Ashingdon Parish Boundaries
Ashingdon Parish is bounded by five parishes on the south side of the River Crouch: Canewdon, Hawkwell, Hockley, Hullbridge and Rochford. Great Stambridge Parish is only 290 metres (315 yards) away from Ashingdon in the southeast. On the north side of the River Crouch, Ashingdon is bounded by four parishes : Stow Maries, North Fambridge, Purleigh and Latchingdon, all four are in Maldon District. Woodham Ferrers Parish in Chelmsford District is only 480 metres (525 yards) away across the River Crouch to the west.
The River Crouch, Ashingdon Road, Brays Lane and Hyde Wood Lane are the main natural boundaries, all of which run along the middle of them. The most prominent of these is the very wide tidal River Crouch mostly over 300 metres (about 330 yards) wide. Our western boundary on the river starts at Beckney Brook which runs from Lower Road to near Brandyhole Reach and opposite Stow Creek. From there going east, that stretch of the River Crouch is called “Longpole Reach” until our eastern parish boundary at Shortpole Reach, opposite Bridgemarsh Creek, where our parish meets Canewdon Parish near Landsend Point and the boundary runs south along the two brooks, one of which is the Old Fleet to Canewdon Road.
In several areas, the parish boundaries are marked by the traditional and historic prominent ditch and embankments. These can be seen : around Boundary Wood near Magnolia Park, south of Footpath 2 / 7; on the north side of Footpath 2 / 7, the north side of Footpath 15; throughout Beckney Wood. Parts of the old South Fambridge parish boundaries in Beckney Wood and east towards Footpath 17 are also visible. In many other areas the boundary is a ditch, a stream or a hedgerow.
The shape of the Ashingdon Parish boundaries look like the side profile of a man’s head with a crown and a beard. It is as if it represents the head of a king as one would see it on a coin. It could be King Canute’s or King Edmund’s head which represents the shape of Ashingdon Parish.
Some of what appears to be Ashingdon is in fact in Hawkwell Parish. The parish boundary is very curious and runs down the middle of the main Ashingdon Road through the village. The east side is Ashingdon, the west side is Hawkwell, even though the main part of Hawkwell is some 5.5 km (3.5 miles) away by road and 2.5 km (1.5 miles) by air. The northern part of East Hawkwell is a narrow strip about 450 metres wide which juts into and is almost surrounded by Ashingdon and is as little as 250 metres (275 yards) from Ashingdon’s St Andrew’s Church, but is 2.5 km (1.5 miles) from Hawkwell’s St Mary’s Church. That part of northeast Hawkwell is called “Ashingdon” by all who live there because it is in the village of Ashingdon, being only a few paces across the road and most of the houses and businesses in that part of Hawkwell use Ashingdon as their postal address.
Some parts of Ashingdon Parish appear to be in Hockley. The Parish boundary extends as far as the western edge of Beckney Wood, quite near to Plumberow Mount in Hockley. Nearby, our Parish includes Leamington Road, Harrogate Road, Tonbridge Road, Malvern Road "The Spas", all of which are part of the Hockley urban area. Our Parish also extends down to White Hart Lane and the Broadlands Estate. Over a third of that estate is in Ashingdon, but it is in the Hockley urban area. Most of Greensward Lane this side of Hockley Station is in Ashingdon and most of the houses, farms and businesses in Lower Road use Hockley as their postal address.
The villages of Ashingdon, South Fambridge, Hawkwell and Hockley and their parish boundaries are ancient and long established, as are those of Rochford, Canewdon, Stambridge and other parishes nearby.
