Langford is a village at the west end of the Dengie peninsula close to

Maldon Maldon (, locally ) is a town and civil parish on the 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 Salt which is prod ...

in the English county 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 ...

. 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 ''Wick ...

and Woodham ward of the

Maldon district Maldon District is a local government district in Essex, England. The district is managed by ''Maldon District Council'', which is based in Maldon, the largest town in the district. The district also includes the town of Burnham-on-Crouch and ...

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

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 Premonstratensians, as known as the Norbertines or Premonstratensians. The order linked the change of the separate life of monks in the 12th century with ...

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 known for his six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disagreement w ...

removed the property from the abbey's ownership. The Langford and Ulting railway station on the

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

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

Beeching closures The Beeching cuts, also colloquially referred to as the Beeching Axe, were a major series of route closures and service changes made as part of the restructuring of the nationalised British Rail, railway system in Great Britain in the 1960s. T ...

Religious sites

The local

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), 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 com ...

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 9th and 10th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norma ...

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, Essex, Maldon to Hatfield Peverel. History 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