Fordham is a village and civil parish in the

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 ...

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, six miles north-west of

. Its population was recorded as 835 in the 2011 Census and estimated at 823 in 2019. The parish includes the nearby hamlets of Fordham Heath and Hemp's Green.

Governance

Fordham is part of the Essex

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 ...

of Fordham and Stour Valley. The population of the ward at the 2011 census was 5,332.

Natural features

Fordham is bounded to the south by the River Colne. An area of 500 acres (202 ha) in the parish was turned over to the Woodland Trust in 2001 for future woodland.

Amenities and events

The village has a historic pub, ''The Three Horseshoes''. A cafe and an antique showroom, ''The Shoulder of Mutton'', stands on the main Colchester–Halstead Road, near the bridge over the Colne, which replaced the ford that gave the hamlet of Fordstreet its name. Fordham offers primary education to about 100 pupils at All Saints Church of England Primary School.Village sit
Retrieved 5 June 2018.
The village hosts an annual fair on the first Saturday of July and a vehicle show on the second Sunday of August.

Places of worship

All Saints' Church is a Grade I

listed building 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, Hi ...

, which dates mainly from about 1340. It was formerly under the patronage of Earl de Grey. The village also had a chapel of the

Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion The Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion is a small society of evangelical churches, founded in 1783 by Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon, as a result of the Evangelical Revival. For many years it was strongly associated with the Calvinist ...

in the 19th century.

Notable people

In birth order: * Roger Walden (died 1406) held Fordham as one of several church

benefice A benefice () or living is a reward received in exchange for services rendered and as a retainer for future services. The Roman Empire used the Latin term as a benefit to an individual from the Empire for services rendered. Its use was adopted by ...

s. He was later briefly

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the Primus inter pares, ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop ...

, then

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 ...

. * John Owen (1616–1683), a Nonconformist, held the benefice of Fordham in 1642–1646 as a

Calvinist Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Protestantism, Continenta ...

, but was not then appointed as rector. * Thomas Twining (1735–1804), a noted classical scholar and a member of the

Twinings Twinings () is a British marketeer of tea and other beverages, including coffee, hot chocolate, and malt drinks, based in Andover, Hampshire. The brand is owned by Associated British Foods. It holds the world's oldest continually used company ...

tea-merchant family, held the

curacy A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' () of souls of a parish. In this sense, ''curate'' means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy who are ass ...

of the parish church from 1764 until his death. * Digger Kettle (1922–1999), a professional footballer who played 145 times for

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its ea ...

, died in Fordham. * Tom Bradshaw (b. 1982), farmer and president of the NFU

References

Links

A Late Antique Decorated Casket and Jewellery from the Roman Villa at Fordham, Essex
{{authority control Villages in Essex Civil parishes in Essex Borough of Colchester