Langford is a village at the west end of the

Dengie peninsula __NOTOC__ Dengie is a peninsula in Essex, England, that once formed a hundred (subdivision), hundred of the same name (sometimes spelled Dengy). The peninsula is formed by the River Crouch to the south, the River Blackwater, Essex, Blackwater to ...

close to

Maldon Maldon (, locally ) is a town and civil parish on the River Blackwater, Essex, Blackwater estuary in Essex, England. It is the seat of the Maldon District and starting point of the Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation. It is known for Maldon Sea ...

in the English 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 ...

. It is part of the

Wickham Bishops Wickham Bishops is a village and civil parish in the Maldon district of Essex, England. It is located around three miles north of the town of Maldon and around two miles south-east of Witham, in whose post town it lies. The place name ''Wickham ...

and Woodham ward of the

Maldon district Maldon is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in Essex, England. The council is based in Maldon, Essex, Maldon, and the district includes other notable settlements such as Burnham-on-Crouch,Heybridge, Essex, Heybridge, Wickh ...

. Its name is derived from the "long ford", referring to the crossing of the River Blackwater that the village grew up around.

History

The place-name 'Langford' is first attested 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, where it appears as ''Langheforda''. The name means 'long ford'. Langford was a possession of

Beeleigh Abbey Beeleigh Abbey near Maldon in Essex, England, was a monastery constructed in 1180 for the Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré, as known as the Norbertines or Premonstratensians. The order linked the change of the separate life of monks in t ...

until 6 June 1536 when during the Dissolution of the Monasteries,

King 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 disag ...

removed the property from the abbey's ownership. The

Langford and Ulting railway station Langford and Ulting railway station served the village of Langford, Essex. It was opened in 1848 by the Maldon, Witham & Braintree Railway (MWBR) on a branch line from to . It was originally named Langford but was renamed Langford and Ulting ...

on the

Witham-Maldon branch line The Witham to Maldon branch line is a closed railway line joining Maldon to the British railway network at Witham in Essex, England. It was opened in 1848 and was long. It was extended to Woodham Ferris (later Woodham Ferrers) to give direct acc ...

was open from 1848 until 1964 when it was closed as part of the

Beeching closures The Beeching cuts (also Beeching Axe) was a plan to increase the efficiency of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain. The plan was outlined in two reports: ''The Reshaping of British Railways'' (1963) and ''The Development of the ...

Religious sites

The local

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

is St. Giles. The exact age of the church is not known, but it is generally considered to be of

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

construction. The church was restored in 1881.

Landmarks

The

Museum of Power The Museum of Power is located in the former Southend Waterworks (now Essex and Suffolk Water) Langford Pumping Station in Langford, Essex, England. It is on the B1019, on the main road from Maldon to Hatfield Peverel. The museum operates the L ...

is located in the former Southend Waterworks Langford Pumping Station. The museum also has a miniature railway, which offers passenger rides.

References

External links

A local directory with history, current life and photographs of Langford
{{authority control Villages in Essex