Rickling is a village and former

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 ...

, now in the parish of Quendon and Rickling, in the

Uttlesford Uttlesford is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district in Essex, England. Its council is based in the town of Saffron Walden. The district also includes the town of Great Dunmow and numerous villages, including Stansted Mountfitchet ...

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. The village is situated approximately north from the town of

Bishop's Stortford Bishop's Stortford is a historic market town and civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district, in the county of Hertfordshire, England. It is in the London metropolitan area, London commuter belt, near the border with Essex, just west of the ...

Saffron Walden Saffron Walden is a market town and civil parish in the Uttlesford district of Essex, England, north of Bishop's Stortford, south of Cambridge and north of London. It retains a rural appearance and some buildings of the medieval period. Th ...

, at , and the larger village of

Newport Newport most commonly refers to: *Newport, Wales *Newport, Rhode Island, US Newport or New Port may also refer to: Places Asia *Newport City, Metro Manila, a Philippine district in Pasay * Newport (Vietnam), a United States Army and Army of t ...

, at , lie to the north-east. In 1931 the parish had a population of 378. Rickling is north-west from the village of Quendon. Rickling is the site of the parish church, All Saints, and a few houses. Rickling Green, from Rickling, is conjoined to Quendon.

History

The name Rickling is found 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 ...

'' as ''Richelinga''. It is recorded as having quite a large population of 34 households, and it paid substantial taxes of eight geld units. ''Richelinga'' or Rickling derives from an Old English personal name ''Ricula'' and ''inga'', thus ‘followers of the people of Ricula’. The wife of

Sledda Sledd (or Sledda) was King of Essex in the late 6th century, possibly between (?) 587 and ''c''. 604. Extremely little is known about him. An East-Saxon genealogy preserved as British Library Add. MS 23211, possibly of the late 9th century, mak ...

King of the East Saxons (c.587-604) and sister of

Æthelberht of Kent Æthelberht (; also Æthelbert, Aethelberht, Aethelbert or Ethelbert; ; 550 – 24 February 616) was Kings of Kent, King of Kingdom of Kent, Kent from about 589 until his death. The eighth-century monk Bede, in his ''Ecclesiastical Hist ...

was named Ricula, though an association with this manor has not been proven. It is not known definitively why the main population today at Rickling Green is so far from its church at Rickling, but it has been suggested this may have been due to the plague. Another theory is that, over time, the villagers settled closer to the once busy

drovers' road A drovers' road, drove road, droveway, or simply a drove, is a route for droving livestock on foot from one place to another, such as to marketplace, market or between summer and winter pasture (see transhumance). Many drovers' roads were anci ...

(the former A11) that runs through Quendon. On 1 April 1949 the parish was abolished and merged with Quendon to form "Quendon and Rickling".

Amenities

There is a small

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

in Rickling Green, serving the village and surrounding communities and joined in federation with

Farnham Farnham is a market town and civil parish in Surrey, England, around southwest of London. It is in the Borough of Waverley, close to the county border with Hampshire. The town is on the north branch of the River Wey, a tributary of the ...

primary school, with the schools sharing one head teacher and governing body. There is also a

public house A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...

, The Cricketers Arms, Rickling Green (not to be confused with The Cricketers in nearby Clavering), which overlooks the green. The village green is also home to Rickling Ramblers Cricket Club. Cricket has been played on the green since 1850 and takes place throughout the summer months.

Landmarks

All Saints' Church, Rickling, a Grade I listed building, is a 13th-century flint church, although the nave's unusual proportions may indicate a pre-conquest date. The

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

, south aisle and west tower were built in 1340. There were later alterations in the 15th and 16th centuries, with further additions and restoration in the 19th century. Significant features include the 14th-century chancel screen and pulpit. Rickling Hall, a Grade II* listed farmhouse, stands on the site of a former castle and includes a moated castle mound to the south of the present building. Rickling and Rickling Green contain a number of other listed buildings, many of them dating from the 17th century.

References

External sources

Village websiteQuendon and Rickling churches website
*
Federation of Farnham and Rickling C of E primary schools
{{authority control Villages in Essex Former civil parishes in Essex Uttlesford

History

Amenities

Landmarks

See also

References

External sources