usually manipulated via a fishing rod, although rodless techni ...

is available in the park includes a section of the River Stort, the

weir A weir or low head dam is a barrier across the width of a river that alters the flow characteristics of water and usually results in a change in the height of the river level. Weirs are also used to control the flow of water for outlets of l ...

pool and a mature gravel pit. Further to the west is the Glen Faba lake which is part of the Lee Valley Park. The name Glen Faba comes from a chalet park that was compulsorily purchased by Epping Forest District Council in the early 1970s. Roydon has one dedicated restaurant, Franco's, and three pubs - ''The New Inn'', ''The Crusader'' and ''The White Hart''. The village hall was built in 1920 and is used by local groups.

Sport

The village's cricket team, Roydon C.C. play at the southern end of Occupation Lane. Football team Roydon F.C. are members of the Essex Olympian Football League Division One and play at Harlow Road. Formed in 1901, the club played in the Hertford & District League from soon after their formation until the 2000-01 season, when they won each of the Hertford & District League Premier Division championship and the Hertford & District League Jubilee Cup for the first time. They joined the Essex Intermediate League Division Three in

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanistan ...

, and were runners-up in their first season, winning promotion to the Essex Intermediate League Division Two. They were runners-up of Division Two in 2004-05, and, because of the renaming of the league at this time, won promotion to the Essex Olympian Football League Division One. Following a successful fundraising campaign, tennis courts were built in the village in 1989.

Notable residents

* TV Entertainer, Michael Barrymore *Musician, David Gilmour * Actor, Ray Winstone * Actress, Jaime Winstone * Physicist, Sir Ralph Howard Fowler * Politician, Lord Rushcliffe * Businessman, Lord Sheppard

References

External links

Epping Forest District CouncilEssex County Council
{{authority control Villages in Essex Civil parishes in Essex Epping Forest District