Bures St Mary

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Bures St Mary
Bures St Mary - Chapel of St Stephen.jpg
The chapel of St Stephen from 1218,
with its thatched roof
Suffolk UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Bures St Mary
Location within Suffolk
Area10.44 km2 (4.03 sq mi)
Population918 (2011) [1]
•  Density 88/km2 (230/sq mi)
OS grid reference TL908340
District
Shire county
Region
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town BURES
Postcode district CO8
Dialling code 01787
Police Suffolk
Fire Suffolk
Ambulance East of England
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Suffolk
51°58′18″N0°46′38″E / 51.97177°N 0.77728°E / 51.97177; 0.77728 Coordinates: 51°58′18″N0°46′38″E / 51.97177°N 0.77728°E / 51.97177; 0.77728

Bures St Mary is a civil parish in the Babergh district of the English county of Suffolk. In 2005 it had a population of 940, reducing to 918 at the 2011 Census. [1] The parish covers the eastern part of the village of Bures, the western part being in the Bures Hamlet parish in Essex divided by the River Stour.

Contents

History

The area is rich with cropmarks that include the eastern end of a cursus. [2]

According to the twelfth-century Annals of St Neots , Edmund the Martyr, King of East Anglia, was crowned on Christmas Day 856 "in the royal vill of Burna", which is identified by historians as Bures. [3]

In the Domesday Book of 1086, the village is referred to as "Bura" or "Bure", it's documented having a church with 18 acres (73,000 m2) of free land. The name "Bures" could be derived from either an Old English word "bur", meaning a cottage or bower, or from a Celtic word meaning a "boundary". If the village was not named until after the Norman Conquest, (circa 1066) it could have been called after a French village of the same name, of which there are at least eight: (Bures en Bray, Bures sur Dives, Bures Les Monts, Bures (orne), Bures (Yvelines), Bures Sur Yvette, Bures, Les Bures.

One of the oldest buildings is St Stephen's Chapel which dates back to 1218 when it was dedicated by the Archbishop of Canterbury. It predates St Mary's Church in the village centre, by some 150 years. In 1659 the village was also known as "Bewers" before it gained its modern title of Bures.

Several early émigrés to New England originated from Bures St. Mary and neighbouring Wormingford. Thomas Felbrigge (Philbrick) and his wife Elizabeth Knopp, both of Bures St. Mary, progenitors of the Philbrick family of writers and artists in America including historian Nathaniel Philbrick, arrived in Watertown, Massachusetts in about 1633 and settled in Hampton, New Hampshire. [4] William Knopp of Bures St. Mary (probably a cousin of Elizabeth (Knopp) Philbrick) and wife Judith Tue of Wormingford arrived in Watertown, Massachusetts in 1630. [5]

During the Victorian era, Bures was an industrial village with its own tannery, maltings, brickworks, abattoir, gas works, electricity generator and many other small industries, as well as at least 8 public houses.

Before the coming of the railway in 1849 the transportation of heavy goods manufactured in the village, such as bricks and malt were undertaken by barge (lighter) along the River Stour to Mistley. Following the growth of the railway river traffic fell into decline and stopped in the early 1900s. The rail line in its prime connected Marks Tey to Sudbury and onward to Cambridge and Bury St Edmunds.

The centre of the village has many old historic buildings, with around 75 listed buildings across the parish. Smallbridge Hall, once an Elizabethan manor house, stands at the edge of the village on the bank of the River Stour.

Governance

An electoral ward of the same name exists. This ward stretches north to Newton with a total population of 1,699. [6]

Geography

The population of Bures (2001 census) numbers around 1800, with 659 in Bures Hamlet and 728 in Bures St Mary. Bures can offer two Nature Reserves, Arger Fen a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and the adjacent Spouses Vale owned by the Suffolk Wildlife Trust.

The village only currently supports three retailers and a post office.

Related Research Articles

River Stour, Suffolk River in East Anglia, England

The River Stour is a river in East Anglia, England. It is 47 miles (76 km) long and forms most of the county boundary between Suffolk to the north, and Essex to the south. It rises in eastern Cambridgeshire, passes to the east of Haverhill, through Cavendish, Bures, Sudbury, Nayland, Stratford St Mary, Dedham and flows through the Dedham Vale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It becomes tidal just before Manningtree in Essex and joins the North Sea at Harwich.

Nayland Human settlement in England

Nayland is a village and former civil parish in the Stour Valley on the Suffolk side of the border between Suffolk and Essex in England. In 2011 the built-up area had a population of 938. In 1881 the civil parish had a population of 901.

Sturminster Marshall Village in England

Sturminster Marshall is a village and civil parish in east Dorset in England, situated on the River Stour between Blandford Forum and Poole. The parish had a population of 1,895 at the 2001 census, increasing to 1,969 at the 2011 Census and includes the village of Almer west of Sturminster Marshall, near Winterborne Zelston and the hamlet of Henbury to the south-east of the village. The village is twinned with the French commune of Sainte-Mère-Église in Normandy. The appropriate electoral ward is called 'Stour'. From Sturminster Marshall the ward goes east to Pamphill, with a total population of 2,582.

Stoke-by-Nayland Human settlement in England

Stoke-by-Nayland is a village and civil parish in the Babergh district, in the county of Suffolk, England, close to the border with Essex. The parish includes the village of Withermarsh Green and the hamlets of Thorington Street and Scotland Street. The village has many cottages and timber-framed houses and all surround a recreation field. Possibly once the site of a monastery, the population of the civil parish at the 2001 census was 703, falling to 682 at the Census 2011.

Brantham Human settlement in England

Brantham is a village and civil parish in the Babergh district of Suffolk, England. It is located close to the River Stour and the border with Essex, around 2 miles (3 km) north of Manningtree, and around 9 miles (14 km) southwest of Ipswich.

Long Melford Village in Suffolk, England

Long Melford, colloquially and historically also referred to as Melford, is a large village and civil parish in the Babergh district, in the county of Suffolk, England. It is on Suffolk's border with Essex, which is marked by the River Stour, 3 miles (4.8 km) from Sudbury, approximately 16 miles (26 km) from Colchester and 14 miles (23 km) from Bury St Edmunds. It is one of Suffolk's "wool towns" and is a former market town. The parish also includes the hamlets of Bridge Street and Cuckoo Tye.

Boxford, Suffolk Human settlement in England

Boxford is a large village and civil parish in the Babergh district of Suffolk, England. Located around six miles east of Sudbury straddling the River Box and skirted by the Holbrook, in 2005 the parish had a population of 1,270. decreasing to 1,221 at the 2011 Census.

Bures Hamlet is a civil parish in the Braintree district of Essex, England. At the 2011 census, it had a population of 749.

Grundisburgh Human settlement in England

Grundisburgh is a village of 1,584 residents situated in the English county of Suffolk. It is in the East Suffolk district, six 6 miles (10 km) north-east from Ipswich and 4 miles (6 km) north-west of Woodbridge located on the B1079. Flowing through the village are the rivers Lark and Gull. The finding of Ipswich and Thetford-type pottery suggests that there was settlement in the Middle Saxon era. The village is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as "Grundesbur", "Grundesburg", "Grundesburh" or "Grundesburc". Grundisburgh is pronounced "Gruns-bruh".

Holbrook, Suffolk Human settlement in England

Holbrook is a village situated close to the northern shore of the estuary of the River Stour, in Suffolk, England. It is located on the Shotley Peninsula in Babergh district, around 5 miles (8.0 km) south of Ipswich.

Monks Eleigh Human settlement in England

Monks Eleigh is a village and a civil parish in Babergh, Suffolk, United Kingdom, situated on the tributary to the River Brett in a rural area. The parish contains the hamlets of Swingleton Green and Stackyard Green.

Bures, England Human settlement in England

Bures is a village in eastern England that straddles the Essex/Suffolk border, made up of two civil parishes: Bures Hamlet in Essex and Bures St. Mary in Suffolk.

Glemsford Human settlement in England

Glemsford is a village in the Babergh district in Suffolk, England, near the town of Sudbury. Glemsford is located near the River Glem and the River Stour also flows nearby. Glemsford is surrounded by arable farmland and is not far from historic Suffolk villages such as Lavenham and Long Melford.

Dedham, Essex Human settlement in England

Dedham is a village within the borough of Colchester in northeast Essex, England, on the River Stour and the border of Essex and Suffolk. The nearest town to Dedham is the small market town of Manningtree.

Wormingford Human settlement in England

Wormingford is a village and civil parish in Essex, England.

Edmund Rice (colonist) English immigrant to Massachusetts Bay Colony

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Edwardstone Human settlement in England

Edwardstone is a village and civil parish in the Babergh district, in the county of Suffolk, England. The parish contains the hamlets of Mill Green, Priory Green, Round Maple and Sherbourne Street, and Edwardstone Woods, a Site of Special Scientific Interest. The parish touches Boxford, Great Waldingfield, Groton, Little Waldingfield, Milden and Newton.

Thorpe Morieux Human settlement in England

Thorpe Morieux is a small village and civil parish in Suffolk, England. It is 10 miles south-east of Bury St Edmunds and 10 miles north east of Sudbury.

Leavenheath Human settlement in England

Leavenheath is a village and civil parish located on the Essex - Suffolk border. Located on the A134 between Sudbury and Colchester, it is part of Babergh district. The parish also contains the hamlets of Cock Street and Honey Tye, and in 2001 had a population of 1,373, falling slightly to 1,370 at the 2011 Census.

Smallbridge Hall

Smallbridge Hall is a Grade II* listed English country house in Bures St. Mary, Suffolk, near Colchester, England. The house is partially surrounded by a moat and stands on the bank of the River Stour. The present building is one wing of a large two-storey red-brick Elizabethan mansion. It was heavily restored once around c. 1874 and again in 1932.

References

  1. 1 2 "Civil Population 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
  2. ↑ The Stour Valley: a Prehistoric Landscape, Colchester Archaeological Group
  3. ↑ Gransden, Antonia (2004). "Edmund [St Edmund] (d. 869)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 4 June 2018.(subscription or UK public library membership required)
  4. ↑ New England Historical and Genealogical Register, vol. 108, page 252
  5. ↑ New England Historical and Genealogical Register, vol. 147, page 328
  6. ↑ "Ward population 2011" . Retrieved 11 September 2015.
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