A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM GREAT HALLINGBURY
Many thanks for your emails and kind support over the past year. Over 1,000 pages were viewed on this website during December 2011, and over 12,000 pages were viewed during the past year, including visitors from all over the world. Please continue to let us know what you would like to see on this web site.
Please email suitable material, including pictures, local news, details of events at the village hall, etc., to - jekar1@aol.com
See The Latest Edition of the award winning Great Hallingbury Highlights Magazine, and the Parish News for details of village events.
Just click on headings in the left panel, and then click on the files you wish to view.
Spangles
A Sure Start Children's Centre
Spangles is a Sure Start Childrens Centre providing advice and support for parents and carers. It offers easy access to health and family support, drop in sessions, activities and information about local childcare and early education. These services are available to you from before your baby's birth right through to when your child goes to school.
Although the main hub is in Stansted, the Outreach Worker and Family Support Worker also work in the surrounding villages including Great Hallingbury.
Please contact the Children's Centre if you would like information about local groups for under 5's, childcare, adult training and employment, play and learning, parenting advice, housing and benefits advice or family support services.
Call us on 01279 812348 or take a look at our website www.spangleschildrenscentre.org
Please email suitable material for this web site, including pictures, local news, details of events at the village hall, etc., to - jekar1@aol.com
See The Latest Edition of the award winning Great Hallingbury Highlights Magazine, and the Parish News for details of Village Hall and History Society events.
Read all about the - United Benefice of the Hallingburys at
William Bedwell and the King James’ Bible
2011 marked the 400th Anniversary of the King James’ Bible. See the February 2011 issue of the Great Hallingbury Parish magazine, and page 10 of the Autumn 2011 edition of Highlights, to read an interesting article by Philip Hays. This article sets out to explain how the Bible was translated and to focus closely on the life of one of the translators, William Bedwell of Great Hallingbury.
Information on future SSE events is available from the Coming Events section of the SSE website at www.stopstanstedexpansion.com or by calling 01279 870558. Great Hallingbury is located just off the M11 (junction 8) and the village hall is in Church Road, CM22 7TZ.
Please complain about aircraft noise to -
Email - stantednoiseline@baa.com
Telephone - (direct line) 01279 662 468 or (24 hours) 0800 243 788
The Campaign Team
Stop Stansted Expansion 01279 870558 info@stopstanstedexpansion.com www.stopstanstedexpansion.com
“Our Community – Our Responsibility”
Buy a shingle to repair our spire -
Just one pound each - The wooden shingles(tiles) on the St.Giles spire have been attacked by woodpeckers and we now need to replace a number of shingles - please support our appeal.
THE MOBILE POLICE OFFICE - WILL BE AT THE VILLAGE HALL ON FRIDAY’S FROM 3.00 TO 4.00 pm. please see the latest Hightlights Magazine in 'OurFiles' for details THE MOBILE LIBRARY WILL BE AT: BEDLARS GREEN 2.10 TO 2.25pm WOODSIDE GREEN 2.25 TO 2.50pm ON ALTERNATE WEDNESDAYS - Please see the latest Hightlights Magazine in 'Our Files' for details.
Click on 'Links to related Websites' to see the Little Hallingbury Website and the Bishop's Storford Camera Club Website.
The manor of Hallingbury Place was adjacent to HatfieldForest which became a royal forest under William the Conqueror and was part of the Forest of Essex. The present villages of Great and Little Hallingbury run around the perimeter of the estate of the former Hallingbury Place.
The famous Residents of Great Hallingbury –
200 AD – 1923 AD
Romans
There are many Roman remains in the village. The Chancel arch in the church is built of Roman bricks. There have been many finds of pottery, i.e. Samian ware in the village.
Saxons
The Romans left Britain in 410AD, and the Saxons took over parts of this area, the tribal leader Hallinga giving his name to the fort he built, (Hallinga’s burh)
Domesday 1086
The domesday book refers to the land before Williams’s time. Hallingbury was held by Edith, along with a freeman Godith and a thane Asgar. Edith was the mistress of King Harold, nick-named Swanneck, and legend says she was buried in St. Michaels church. The first Norman to hold the land was Geoffrey Martel, who held several manors in Great Hallingbury, with 25 acres of meadow worth 28 pence. The village also had a priest, 5 plough teams, 8 villagers (there had been 18), 5 borders, woodland for 600 pigs, 8 cattle, 120 sheep, 8 swine and 3 beehives. It was worth £6.
The Normans built the church, although only the chancel arch and one small window remain from this period.
Henry Parker
Henry Parker, Lord Morley, was a gentleman usher to King Henry VIII and was present at the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520. In around 1518, he took over the Hallingbury estates. He probably built the Tutor house, which was finally pulled down in 1923. Henry died in 1556 and the funeral helms in the church are his. (one is now in the Victoria and Albert Museum).
Henry’s grandson succeeded him. He was also called Henry and was a recusant in Elizabeth’s reign, which is probably why the priest, Richard Amadas continued to worship as a Catholic. He hid the altar Statues in the walls of the church. They were found when the church was rebuilt in the nineteenth century.
Henry was implicated in the rebellion of the Northern earls against Elizabeth in 1570, although previously in 1560, he had entertained Elizabeth at Hallingbury Place. After the uprising, he was considered a dangerous traitor and fled abroad. The crown seized the estates.
After the death of Henry, his son Edward was restored to the estates. He conformed to the Protestant religion, and in 1586 was one of the judges in the trial of Mary Queen of Scots. He again entertained Elizabeth on one of her progresses through Essex and in 1592 he bought Hatfield Forest, previously a royal hunting forest.
William Parker
William Parker 4th baron Mounteagle and Lord Morley was the next Parker of note. He married Elizabeth Tresham, sister of Sir Francis Tresham, one of the plotters in the Gunpowder plot in 1605. Realising his brother-in-law could be blown up in Parliament, attending the House of Lords,Tresham sent a letter to Mounteagle saying that “they shall receive a terrible blow, this Parliament” Mounteagle informed Sir Robert Cecil and James I and the plotters were caught. Some 30 barrels of gun powder and a large store of wood were found along with Guy Fawkes in the basement of Parliament. Lord Mounteagle went on to become a member of the Council in1606. He was a member of the East India Company. He died in 1622 and was buried in the church.
In the reign of James I there lived in Great Hallingbury another important person – William Bedwell. Born in 1562 he lived until 1632. He was an important Cambridge Scholar and is believed to have lived at Bedwell (or Bedlars) Green. He became known as the father of Arabic Studies, but was also a mathematician who wrote several mathematical treatises. He was the first teacher of Arabic in England, and author of the first European book on the Koran. He also translated the Bible into Arabic. For us he is important as a teacher at Bishop’s Stortford School and in 1604 he became one of the Westminster Company of translators of the Bible, i.e. The King James Bible 1611.
Henry Parker
Henry Parker 12th Lord Morley was a Cambridge graduate. He supported Charles I in the Civil war, was caught and denounced guilty of treason and all his wealth impounded. In 1697 his son had no heirs and the title died out. The Morleys were followed by the Turnours.
Probably, as far as the Hallingburys are concerned, the most important family were –
The Houblons
The Houblons were religious refugee merchants from Lille who settled in London. James Houblon, born 1592 was a friend of Pepys and is mentioned in the famous diary. Pepys also wrote his epitaph. His son John was founder of the bank of England, (His portrait is on today’s £50 note). He gave £10,000 in 1694 and became its first governor. He also became Lord Mayor of London. John’s nephew, Richard, inherited and left his wealth to his nephew Jacob.
Jacob Houblon bought the Hallingbury estates at the end of the 17th Century. He was educated at Harrow and Cambridge and graduated in 1729. From 1735-41, he was MP for Colchester. He married Mary Hynde Cotton of Madingley in 1735. In 1736 the birth of their son Jacob was a cause for great celebration in the Hallingburys, which was reported in the London Gazeteer. Jacob made many improvements in the village. He provided work for his tenants and villagers, dredging a swamp in the forest and making the lake. He rebuilt cottages, improved methods of farming, replanted woods and copses. He also bred horses and raced them. His son Jacob continued his fathers work. He too was educated at Harrow and Cambridge and as was fashionable, went on the Grand Tour. He brought back with him seeds of Cedars of Lebanon which he planted in the Cedar Drive. His children picnicked in the forest – Laetitia decorated the Shell House. It is possible that Capability Brown worked on the Gardens at Hallingbury Place, certainly he planned them and was paid £105 in 1729.
Laetitia married Baron von Feilstach, who along with the Houblons was buried in the church yard.
Young Jacob had married Susannah Archer, hence the next personality is John Archer Houblon who did so much for the village. He built houses for his tenants, and farm hands, the school for 200 children with its text over the door ‘The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, …’ He rebuilt the church in 1874 with its carved capitals and superb Reredos, with its inset cross. The painting is in the style of Byrne Jones. The steeple had on top of it the golden cross which he could see form the house and along his path from the house to the church. The church opening is described in detail in the records. John married twice – first Ann who died in 1847 and then Georgina, who was with him for 44 years. She wrote about his life and works which is why we know so much about him. On John’s death the estates were sold and in 1924 the estate was broken up and the house pulled down.
Our thanks to Shirley Mackrill for this text.
(Click on HISTORY for more information)
Great Hallingbury village includes the hamlets of Start Hill, Tilekiln Green, Bedlars Green, Howe Green, Anvil Cross, Woodside Green, Jenkins Lane and Beldams. The village falls within the Uttlesford District Council in the County of Essex.
