Abberton is a village in the

City of Colchester The City of Colchester is a local government district with city status in Essex, England, named after its main settlement, Colchester. It is, with 194,394 people according to Office of National Statistics estimate for mid 2022, the most populous ...

district of

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

, England. It is located approximately east of

Abberton Reservoir Abberton Reservoir is a pumped storage freshwater reservoir in eastern England near the Essex coast, with an area of . Most of its water is pumped from the River Stour. It is the largest body of freshwater in Essex. Constructed between 1935 ...

and is south of

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in northeastern Essex, England. It is the second-largest settlement in the county, with a population of 130,245 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 Census. The demonym is ''Colcestrian''. Colchester occupies the ...

. The village is in the parliamentary constituency of North Essex. The town is served by Abberton and Langenhoe Parish Council.

Etymology

The word Abberton is derived from 'Eadburg's estate' (''Ēadburge'' + tūn).

History

Abberton 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 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

'' of 1086-87 as ''Edburghetuna'' and as ''Edburgetuna'' in the Hundred of Winstree, when it was part of the lands of Count Eustace in Essex, held by Ralph de Marcy and further held by Ranulf Peverel in

demesne A demesne ( ) or domain was all the land retained and managed by a lord of the manor under the feudal system for his own use, occupation, or support. This distinguished it from land subinfeudation, sub-enfeoffed by him to others as sub-tenants. ...

; it was held by Siward, a free man, as a manor in the time of

King Edward the Confessor Edward the Confessor ( 1003 – 5 January 1066) was King of England from 1042 until his death in 1066. He was the last reigning monarch of the House of Wessex. Edward was the son of Æthelred the Unready and Emma of Normandy. He succeed ...

before the

Norman Conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, French people, French, Flemish people, Flemish, and Bretons, Breton troops, all led by the Du ...

of 1066. It was later recorded as ''Eadburgetona'' in 1108, ''Adbur(u)g(h)(e)ton(e)'' in 1208–1321, ''Adburthon'' in 1280, also ''Abberton'' from 1230. Abberton was among the villages which suffered damage from the

1884 Colchester earthquake The Colchester earthquake, also known as the Great English earthquake, occurred on the morning of 22 April 1884 at 09:18. It caused considerable damage in Colchester and the surrounding villages in Essex. In terms of overall destruction ca ...

: chimneys had fallen to the ground, brick walls had cracked and many side walls of houses had collapsed; the rectory which was being built at the time also suffered considerable damage.

Church

The Church at Abberton is St Andrew. It is a

Grade II* In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

listed building and originates from at least the 14th century. It is located at the end of Rectory Lane, approximately three hundred yards from

References

External links

* Villages in Essex {{Essex-geo-stub