Aldham, Essex

{{Infobox UK place

| country = England

| official_name = Aldham

| static_image_name = St. Margaret's church, Aldham, Essex - geograph.org.uk - 144990.jpg

| static_image_caption = Church of St Margaret and St Catherine

| coordinates = {{coord|51.8933|0.7853|display=inline,title}}

| population = 491

| population_ref = (2011) (parish, includes Fordstreet)

| area_total_sq_mi = 2.77

| civil_parish = Aldham

| shire_district = City of Colchester

| shire_county = Essex

| region = East of England

| constituency_westminster = Harwich and North Essex

| post_town = COLCHESTER

| postcode_district = CO6

| postcode_area = CO

| dial_code = 01206

| os_grid_reference = TL917253

}}

Aldham is a village and civil parish in the City of Colchester district of Essex, England. It is located {{convert|4 + 1/2|mi|abbr=on}} west of Colchester. The village is in the parliamentary constituency of Harwich and North Essex. The village has its own parish council.{{cite web |url=https://www.aldhamparishcouncil.gov.uk|publisher=VCS Parish Council Websites|title=Aldham Parish Council|accessdate=2024-03-12 }}

The ancient parish covered {{convert|1847|acres}} but local-government boundary changes reduced this to {{convert|1770|acres}} by the mid-twentieth century.{{cite web|title=Aldham introduction|publisher= in A History of the County of Essex: Volume 10, Lexden Hundred (Part) Including Dedham, Earls Colne and Wivenhoe, ed. Janet Cooper (London, 2001), pp. 9-13.|website= British History Online|url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/essex/vol10/pp9-13|accessdate=28 July 2018}} The village borders Fordstreet, Marks Tey and the River Colne to the north. The parish is geographically on an incline, with the land sloping from around {{convert|170|ft|sigfig=1}} in the northwest down to around {{convert|60|ft|sigfig=1}} near the Roman River, where it is susceptible to flooding.

The 2001 census gave the parish population as 513, decreasing to 491 at the 2011 census.{{cite web|url=http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadKeyFigures.do?a=7&b=11119902&c=CO6+3PL&d=16&e=62&g=6424276&i=1001x1003x1032x1004&m=0&r=0&s=1443532520826&enc=1|title=Parish population 2011|accessdate=29 September 2015}} It is {{convert|1 + 2/3|miles|}} from the A12 road, a major trunk road.

History

File:Aldham-sign.jpg showing the church and the historian Philip Morant]]

There have been Iron Age finds in the area near Fordstreet and also pottery that may indicate Roman settlement. The village was founded in the Middle Ages, and by the time of the Domesday Book of 1086 there was a population of 12 with four households.{{cite web|title=Open Domesday: Aldham, Essex|url=https://opendomesday.org/place/TL9125/aldham/}} The population rose in the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and by 1671 there were at least 55 households in the village.

=Church=

Aldham's parish church is dedicated to St Margaret and St Catherine and is a Grade II* listed building.{{NHLE|num=1170063|desc=CHURCH OF ST MARGARET AND ST CATHERINE|accessdate=29 January 2018}} The church is first mentioned in 1145. The original church stood by Old Church Farm to the west of the village. By the middle of the 19th century, it had become very decrepit; the floor was damp, the walls had to be supported by large brick buttresses, and stout wooden posts had replaced some of the pillars. In 1853, it was decided to build a new church in a more central location, modelled on the old one (but enlarged) and re-using as much of the original fabric as possible, notably the whole of the 14th-century south porch. Although located near the geographical centre of the parish, only a few cottages were in close proximity to the new church, with the majority of the buildings in the parish on the main road at Fordstreet. However, since that time, there has been much building near the church and the area has become known as "Aldham Village" to differentiate it from Fordstreet. Since 1951, the parish has been held jointly with Marks Tey.{{cite web|title=Aldham Church History|url=https://www.aldhamchurch.org.uk/church-history|publisher=VCS Parish Church Websites|accessdate=12 November 2024}}

Notable residents

Philip Morant - historian of Essex, was Rector from 1745 to 1770. His profile appears on the village sign.
Damon Albarn (1968- ) - musician, lead singer of Blur and co-creator of "virtual" rock band Gorillaz spent part of his childhood in Aldham.

References

External links

{{OpenDomesday|TL9125|aldham|Aldham}}
[https://www.aldhamparishcouncil.gov.uk Aldham Parish Council]
[https://www.aldhamchurch.org.uk St Margaret's & St Catherine's Church, Aldham]

Category:Villages in Essex

Category:Borough of Colchester