The History of Ashingdon
ANCIENT HISTORY OF ASHINGDON VILLAGE
Ashingdon has been a village for more than one thousand years. It was called "Nesenduna" in the 900s and 1000s and it has had many spellings over the centuries.
Ashingdon and South Fambridge have always been a part of Rochford District, previously called Rochford Hundred, which until the early 1800s included all of Southend on Sea Borough, 6 miles south of Ashingdon. Also in early times, Castle Point District District was part of Rochford Hundred. Rochford was called "Rochefort Hundret" in The Domesday Book. Other spellings in the Middle Ages were "Rochesfort" and "Rocheford".
Our village appears in the Domesday Book produced for King William The Conqueror in 1085 and 1086. Other parts of Ashingdon Parish listed as villages or manors were : "Bacheneia" Beckney and "Phenbruge" South Fambridge. Other nearby villages or manors probably owning land in what is now Ashingdon were : "Carenduna" Canewdon, "Hocheleia" Hockley, "Hechuuella" Hawkwell, "Plumberga" Plumberow, "Puteseia" Pudsey and "Stanbruga" Great Stambridge. North Fambridge on the other side of the River Crouch was called "Fanbruge".
Ashingdon was the base camp of King Edmund Ironside, 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 England because his father had been King of England, or at least King of The Danelaw, the Eastern regions known as : Essex, East Anglia, East Mercia and Northumbria. The claim was settled by a battle which took place at Ashingdon in 1016 AD, when Canute fought Edmund and won both the battle and secured the Kingdom of all England including the Saxon Wessex and their territories : Kent, Sussex, Wessex and West Mercia. As a result of the Battle of Ashingdon, Canute established full control of not only the Danelaw, (the area above the boundary running diagonally across Southern England roughly along the Thames to East of London, up the River Lea to near Luton, then diagonally towards Chester), but also the Saxon Kingdom, the area below and West of that line. After the battle, that area was administered by the Saxons on behalf of the Danish King of (all) England. The area North of the line was ruled directly by the King.
After the Battle of Ashingdon, Canute had a Church built in 1020 to honour the defeated but pious and devout King Edmund and all those who died in the battle. King Canute returned to Ashingdon to open the church that he had built which was known then as Ashingdon Minster - now known as St. Andrew's Church. Most of what still stands is mediaeval and some may be based on the original Minster.
The first priest at Ashingdon Minster was a young man named Stigand. By 1052 Stigand had progressed within the clergy to the highest position within the church to become The Archbishop of Canterbury, a position that he held until 1070. In that capacity, he crowned King Harold as King of England in early 1066 and then on Christmas Day, 25th December 1066, it is believed he crowned King William The Conqueror as King of England.
THE BAYEUX TAPESTRY
Archbishop Stigand was Ashingdon's first priest when he was a young man at the opening of our new church in 1020. He is depicted on the Bayeux Tapestry on Plate 33. He is shown standing beside King Harold after crowning him. The inscription on the Tapestry in Latin (with missing letters in brackets) says :
"hIC DEDERRUNT: HAROLDO: CORONA(m): REGIS".
"hIC RESIDET: hAROLD REX: ANGLORUM: STIGANT ARChIEP(iscopu)S".
Meaning in English - with missing words in brackets :
"Here they give up (the) royal crown (to) Harold".
"Here sits Harold (the) King of England. Stigant Archb(ishop)".
The Bayeux Tapestry image shown is on Plate 33 "Harold is crowned King of England". The copyright is held by The Reading Museum Service on behalf of Reading Borough Council, Berkshire, UK. They kindly gave us permission to depict this image which shows Stigand, our first Parish Priest after Ashingdon Minster was consecrated and opened by King Canute, King of England in 1020. Reading Museum owns the UK copy of the Bayeux Tapestry and own its copyright. The entire tapestry can be seen in their museum in Reading, Berkshire. The original tapestry made in the 11th century is in Bayeaux, Normandy, France. http://www.readingmuseum.org.uk/collections/index.htm
THE HISTORY OF SOUTH FAMBRIDGE VILLAGE
South Fambridge has a long history as a farming and maritime community. Fambridge is mentioned in The Domesday Book as a village or manor called "Phenbruge", later called Fambridge, then South Fambridge to differentiate from the other Fambridge north of the River Crouch in Maldon District (then Witbrictesherna (Dengie) Hundred). The village is located alongside the tidal River Crouch, where Fambridge had a ferry which operated for hundreds of years across the river to North Fambridge until the 1940s or 1950s. The ferry saved a road journey of nearly 14 miles and from the late 1800s the ferry provided a link with the nearest railway at North Fambridge with connections to : Burnham and Southminster; To Wickford, Shenfield, Chelmsford and London; To Woodham Ferrers, Maldon, Witham, Braintree, Colchester and beyond. For many years, South Fambridge was a separate parish with its own parish church, parish priest and parish council. It has been part of Ashingdon Parish since the 1940s.
ORIGIN OF THE ASHINGDON VILLAGE NAME
The name of Ashingdon has changed over the years. In Saxon, Danish and Norman times it was often spelled "Nessenduna", later "Assandune" and may have meant either "Ash (trees) Hill" or "Ass (donkey) Hill". Even now, the old spelling of "Assandune" is used. There have been at least 15 different spellings of the Ashingdon village name, some quite unlike today's name. Nearby Canewdon may derive its name from King Canute, who won the battle of Assandune. The village's name may mean Canute's Camp or Canute's Hill, but other theories exist.
ORIGIN OF THE SOUTH FAMBRIDGE VILLAGE NAME
The name of South Fambridge has changed over the years. In Saxon, Danish and Norman times it was often spelled "Phenbruga", later "Fanbruge". The original village name made no reference to "South", it was simply "Fambridge". There are two Fambridge villages. Ours is on the south bank of The River Crouch and another is on the north bank. The word "bruga" refers to a bridge. There would have been no bridge, but there was supposed to have been a low tide "ford" crossing and there has almost always been a ferry boat crossing the river representing a "bridge" across The River Crouch.
ORIGIN OF THE RIVER CROUCH AND RIVER ROACH NAMES
The history of The River Crouch tells us that it was an important river, seaway and harbour since before Roman Times. It is probably named after the two places called Creeksea either side of the river with an old ferry between them. Creeksea near Burnham on Crouch on the north shore of the Crouch is no more than a tiny hamlet with two manors, a few houses and farms and a ferry jetty. Creeksea on the south shore of the Crouch is a small part of Wallasea Island with a pub - The Ferry Inn, a few houses, a nearby timber wharf and a caravan and camping site. It is probable that "Crouch" is derived from "Creek" or "Crick".
In ancient times, the name for the River Crouch was The "Huolne" River and in later times it was known as the Burnham River.
The River Roach was originally called The Walfleet. A few centuries ago, its name gradually altered by common usage based on the name of the town through which it flowed - Rochford, previously called Rocheforte, where the river was forded and thus the Roach ford provided a new name for the river.
ANCIENT HISTORY OF ESSEX
Essex was a kingdom in the days before the Romans came to Britain. It was called Trinovantes and its centre of power was the large established city of Camulotunum, now called Colchester. It was said to be the only city in Britain and it was the place that Emperor Julius Caesar came to, to meet the king of the only established centre of power and civilisation in Britain. Colchester was also later called Colonia Camulotunum.
After the Romans left in about 420 AD, the Saxons came to this part of Britain and occupied and ruled this region as a new kingdom. The various Saxon groups established seven Saxon kingdoms which survived over several hundred years from about 500 AD until about 1000 AD. Those 7 Saxon Kingdoms were called the Heptarchia. They were : Essex, Kent, East Anglia, Sussex, Wessex, Mercia and Northumbria.
Essex comprised of present day Essex, all of London, Middlesex, Hertfordshire and parts of present day Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. The rest of Cambridgeshire was either in East Anglia, under the sea, or in Mercia. For a while Kent belonged to The Kingdom of The East Saxons.
The Kingdom of Essex is known to have been in existence from 527 AD to 825 AD when Mercia took over the Kingdom of The East Saxons. During that 300 years period, there were at least 18 Kings of Essex, from King Aescwine, the earliest known king in 527 AD until King Sigered in 825 AD. Two of those 18 Essex Kings became saints. They were Saint Sigeberht and Saint Sebbi.
AVIATION IN ASHINGDON PARISH
Ashingdon Parish was the site of considerable early aviation development in the early 1900s. There were several designers of sea-planes producing their early aircraft at hangars in South Fambridge and floating them out to carry out test runs and take-offs and landings in the very wide, straight and calm waters of the tidal River Crouch on the Northern boundaries of Ashingdon Parish. These included the Howard-Wright biplane in 1908; the Jose Weiss No. 1 monoplane in 1908; he returned in 1909 with powered gliders; the Robert McFee monoplane in 1909; the Talbot-Quick water biplane in 1914.
A few years later, much work and flying was done with many types of early aircraft at the first Rochford Aerodrome in Ashingdon which was located in the very large square field at the Western corner of Hyde Wood Lane and Canewdon Road. The most famous aircraft flown from there were the Avro 504K and the tiny "Flying Fleas". By 1933 some flying had moved to another field in Ashingdon Road where Southend Flying Club acquired and operated a Blackburn Bluebird III, two Moths and a new Avro 638 Club Cadet where they operated hourly services to Rochester in pool with Short Brothers.
Another area also prominent in early aviation and linked to Ashingdon's pioneers is not far away on the other side of the River Crouch at Flambirds near Cold Norton and Stow Maries, the site of a sizeable and important Royal Flying Corps base where the original barracks and aerodrome buildings can still be seen.
There was also early flying from fields in North Fambridge across the river.
A United States Army Air Force wartime B26 aircraft crashed in Ashingdon in the fields to the north of Canewdon Road during the Second World War on 24th September 1944. The aircraft was flying from France in very bad weather to their home base at Matching Green, Essex. The crew of 5 men died in the crash and a monument was erected in the field near the crash-site.
