__NOTOC__ Toppesfield 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 the Braintree 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. The village is approximately north from the

county town In the United Kingdom and Ireland, a county town is the most important town or city in a county. It is usually the location of administrative or judicial functions within a county and the place where the county's members of Parliament are elect ...

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 west from the village of

Great Yeldham Great Yeldham is a village in north Essex, England, about from the Suffolk border. Great Yeldham is situated along the busy main A1017 road (formerly A604) between Braintree, Essex, Braintree and Haverhill, Suffolk, Haverhill. The village is w ...

. The parish contains the hamlets of Gainsford End and Grass Green.

History

The derivation of the name 'Toppesfield' is 'open land on the hill top', a possible agglomeration of the phrase 'Top of the Field'.

Geography

Toppesfield, from the

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

border, is part of North Essex which has higher terrain than most of Essex. The village sits on a small and shallow hill, about 75 metres above sea level.

Community

Toppesfield is a rural community historically associated with

arable farming Arable land (from the la, wikt:arabilis#Latin, arabilis, "able to be ploughed") is any land capable of being ploughed and used to grow crops.''Oxford English Dictionary'', "arable, ''adj''. and ''n.''" Oxford University Press (Oxford), 2013. Al ...

. The village has approximately 300 inhabitants. The hamlet of Gainsford End, of approximately fifty inhabitants, is about southwest from the village, and contains the listed Gainsford End Mill. Toppesfield's only

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

is the Green Man. The pub is owned by Toppesfield Community Pub Limited (TCP), an Industrial & Provident Society which was established in 2012. TCP gained control of the Green Man in December 2012 from Admiral Taverns, a national pub chain which had financial problems. TCP is owned by more than 150 shareholders who raised share capital exceeding £150,000 to help finance the purchase. St Margaret’s Church, Topplesfield, a

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 part of the Upper Colne Valley Parishes joint benefice. Affiliated to the church is St Margaret's Church of England primary school. The church has a ring of 8 bells. https://dove.cccbr.org.uk/detail.php?tower=10568 During the 1980's, several championship games of "Shed and Gate" were played at St Margaret's school.

References

External links

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St Margaret's C of E Primary School
{{authority control Villages in Essex Braintree District