Boreham
Encyclopedia
Boreham is a village
and civil parish, in Essex
, England
. It is located approximately 6 km (3.7 mi) northeast from the county town of Chelmsford
. The village is in the borough of Chelmsford
and parliamentary constituency of Saffron Walden
.
of Boreham is ancient, and the village
is mentioned in the Domesday Book
as Borham.
Local legend holds that highwayman Dick Turpin
rode the A12 on his famous ride from London
to York
, although historians now believe the ride never occurred.
In the 1930s Boreham House
and 3000 acres (12.1 km²) of land surrounding it was bought by car magnate Henry Ford
. In addition to using the house as a school for training Ford
tractor mechanics, the company's British chairman, Lord Perry, established Fordson Estates Limited there, and founded the Henry Ford Institute of Agricultural Engineering, an agricultural college. The house also served as the temporary home for the National College of Agricultural Engineering
in 1962. This moved to Silsoe
, Bedfordshire
as Silsoe College later joining with Cranfield University
. The Silsoe campus closed at the end of 2007.
In 1952 a Ham class minesweeper
, HMS Boreham
, was named after the village.
Boreham remained relatively small until the mid-1970s when a programme of house and shop building increased its size significantly.
The village lies on a Roman road
(now a modern trunk road, the A12) and has a well known Norman
church and a public house (The Cock Inn) that dates from the 15th century. The surrounding countryside is gently hilly and is used to grow crops such as wheat
, sugar beet
and pea
s. It is north of the River Chelmer
.
The Great Eastern Main Line
line from Chelmsford to Colchester
runs past the village, but the Boreham's local halt was removed in the 1960s as part of the Beeching
cuts. In the 1970s a bypass was built on the edge of the village, along the same route as the A12 and the nearby railway line.
Boreham has a population of approximately 4000 people. It covers about 1554 hectares of land.
, once a palace of Henry VIII
known as The Palace of Beaulieu
. The estate on which it was built - the manor of Walhfare in Boreham - was granted to the Canons of Waltham Abbey in 1062.Charter S 1036 After various changes of possession it was granted by the Crown to the Earl of Ormond in 1491. By this time it had a house called New Hall.
In 1517 New Hall was sold by Thomas Boleyn to Henry VIII of England. The king rebuilt the house in brick at a cost of £17,000, a considerable sum at the time. He gave his new palace the name Beaulieu, though the name change did not outlast the century. New Hall was later the estate of the Tyrell family and latterly the Hoare banking family. Benjamin Hoare commissioned architect
Henry Flitcroft to build a new home nearby known as Boreham House
, a stately home
in 1727; the early Georgian
mansion is now a Grade I listed building.
A forest near the village was felled in 1943 to build a military airfield, and the three one-mile (1600 m) runway
s of RAF Boreham
opened in 1944. It hosted elements of the US Army Air Forces
394th Medium Bomb Group (flying B-26 Marauder
bombers) and later the 315th Troop Carrier Group flying C-47
s. After World War II
the three runways were adapted into a roughly triangular motor racing circuit, which hosted competitive meetings between 1949 and 1952. It was bought by Ford in 1955 for use as a development test track. Ford Motorsport moved to Boreham in 1963, and although some of the track was removed for gravel quarrying in 1996 the remaining track surface continues to be used for testing. Essex Police Air Support Unit have been based at the airfield and in 1990 began using Boreham airfield as a control centre for its fleet of helicopters. From 1997 to 2010, Essex Air Ambulance
was also based at the site.
On the opposite side of the A12 there is another Premier Inn and The Grange, a pub.
Village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...
and civil parish, in Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It is located approximately 6 km (3.7 mi) northeast from the county town of Chelmsford
Chelmsford
Chelmsford is the county town of Essex, England and the principal settlement of the borough of Chelmsford. It is located in the London commuter belt, approximately northeast of Charing Cross, London, and approximately the same distance from the once provincial Roman capital at Colchester...
. The village is in the borough of Chelmsford
Chelmsford (borough)
Chelmsford is a local government district and borough in Essex, England. It is named after its main settlement, Chelmsford, which is also the county town of Essex.-History:...
and parliamentary constituency of Saffron Walden
Saffron Walden (UK Parliament constituency)
Saffron Walden is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.- Boundaries :...
.
History
The parishParish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...
of Boreham is ancient, and the village
Village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...
is mentioned in the Domesday Book
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
as Borham.
Local legend holds that highwayman Dick Turpin
Dick Turpin
Richard "Dick" Turpin was an English highwayman whose exploits were romanticised following his execution in York for horse theft. Turpin may have followed his father's profession as a butcher early in life, but by the early 1730s he had joined a gang of deer thieves, and later became a poacher,...
rode the A12 on his famous ride from London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
to York
York
York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...
, although historians now believe the ride never occurred.
In the 1930s Boreham House
Boreham House
Boreham House is a Grade I Listed mansion set in of Boreham, Chelmsford, Essex. Nowadays, the Stately Home is used as a wedding venue. Boreham House was built from 1728 to 1733 for Benjamin Hoare and from 1931 to 1997 the House was owned by the Ford Company and used as a College.-The Origins:In...
and 3000 acres (12.1 km²) of land surrounding it was bought by car magnate Henry Ford
Henry Ford
Henry Ford was an American industrialist, the founder of the Ford Motor Company, and sponsor of the development of the assembly line technique of mass production. His introduction of the Model T automobile revolutionized transportation and American industry...
. In addition to using the house as a school for training Ford
Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK...
tractor mechanics, the company's British chairman, Lord Perry, established Fordson Estates Limited there, and founded the Henry Ford Institute of Agricultural Engineering, an agricultural college. The house also served as the temporary home for the National College of Agricultural Engineering
National College of Agricultural Engineering
The National College of Agricultural Engineering was opened in 1962. It was closed as a separate entity at the end of 2007 and the land sold for housing.-Foundation:...
in 1962. This moved to Silsoe
Silsoe
Silsoe is a village and civil parish in Bedfordshire, England.-Origin:The village name is derived from the Danish word ‘hoh’, in "Sifels hoh", meaning "Sifel’s hill". The Danes were thought to have been the earliest settlers here...
, Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire is a ceremonial county of historic origin in England that forms part of the East of England region.It borders Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Northamptonshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the west and Hertfordshire to the south-east....
as Silsoe College later joining with Cranfield University
Cranfield University
Cranfield University is a British postgraduate university based on two campuses, with a research-oriented focus. The main campus is at Cranfield, Bedfordshire and the second is the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom based at Shrivenham, Oxfordshire. The main campus is unique in the United...
. The Silsoe campus closed at the end of 2007.
In 1952 a Ham class minesweeper
Ham class minesweeper
The Ham class was a class of inshore minesweepers , known as the Type 1, of the British Royal Navy. The class was designed to operate in the shallow water of rivers and estuaries. It took its name from the fact that all the ship names were British place names ending in -"ham"...
, HMS Boreham
HMS Boreham
HMS Boreham was one of 93 ships of the of inshore minesweepers.Their names were all chosen from villages ending in -ham. The minesweeper was named after Boreham in Essex....
, was named after the village.
Boreham remained relatively small until the mid-1970s when a programme of house and shop building increased its size significantly.
Geography and administration
In addition to being a village, Boreham is a civil parish which has a parish councilThe village lies on a Roman road
Roman road
The Roman roads were a vital part of the development of the Roman state, from about 500 BC through the expansion during the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. Roman roads enabled the Romans to move armies and trade goods and to communicate. The Roman road system spanned more than 400,000 km...
(now a modern trunk road, the A12) and has a well known Norman
Norman architecture
About|Romanesque architecture, primarily English|other buildings in Normandy|Architecture of Normandy.File:Durham Cathedral. Nave by James Valentine c.1890.jpg|thumb|200px|The nave of Durham Cathedral demonstrates the characteristic round arched style, though use of shallow pointed arches above the...
church and a public house (The Cock Inn) that dates from the 15th century. The surrounding countryside is gently hilly and is used to grow crops such as wheat
Wheat
Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...
, sugar beet
Sugar beet
Sugar beet, a cultivated plant of Beta vulgaris, is a plant whose tuber contains a high concentration of sucrose. It is grown commercially for sugar production. Sugar beets and other B...
and pea
Pea
A pea is most commonly the small spherical seed or the seed-pod of the pod fruit Pisum sativum. Each pod contains several peas. Peapods are botanically a fruit, since they contain seeds developed from the ovary of a flower. However, peas are considered to be a vegetable in cooking...
s. It is north of the River Chelmer
River Chelmer
The River Chelmer is a river that flows entirely through the county of Essex, England.The source of the river is near Debden Green, a village near Thaxted. The source of the River Can is also nearby. The River Chelmer flows past Thaxted, south through the district of Uttlesford around the...
.
The Great Eastern Main Line
Great Eastern Main Line
The Great Eastern Main Line is a 212 Kilometre major railway line of the British railway system, which connects Liverpool Street in the City of London with destinations in east London and the East of England, including Chelmsford, Colchester, Ipswich, Norwich and several coastal resorts such as...
line from Chelmsford to Colchester
Colchester
Colchester is an historic town and the largest settlement within the borough of Colchester in Essex, England.At the time of the census in 2001, it had a population of 104,390. However, the population is rapidly increasing, and has been named as one of Britain's fastest growing towns. As the...
runs past the village, but the Boreham's local halt was removed in the 1960s as part of the Beeching
Beeching Axe
The Beeching Axe or the Beeching Cuts are informal names for the British Government's attempt in the 1960s to reduce the cost of running British Railways, the nationalised railway system in the United Kingdom. The name is that of the main author of The Reshaping of British Railways, Dr Richard...
cuts. In the 1970s a bypass was built on the edge of the village, along the same route as the A12 and the nearby railway line.
Boreham has a population of approximately 4000 people. It covers about 1554 hectares of land.
New Hall School
Just outside the village is New Hall SchoolNew Hall School
New Hall is one of the oldest Catholic schools in England. It is located in the former Tudor Palace of Beaulieu in Essex.Today New Hall is a leading Catholic independent boarding & day school for boys and girls aged 3–18. Founded in 1642, New Hall School, Chelmsford, is the oldest Catholic school...
, once a palace of Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
known as The Palace of Beaulieu
Palace of Beaulieu
right|350px|thumb|Beaulieu Palace circa 1580The Palace of Beaulieu also known as New Hall was located in Essex, England, north of Chelmsford....
. The estate on which it was built - the manor of Walhfare in Boreham - was granted to the Canons of Waltham Abbey in 1062.Charter S 1036 After various changes of possession it was granted by the Crown to the Earl of Ormond in 1491. By this time it had a house called New Hall.
In 1517 New Hall was sold by Thomas Boleyn to Henry VIII of England. The king rebuilt the house in brick at a cost of £17,000, a considerable sum at the time. He gave his new palace the name Beaulieu, though the name change did not outlast the century. New Hall was later the estate of the Tyrell family and latterly the Hoare banking family. Benjamin Hoare commissioned architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
Henry Flitcroft to build a new home nearby known as Boreham House
Boreham House
Boreham House is a Grade I Listed mansion set in of Boreham, Chelmsford, Essex. Nowadays, the Stately Home is used as a wedding venue. Boreham House was built from 1728 to 1733 for Benjamin Hoare and from 1931 to 1997 the House was owned by the Ford Company and used as a College.-The Origins:In...
, a stately home
Stately home
A stately home is a "great country house". It is thus a palatial great house or in some cases an updated castle, located in the British Isles, mostly built between the mid-16th century and the early part of the 20th century, as well as converted abbeys and other church property...
in 1727; the early Georgian
Georgian architecture
Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1720 and 1840. It is eponymous for the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I of Great Britain, George II of Great Britain, George III of the United...
mansion is now a Grade I listed building.
Boreham airfield
Runway
According to ICAO a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and take-off of aircraft." Runways may be a man-made surface or a natural surface .- Orientation and dimensions :Runways are named by a number between 01 and 36, which is generally one tenth...
s of RAF Boreham
RAF Boreham
With the facility released from military control, in 1946, the West Essex Car Club developed the 4.76 kilometre perimeter track for motor racing. Although not on the official Grand Prix calendar, Boreham Racing Circuit hosted competitive races between 1949 and 1952. Among the teams that raced at...
opened in 1944. It hosted elements of the US Army Air Forces
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
394th Medium Bomb Group (flying B-26 Marauder
B-26 Marauder
The Martin B-26 Marauder was a World War II twin-engine medium bomber built by the Glenn L. Martin Company. First used in the Pacific Theater in early 1942, it was also used in the Mediterranean Theater and in Western Europe....
bombers) and later the 315th Troop Carrier Group flying C-47
Douglas DC-3
The Douglas DC-3 is an American fixed-wing propeller-driven aircraft whose speed and range revolutionized air transport in the 1930s and 1940s. Its lasting impact on the airline industry and World War II makes it one of the most significant transport aircraft ever made...
s. After World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
the three runways were adapted into a roughly triangular motor racing circuit, which hosted competitive meetings between 1949 and 1952. It was bought by Ford in 1955 for use as a development test track. Ford Motorsport moved to Boreham in 1963, and although some of the track was removed for gravel quarrying in 1996 the remaining track surface continues to be used for testing. Essex Police Air Support Unit have been based at the airfield and in 1990 began using Boreham airfield as a control centre for its fleet of helicopters. From 1997 to 2010, Essex Air Ambulance
Essex Air Ambulance
Essex Air Ambulance is an air ambulance service serving the county of Essex and surrounding areas, in the east of England. It is one of twenty-five air ambulance services in the United Kingdom....
was also based at the site.
Boreham Interchange
To the west of Boreham lies the Boreham Interchange. The Boreham Interchange plays host to a service station containing:- a McDonald'sMcDonald'sMcDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 64 million customers daily in 119 countries. Headquartered in the United States, the company began in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated by the eponymous Richard and Maurice McDonald; in 1948...
with a drive through; - a BPBPBP p.l.c. is a global oil and gas company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest energy company and fourth-largest company in the world measured by revenues and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors"...
Petrol StationFilling stationA filling station, also known as a fueling station, garage, gasbar , gas station , petrol bunk , petrol pump , petrol garage, petrol kiosk , petrol station "'servo"' in Australia or service station, is a facility which sells fuel and lubricants...
; - a Premier Inn.
On the opposite side of the A12 there is another Premier Inn and The Grange, a pub.
Notable residents
- Elizabeth Stafford, Countess of SussexElizabeth Stafford, Countess of SussexElizabeth Stafford was a daughter of Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham and his wife Catherine Woodville. She was a sister of Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham and Henry Stafford, 1st Earl of Wiltshire....
- is buried in the village. - Thomas Wharton, 2nd Baron WhartonThomas Wharton, 2nd Baron WhartonThomas Wharton, 2nd Baron Wharton was an English peer. He was knighted in 1543 by Seymour-Hertford and married to Anne Radcliffe, elder daughter of Robert first earl of Sussex, in 1547....
- was given a residence in the village by Queen Mary I of England. - Rod HarringtonRod HarringtonRod Harrington is a former English darts player. He used the nickname The Prince of Style for his matches, often wearing a suit and waistcoast for his games...
- Former dartsDartsDarts is a form of throwing game where darts are thrown at a circular target fixed to a wall. Though various boards and games have been used in the past, the term "darts" usually now refers to a standardised game involving a specific board design and set of rules...
player.
