Danbury is a village in Essex, England. It is thirty five miles East of London and has a population of 6,500. It is perched on a hill 112 metres above sea level.

The village was built on the site of a megalithic hill fort noted for its oval shape. This shape is formed by placing two 3-4-5 right triangles together to form an isosceles triangle with an altitudes of 3. The chancel of the St John the Baptist church is at the centre of the small arc and the axis of the church lies along the hypotenuse of one triangle. The church of St John the Baptist is the oldest building in the village, dating from the 13th century.

According to the official parish publication 'Danbury Parish Plan 2003', first Iron Age settlers, then the Romans followed by Saxon tribe the Dæningas, originally occupied the Danbury area. They built a hill fort. It was known as Danengeberiam in the Domesday Book of 1086, a name meaning 'stronghold of the family or followers of a man called Dene'. After the Norman Conquest, King William took the lands and settlement and granted it to Geoffrey de Mandeville who was made Earl of Essex.

In medieval times Danbury developed from two manors: St Cleres/Herons and Runsell. Traces of both exist. There was also a small part of a third, now extinct, manor of Gibcracks.

The village has a long connection with the Sinclair family, known locally as St Clere. There are three wooden effigies in the church which date back to the thirteenth and fourteenth century. One has been identified as being that of William St Clere. In 1968 it was taken to be exhibited at the Louvre in Paris.

In 1779 the tomb of a knight was disturbed, and the body therein was discovered to be perfectly preserved in what was described as pickle. Some people suggested that the body was that of a Knight Templar, but this was contested by Joseph Strutt, MP for Maldon. Strutt also attempted to write a romance with a book called Queenhoo Hall. In 1808, Walter Scott was asked to complete the book by his publisher John Murray. Scott visited the village and stayed at the Griffin to make his first stab at romantic fiction.

The church also contains some memorial slabs to the Mildmays. Sir Walter Mildmay was the founder of Emmanuel College, Cambridge and built Danbury Place locally in 1589. The original building has long since disappeared but another was built to succeed it in 1832. This is in a Tudor style in red brick. It was acquired by the Church of England in 1845 and became the residence of the Bishop of Rochester. From then on it became known as Danbury Palace.

The village is at the centre of extensive areas of woodland and heath owned by the National Trust and other preservation organisations. However the quietude of the surrounding countryside contrasts with the main A414 highway that runs through the centre of the village linking it with Maldon to the east and Chelmsford to the west.

[edit] Nearby places

[edit] Resources

Wendy Moore, David Moore (1997) Danbury Walks: Six Circular Walks Around the Danbury Countryside , published by Essex County Council, ISBN 1-85281-150-1
Andrew Collins (1985) Knights of Danbury: The Story of Danbury and Its Mysterious Knights of St. Clere, Earthquest Books, ISBN 0-9508024-1-7
A. D. Mills, Oxford Dictionary of English Place Names OUP, 1998 ISBN 0-19-280074-4
Danbury Parish Plan 2003, published by Danbury Parish Council, 2004, no ISBN

[edit] External links

view • talk • edit</span> The towns and villages of Chelmsford borough, Essex in the East of England:\|\|Image:Flag of Essex.svg
Boreham • Broad's Green • Butt's Green • Chalk End • Chapel Row • Chatham Green • Chelmsford • Chignall Smealy • Chignall St James • Cooksmill Green • Danbury • Downham • East Hanningfield • Fanner's Green • Ford End • Galleywood • Galleyend • Good Easter • Great Baddow • Great Leighs • Great Oxney Green • Great Waltham • Highwood • Howe Green • Howe Street • Little Baddow • Little Leighs • Littley Green • Little Waltham • Margaretting • Margaretting Tye • Mashury • Newney Green • North End • Pepper's Green • Pleshey • Ramsden Heath • Rettendon • Rettendon Place • Roxwell • Runwell • Sandon • South Hanningfield • South Woodham Ferrers • Stock • Tye Green • West Hanningfield • Writtle • Woodham Ferrers
The town of Chelmsford List of places in Essex

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