Great Burstead is an urban settlement in

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 Grea ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

- it is contiguous with the town of

Billericay Billericay ( ) is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Basildon, Essex, England. It lies within the London Basin and constitutes a commuter town east of Central London. The town has three secondary schools and a variety of open spaces. It i ...

History

By tradition, the origins of the church, St Mary Magdalene, at Great Burstead are linked to Saint

Cedd Cedd ( la, Cedda, Ceddus; 620 – 26 October 664) was an Anglo-Saxon monk and bishop from the Kingdom of Northumbria. He was an evangelist of the Middle Angles and East Saxons in England and a significant participant in the Synod of Whitby, ...

(d.664). Cedd, a missionary monk and later Bishop of the East Saxons, was trained by the Celtic Saint Aidan at Lindisfarne. Cedd's original chapel at Bradwell-juxta-Mare in Essex can still be visited. It is understood that at first he set up his wayside preaching cross on the present-day church site, and a well which he blessed, then after he converted Ebba, the

Thane Thane (; also known as Thana, the official name until 1996) is a metropolitan city in Maharashtra, India. It is situated in the north-eastern portion of the Salsette Island. Thane city is entirely within Thane taluka, one of the seven taluk ...

of Great Burstead. However, it is also reputed that the East Saxon King Sæberht (d 616) was buried nearby, a convert under the earlier

Christian mission A Christian mission is an organized effort for the propagation of the Christian faith. Missions involve sending individuals and groups across boundaries, most commonly geographical boundaries, to carry on evangelism or other activities, such as ...

Mellitus Saint Mellitus (died 24 April 624) was the first bishop of London in the Saxon period, the third Archbishop of Canterbury, and a member of the Gregorian mission sent to England to convert the Anglo-Saxons from their native paganism to Chris ...

, the first

Bishop of London A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

. The area first having been settled by the East Saxons around 527 AD. Later, around 680 AD, the cross was replaced with a wooden building by the Thane, Edwy, perhaps dedicated by

Theodore of Tarsus Theodore of Tarsus ( gr, Θεόδωρος Ταρσοῦ; 60219 September 690) was Archbishop of Canterbury from 668 to 690. Theodore grew up in Tarsus, but fled to Constantinople after the Persian Empire conquered Tarsus and other cities. Afte ...

, Archbishop of Canterbury. An ancient

English Yew ''Taxus baccata'' is a species of evergreen tree in the family Taxaceae, native to western, central and southern Europe (including Britain and Ireland), northwest Africa, northern Iran, and southwest Asia.Rushforth, K. (1999). ''Trees of Britain ...

, found to the south of the church and over a millennium old, is thought to be one of Essex's oldest trees. In 1086 the Norman

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 manus ...

stated that Great Burstead village contained 150 sheep, two horses, 3 teams of oxen, and 118 householders (villagers), and was owned by Odo of Bayeux, William the Conqueror's half brother. In 1381 the

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 Blac ...

took place, and after the death of

Wat Tyler Wat Tyler (c. 1320/4 January 1341 – 15 June 1381) was a leader of the 1381 Peasants' Revolt in England. He led a group of rebels from Canterbury to London to oppose the institution of a poll tax and to demand economic and social reforms. Wh ...

in London, the Essex men retreated back to Billericay. The

Battle of Billericay The Battle of Billericay took place on 28 June 1381 when the boy King Richard II's soldiers defeated the Essex rebels adjacent to a wood north-east of Billericay, part of the Peasants' Revolt. This is likely to have been Norsey Wood, which maps ...

took place on the 28th June 1381 probably in

Norsey Wood Norsey Wood is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in Billericay, Essex. It is also a Local Nature Reserve and a Scheduled Monument. The site is ancient oak woodland on acid soil which has been converted to mixed sweet chestnut ...

; 500 Essex man were killed, and over 700 horses were captured. The men are believed to be buried along with their leaders in the church of

St Mary Magdalene, Great Burstead St Mary Magdalene is a Grade I-listed parish church in the village of Great Burstead, about south of Billericay, Essex, England. The present building dates to the 12th century, but a wooden church may have been built on the site during the seve ...

. Thomas Watts, a local Great Burstead draper, was burned at the stake in Chelmsford for refusing to pray in church under

Queen Mary I Mary I (18 February 1516 – 17 November 1558), also known as Mary Tudor, and as "Bloody Mary" by her Protestant opponents, was Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 and Queen of Spain from January 1556 until her death in 1558. Sh ...

. On 9 June 1555, Thomas was buried in Great Burstead Church. South Green, today a residential area of Great Burstead, also consisting of shops and a public green space, in medieval times was likely to have been used for archery practice, the local sign today depicts this. Born in Great Burstead in 1582 was Christopher Martin, a Merchant and local property owner, who married Mary Prowe in Burstead church in 1607. Martin became

churchwarden A churchwarden is a lay official in a parish or congregation of the Anglican Communion or Catholic Church, usually working as a part-time volunteer. In the Anglican tradition, holders of these positions are ''ex officio'' members of the parish b ...

at St Mary Magdalene Church in 1611. In 1620 he became the Governor of the ''

Mayflower ''Mayflower'' was an English ship that transported a group of English families, known today as the Pilgrims, from England to the New World in 1620. After a grueling 10 weeks at sea, ''Mayflower'', with 102 passengers and a crew of about 30, r ...

'' ship, and purchasing agent for supplies, and a signer of the Mayflower Compact in 1621. He died on the 8th January 1621 in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Great Burstead was part of the Barstable

hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101. In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five score in order to differentiate the English and Germanic use of "hundred" to des ...

, and in 1841 had a population of 884 spread over of land. The complete census can be viewed, as can a listing of many of the historical

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 wa ...

s. On the 24th September 1916, German Zeppelin L32 was shot down by 2nd Lt

Frederick Sowrey Group Captain Frederick Sowrey, (25 July 1893 – 21 October 1968) was a British aviator, military officer, and a flying ace of the First World War credited with thirteen aerial victories. He was most noted for his first victory, when he shot d ...

of the Royal Flying Corps. The airship narrowly missed

High Street and crashed in fields just off from Greens Farm lane Great Burstead, killing all 22 crew. The Great Burstead parish, abolished 1934, also covered Billericay. The parish formed part of the Billericay Rural District from 1894 and Billericay Urban District from 1934. The district was renamed

Basildon Urban District Basildon Urban District (from 1934 to 1955 Billericay Urban District) was a local government district in south Essex, England from 1934 to 1974. The district was created in 1934 from the following parishes (all from Billericay Rural District): ...

in 1955 and became part of the present-day Basildon district in 1974. The village has South Green as its main shopping district. As of 2020, the district was in reality only a small parade of related businesses. It consisted of about ten units each for a different customer-facing business, with the following businesses included: pharmacy, take-away shop, post office, doctor's surgery (GP), convenience store, and florists. More or less next to the parade of shops is a scenic green bounded by the parade, houses, a memorial hall, a petrol station, and roads. The Great Burstead cricket team was formed in 1956. It has recently merged with East Hanningfield CC but will continue to play in the T Rippon Mid-Essex League.

Governance

Great Burstead is part of electoral ward called Burstead. The population of this ward at the 2011 census was 10,620.

References

External links

Great Burstead & South Green Parish Council

Great Burstead Church

Basildon Heritage

Basildon Borough History - Burstead

{{Authority control Populated places in Essex Borough of Basildon Aviation accidents and incidents locations in England

History

Governance

See also

References

External links