Ashingdon Parish
DESCRIPTION
Ashingdon Parish is a pleasant, pretty and quiet rural parish. Our Parish includes the villages of Ashingdon and South Fambridge. Ashingdon is approximately 2 miles North of Rochford and South Fambridge is approximately 4 miles from Rochford. Our Parish continues to the middle of the tidal River Crouch. We have a population of over 1000 and a wide variety of types of housing in country lanes, in the two villages, in housing estates both old and new.
Not much has happened in Ashingdon and South Fambridge since the Battle in 1016 except agriculture, horse riding and people enjoying their lives here. We have very low levels of disturbance, little vandalism and very low crime levels, like most of Rochford Distric and Essex County. This all enhances the quality of life for all who live, work, study and pass through our Parish.
The boundaries of the Parish of Ashingdon are shaped like the crowned head of King Canute or King Edmund and those boundaries follow a wide variety of terrain, from hills, lanes, fields, brooks, creeks and a tidal river.
AREA
The Parish has an area of 11 square kilometres (4.25 sq miles). In other measurements, that is 1100 hectares (about 2725 acres). More than 92% is land and nearly 8% is water.
The extent of The Parish is approximately 4.3 km (2.7 miles) north to south and 4.2 km (2.6 miles) east to west, the northern boundary running 4 km (2.4 miles) along the centre of the tidal River Crouch.
About 82% of the parish is rural agricultural land, 8% is housing and roads, 7.5% is river, creek and streams, and about 2.5% is made up of woods, some of which have bluebells.
BATTLE OF ASHINGDON
Ashingdon was the site of the Battle of Ashingdon and the base camp of King Edmund, the Saxon King of Wessex and part of England. Whereas, nearby Canewdon was the base camp of King Canute, the Danish king who laid claim to all of England and The Danelaw, the Eastern regions known as : Essex, East Anglia, East Mercia and Northumbria. The claim was settled by the battle which took place at Ashingdon in 1016 AD, when Canute fought Edmund and won the battle and shortly after secured the Kingdom of all England including the Saxon Wessex and their territories : Kent, Sussex, Wessex and West Mercia.
Although Ashingdon is still a small, quiet rural community, its historic and epic battle had a very significant impact on the history and culture of all England, lasting until today. That is because, if King Canute had not won and unified England, William the Conqueror would have siezed only Saxon Wessex - the Saxon south, southwest and west of England. The Danish east, northeast and north of England - The Danelaw, may still have been Danish until today and we would all be speaking Danish now in our region.
LOCATION
Ashingdon is a parish in Rochford District, in the County of Essex, in England. Our County is part of the East of England Region, also called East Anglia.
ESSEX COUNTY
The County arms or shield, also seen on flags, is of 3 seaxe swords on a red background attributed as having been the ancient coat of arms of the early Saxons or the East Saxon kings - "three seaxes argent, in a field gules", (3 silver seaxes on a red field).
SYMBOLS OF OUR COUNTY
Patron Saint
The Essex County Patron Saint is : Saint Cedd.
The East of England Patron Saint is : Saint Edmund.
The Patron Saint of England is : Saint George.
Essex County Flower
The Cowslip (Primula veris) in the same family as the Primrose. The name for Cowslip in the Essex dialect is "Paigles". It was used to make country wine.
Another flower chosen in recent years as an Essex County Flower is - The Red Poppy (Papaver rhoeus).
There is also a beautiful pink miniature rose called "Essex Rose".
Bird for Essex
The bird which has long been considered as the species associated with the County is : The Lapwing (Vanellus vanellus) locally called the "Peewit" in Essex dialect because of its "pee-weet" call. It is a beautiful and quite large bird with irridescent green plumage, large areas of white plumage and a black crest, black tail tips and an almost orange chestnut colouring under its tail. It is often called the Green Plover. It can be seen throughout the County because it is both a farmland bird and a wader which flourishes over agricultural land, especially on ploughed fields and is also at home in the rivers, marshes and shorelines of Essex. From a distance, the Lapwing looks like the abundant gulls and terns which thrive around ploughed land and near the sea.
Essex Butterfly and Essex Moth
The "Essex Skipper" (Thymelicus lineola) is a delightful honey coloured small butterfly almost unique to this county. Its largest habitat is in the cliffs, hills and marshes of Hadleigh and South Benfleet.
The "Essex Emerald" (Thelidia smaragdaria maritima) is a beautiful iridescent green moth which although rare, was found near The River Crouch around Canewdon, Foulness and Burnham on Crouch. It has not been seen for a few years and may be temporarily extinct in the UK.
FRUIT GROWING
The County of Essex has long been associated with fruit, especially apples, pears, plums, cherries, strawberries, raspberries and many now rare fruit more popular in past centuries, such as medlar, mulberries and quince. There are 33 varieties of Essex apples still grown and available and there were another 39 or more known Essex apples which may be extinct. The enormous acreage of apple and pear orchards in Essex has reduced considerablly over the last 50 years, as it has throughout the UK. There were several commercial and private orchards in and around Ashingdon, but sadly most are now gone.
ESSEX REGIMENTS
There are two British Army regiments for Essex County :
The Essex Regiment - now part of The Royal Anglian Regiment.
The Essex Yeomanry - now an important Territorial Army unit.
ESSEX REGIMENT (ROYAL ANGLIAN)
The Regular Army regiment for Essex County is - The Royal Anglian Regiment, called "The Vikings". They were formed in various steps from several East Anglian counties' regiments and they act now as the home regiment for soldiers enlisting from 10 East of England Counties. Previously our regiment was "The Essex Regiment". Before that they were "The 44th Essex Regiment" called "The Fighting Fours" and "The 56th Essex Regiment" called "The Pompadours". Before that "The 44th Regiment of Foot" and "The 56th Regiment of Foot". The 44th being the regiment for East Essex and the 56th for West Essex.
The Essex Regiment, including the 44th and 56th, is famous for its battle successes : In North America - during the American War of Independence. To this day, the 44th (Essex) Regiment in their red coats is celebrated and re-enacted in the USA and in Canada; Epic battle successes in Portugal, Spain and France during the Napoleonic Wars - when they seized a French golden eagle regimental standard in battle at Arapiles, Salamanca. The original golden eagle is kept in the Regimental Museum in Chelmsford and a replica is in Norwich; Successful campaigns in Egypt where their successes are recorded with "Egypt" on their previous regimental badge; There were more honours in India where they excelled; And in many other theatres of war since then. In the past and even now, our regiments displayed the Essex Regiment's French golden eagle, the sphinx from Egypt and the castle and key from Gibraltar.
The Royal Anglian is divided into to 2 Regular Army and 2 Territorial Army (T.A.) battalions : The 1st Battalion and the 6th Battalion T.A. are "The Pompadours" for : Essex, Cambridgeshire, Suffolk and Norfolk; And, The 2nd Battalion and the 7th Battalion T.A. are "The Poachers" for the other 6 counties : Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire and Rutland.
The Royal Anglian's regimental and cap badge is the castle and key from The Essex Regiment and The 56th Essex. They also wear the golden eagle on their sleeve from the 44th Essex Regiment and they often show the Sphinx with "Egypt" from the 44th Essex Regiment. The 1st Battalion Royal Anglian Regiment often carries the golden eagle in regimental marches. So, we have a lot to be proud of in our county about the achievements and recognition of our own regiments.
On 27th October 1942, The Essex Regiment presented to The United States Navy a replica of their Golden Eagle war trophy. The golden eagle standard of the French 62nd Regiment was captured in battle by a fighting group of the 2nd Battalion, 44th (East Essex) Regiment of Foot during The Battle of Salamanca in Spain in 1812. The full size replica of the golden eagle was mounted on a stand with two hallmarked precious metal plaques saying :
"This replica of the Essex Regiment Eagle Crest was presented to the United States Aircraft Carrier "Essex" by the Officers and Men of the Essex Regiment - His Majesty's Forces as a token of friendship "Good Hunting and Good Luck" 27th October 1942"
The second plaque said : The original eagle was captured from the 62nd French Regiment at the Battle of Salamanca 1812"
ESSEX YEOMANRY
A description of The Essex Yeomanry will be added to this website soon.
