Steeple Bumpstead 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 ...

south of Haverhill in Braintree district,

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 parish church does not have a steeple, however the Congregational Church has a small Victorian one. It is believed that the steeple referred to was located on the A1017 close to what is now the Wixoe Pumping Station. Village features include a village hall, School (Steeple Bumpstead Primary school) and park.

History

Bumstead or Bumsted is

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...

for "place of reeds". The Moot Hall 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. In feudal times it was called Bumstede ad Trim, from "ac-Turrum" or "with the tower". The

Knights Templar , colors = White mantle with a red cross , colors_label = Attire , march = , mascot = Two knights riding a single horse , equipment ...

positioned themselves on the river. The town is notable for its

Lollard Lollardy, also known as Lollardism or the Lollard movement, was a proto-Protestant Christian religious movement that existed from the mid-14th century until the 16th-century English Reformation. It was initially led by John Wycliffe, a Catholic ...

connections. There has been a long history on non-conformist belief in the village which continues to this day in the

Congregational Church Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its ...

. A Bumpstead man was burnt to death in the parish for his beliefs. Along the Blois Road, leading from Bumpstead to

Birdbrook Birdbrook is a village and civil parish in Essex, England. It is located approximately southeast of Haverhill, Suffolk and is 34 km (21 miles) north from the county town of Chelmsford. The village is in the district of Braintree and in th ...

, is a field that has been called the 'Bloody Pightle', and that is where he is believed to have been martyred. In 1527 John Tibauld and eight other village residents were seized and taken before the

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 ...

, charged with meeting together in Bower Hall to pray and read a copy of the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christ ...

. Although the non-conformists in the village were encouraged by the powerful Bendyshe family that lived at Bower Hall, even their influence could not save Tibauld. He was burned at the stake. Having fallen into ruin after use as a 'concentration camp' in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Bower Hall was finally demolished in 1926 and the materials sold off. The great staircase found its way to the United States. A Moot Hall, known as 'the Old Schole', symbolises Steeple Bumpstead. Built in 1592 by the inhabitants on land rented from the Crown, in the 1830s when it was 'a school for farmers' sons' the villagers forcibly took possession of it, disputing the claim of George Gent of Moyns to have the right to appoint the headmaster. Eventually an

ecclesiastical court An ecclesiastical court, also called court Christian or court spiritual, is any of certain courts having jurisdiction mainly in spiritual or religious matters. In the Middle Ages, these courts had much wider powers in many areas of Europe than be ...

upheld the villagers' claim. Steeple Bumpstead was one of the first villages in the country to have its own village policeman when county policing came into being in Essex. In 1840, William Rattigan was one of the first Essex Police Officers to be assigned a village beat. There was a police officer stationed in the village for 160 years from 1840 to 2000 when the last 'bobby', Ray Howard, retired. For years the village was a hotbed of trouble with many 'riots' and unrest during the agricultural strikes in 1914 and the 1920s. In fact the national agricultural strike of 1914 was started nearby in

Castle Camps Castle Camps was a Norman Castle located in what is now the civil parish of Castle Camps, Cambridgeshire. Owners Castle Camps was originally a Saxon manor, belonging to Wulfwin, a Thane of King Edward the Confessor. After the Norman invasion, W ...

and the troubles spread to Steeple Bumpstead, which became a stronghold for the strikers.

Modern times

There are many facilities in Steeple Bumpstead for residents including a local village store, a post office, a petrol station, and a library in the aforementioned Moot Hall. Steeple Bumpstead has its own medical practice. There are two pubs, ''The Fox and Hounds'' and ''The Red Lion''. There are two churches, the Church of England parish church of St. Mary's and the Congregational Church, each offering various activities for all ages. St Mary's is a grade I listed building dating from the 11th century. Steeple Bumpstead has a primary school, Steeple Bumpstead Primary School. Steeple Bumpstead has a Scout Group: 1st Steeple Bumpstead Scouts which consists of a Beaver Colony, A Cub Pack and a Scout Troop. The group in total has circa 100 members. There is also an active Brownies group, and a Girl Guides group. Recently there has been much property development around Steeple Bumpstead including the addition of Freezes Barns, Old Hall Close and Suckling's Yard. Steeple Bumpstead was also mentioned in the first pages of the 2007 novel ''

The Reavers ''The Reavers'' is a 2007 comic novel from George MacDonald Fraser set during the Elizabethan Era The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historia ...

'' by

George MacDonald Fraser George MacDonald Fraser (2 April 1925 – 2 January 2008) was a British author and screenwriter. He is best known for a series of works that featured the character Flashman. Biography Fraser was born to Scottish parents in Carlisle, England, ...

. The village is referred to in Episode 5 of the first series of ''

The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin ''The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin'' is a British sitcom starring Leonard Rossiter in the title role. It is based on a series of novels written by David Nobbs and produced from 1976 to 1979. Nobbs adapted the screenplay for the first series ...

'' broadcast on BBC1 (1976). Perrin tries to insult a colleague by saying that they are Lecturer in 'Applied Manure from The University of Steeple Bumpstead'.

Notable residents

Nurse

Edith Cavell Edith Louisa Cavell ( ; 4 December 1865 – 12 October 1915) was a British nurse. She is celebrated for saving the lives of soldiers from both sides without discrimination and for helping some 200 Allied soldiers escape from German-occupied Be ...

had ties with Steeple Bumpstead long before she became a nurse. During 1886, Edith was appointed governess to the four children of the Reverend Charles Powell, vicar of Steeple Bumpstead. The former vicarage, where a stone plaque commemorates her stay, is a private residence on the corner of Chapel Street and

Finchingfield Finchingfield is a village in the Braintree district in north-west Essex, England, a primarily rural area. It is approximately from Thaxted, farther from the larger towns of Saffron Walden and Braintree. Nearby villages include Great Bardfield ...

Road. There is a plaque about Edith Cavell in the 11th century village church and a road named after her. Colonel J. C. Humphrey, son of the village wheelwright, may have allegedly invented

corrugated iron Corrugated galvanised iron or steel, colloquially corrugated iron (near universal), wriggly tin (taken from UK military slang), pailing (in Caribbean English), corrugated sheet metal (in North America) and occasionally abbreviated CGI is a bu ...

, but this is myth as it was invented by Henry Robinson Palmer in 1829. He built and lived in the Iron House, North Street, which was demolished in the 1960s. At one time Humphreys Ltd of London claimed to be the 'largest works in the world' and held a Royal Warrant as 'supplier to His Majesty

King Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria a ...

’. Lord and Lady Taylor moved to the village in 2013 and are said to still be in residence.

References

External links

{{authority control Villages in Essex Civil parishes in Essex Braintree District

History

Modern times

Notable residents

See also

References

External links