Copford 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. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

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 west 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 ...

, and the hamlet of

Copford Green Copford Green is a hamlet within the civil parish of Copford and the district of Colchester in Essex, England. It is near the A12 and A120 roads, and is south west of Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in northeastern Essex, England. I ...

is found a short distance to the south. The poet

Matthew Arnold Matthew Arnold (24 December 1822 – 15 April 1888) was an English poet and cultural critic. He was the son of Thomas Arnold, the headmaster of Rugby School, and brother to both Tom Arnold (academic), Tom Arnold, literary professor, and Willi ...

noted he was struck by "the deeply rural character of the village and neighbourhood."

History

Copford was originally a manor held by the

Bishop of London The bishop of London is the Ordinary (church officer), ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of London in the Province of Canterbury. By custom the Bishop is also Dean of the Chapel Royal since 1723. The diocese covers of 17 boroughs o ...

's office. Upon the death of Bishop

Edmund Bonner Edmund Bonner (also Boner; c. 15005 September 1569) was Bishop of London from 1539 to 1549 and again from 1553 to 1559. Initially an instrumental figure in the schism of Henry VIII from Rome, he was antagonised by the Protestant reforms introdu ...

in 1569 (also buried here) the land briefly became property of

The Crown The Crown is a political concept used in Commonwealth realms. Depending on the context used, it generally refers to the entirety of the State (polity), state (or in federal realms, the relevant level of government in that state), the executive ...

until 1609 when it returned to private ownership. The

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 ...

of St Michael and All Angels is Grade I listed. It is renowned for its mid-12th-century Norman wall paintings that are among the best in England. The paintings were extensively restored in the late 19th century. The church door was claimed to have human skin attached, possibly as a gruesome remnant of an ancient

flaying Flaying is a method of slow and painful torture and/or execution in which skin is removed from the body. Generally, an attempt is made to keep the removed portion of skin intact. Scope A dead animal may be flayed when preparing it to be used ...

meted out to those who invaded the sanctity of the church.Wall, J. Charles (1912), ''Porches and Fonts.'' Pub. Wells Gardner and Darton, London. P. 41 - 42. Adjacent to the church is the manor house of

Copford Hall Copford Hall is a manorialism, manorial seat and Grade II listed country house, with gardens by Capability Brown, in the village of Copford, Essex, England, 46 miles (74 km) from London. The building was at one time owned by the Bishop of Lo ...

Governance

Copford is part of the

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected t ...

called Copford and West Stanway. The population of this ward at the 2011 Census was 1,915.

Transport

Copford is situated about half a mile east of the junction between the A12 and A120 at

Marks Tey Marks Tey is a large village and Wards and electoral divisions of the United Kingdom, electoral ward in Essex, England; it is located six miles west of Colchester. It is one in a group of villages called ''The Teys'', including Great Tey and L ...

. The closest rail link is the

Great Eastern Main Line The Great Eastern Main Line (GEML, sometimes referred to as the East Anglia Main Line) is a major railway line on the British railway system which connects Liverpool Street station in central London with destinations in east London and t ...

, which connects London Liverpool Street to Norwich, and stops at Marks Tey station. The village is served by the 70 and 71 bus services at the London Road end, thus giving access to Colchester, Chelmsford and Braintree via public transport. Copford Green and the neighbouring village of Easthorpe are served every Wednesday by a community bus for which tickets must be purchased in advance.

Community

Copford is divided into 3 distinct areas of population, the largest of which is the Queensberry Avenue Estate with some 250 houses. London Road/School Road (down to the Village Hall) has approx. 190 dwellings, and the Copford Green area a further 150. The village has a Hall built in the early 1990s, and a School parts of which date back to Victorian times, and the majority of which was rebuilt with the addition of a new School Hall in 2002 and KS2 block in 2023. The Parish Council owns two play parks (one behind the Village Hall, the other on Queensberry Avenue), and woods complete with a picnic area and several walks.

Notable people

Tirzah Garwood Eileen Lucy "Tirzah" Garwood (11 April 1908 – 27 March 1951) was a British wood-engraver, painter, Paper marbling, paper marbler, author, and a member of the Great Bardfield Artists. According to Brighton and Hove Museums and Art Galleries ...

(1908 - 1951), artist *

Benjamin Lay Benjamin Lay (January 26, 1682 – February 8, 1759) was an English-born writer, farmer and activist. Born in Copford, Essex into a Quakers, Quaker family, he underwent an apprenticeship as a glovemaker before running away to London and finding ...

(1682 - 1759), British/American abolitionist and Quaker

References

External links

History of the Parish of CopfordCopford at Streetmap.co.uk
{{authority control Villages in Essex Borough of Colchester