Lambourne is a civil parish

Civil parish

In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...

 in the Epping Forest

Epping Forest (district)

Epping Forest is a local government district of the county of Essex, England. It is named after Epping Forest, of which the district contains a large part...

 district of 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 4.5 miles (7 km) South of Epping

Epping

Epping is a small market town and civil parish in the Epping Forest district of the County of Essex, England. It is located north-east of Loughton, south of Harlow and north-west of Brentwood....

 and 5 miles (8 km) North-West of Romford

Romford

Romford is a large suburban town in north east London, England and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Havering. It is located northeast of Charing Cross and is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan...

, it is situated entirely within the M25 motorway

M25 motorway

The M25 motorway, or London Orbital, is a orbital motorway that almost encircles Greater London, England, in the United Kingdom. The motorway was first mooted early in the 20th century. A few sections, based on the now abandoned London Ringways plan, were constructed in the early 1970s and it ...

. It covers an area of 2590 acres (1,048.1 ha), its population as of 2001 numberd 1,828.

Geography

The parish is mostly rural and agricultural, and lies in the valley of the River Roding

River Roding

The River Roding is a river in England that rises near Dunmow, flows through Essex and forms Barking Creek as it reaches the River Thames in London....

 which forms the northern boundary of the parish. The parish is mostly hilly, rising to above 100 metres in its centre.

There is no actual 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...

 called Lambourne, however the principal settlement is the village of Abridge

Abridge

Abridge is a village in Essex, England. It is on the River Roding, southwest of the county town of Chelmsford. The village is in the district of Epping Forest and in the parliamentary constituency of Brentwood & Ongar...

 in the far North-West of the parish, with the other main concentration of houses at the hamlet

Hamlet

The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...

 of Lambourne End to the south. A scattering of farms and houses is found throughout the rest of the parish.

Stapleford Aerodrome

Stapleford Aerodrome

Stapleford Aerodrome is an airfield in the Epping Forest district of Essex, England near to the village of Abridge. It is about south of North Weald Airfield and north of Romford...

 is located in the east of the parish. Another aviation connection is its status as the location of LAM

Lam

-Lam:*Mor lam, an ancient Lao form of song in Laos and Isan*Lam saravane, a music genre*Lam luang, a music genre*Lam, Germany, a town in Bavaria-LAM:*Lactational amenorrhea method, a contraceptive method...

 , a VOR

VHF omnidirectional range

VOR, short for VHF omnidirectional radio range, is a type of radio navigation system for aircraft. A VOR ground station broadcasts a VHF radio composite signal including the station's identifier, voice , and navigation signal. The identifier is typically a two- or three-letter string in Morse code...

 navigational beacon which anchors the North East (NE) Arrival Stack for London Heathrow Airport (ICAO: EGLL / IATA: LHR

London Heathrow Airport

London Heathrow Airport or Heathrow , in the London Borough of Hillingdon, is the busiest airport in the United Kingdom and the third busiest airport in the world in terms of total passenger traffic, handling more international passengers than any other airport around the globe...

), which along with Biggin Hill

Biggin Hill

Biggin Hill is an area and electoral ward in the outskirts of the London Borough of Bromley in southeast London, United Kingdom.-History:Historically the settlement was known as Aperfield and formed part of the parish of Cudham...

, Kent (BIG - SE Arrivals), Bovingdon

Bovingdon

Bovingdon is a large village in the Chiltern Hills, in Hertfordshire, England, four miles south-west of Hemel Hempstead and it is a civil parish within the local authority area of Dacorum...

, Hertfordshire (BNN - NW Arrivals) and Ockham, Surrey

Ockham, Surrey

Ockham is a tiny English village near East Horsley, in Surrey, England. The village lies to the east of the A3 which runs between Cobham and Guildford. Other neighbouring villages include Ripley, Wisley and Effingham....

 (OCK - SW Arrivals) are London's main holds.

History

Like much of the neighbouring area, Lambourne was thickly wooded in the Middle Ages

Middle Ages

The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...

 with forest gradually being cleared for agriculture. A few remnants of the historic Hainault Forest are found in the southern fringe of the parish, and now form part of a country park.

Its population was 505 in 1801 rising to 904 by 1841, remaining at about that level for the next century.

Historically Lambourne was included in the hundred

Hundred (division)

A hundred is a geographic division formerly used in England, Wales, Denmark, South Australia, some parts of the United States, Germany , Sweden, Finland and Norway, which historically was used to divide a larger region into smaller administrative divisions...

 of Ongar. It formed part of the Epping and Ongar Rural District

Epping and Ongar Rural District

Epping and Ongar Rural District was a rural district in the county of Essex, England. It was created in 1955 by the merger of the disbanded Ongar Rural District and most of the disbanded Epping Rural District, except the civil parishes of Great Parndon, Harlow, Latton, Little Parndon and...

 from 1894 until that authority was absorbed into Epping Forest District in 1974.

Places of interest

The mediaeval parish church of St Mary is in an isolated location next to the Hall, as is typical for Essex, rather than near a centre of population. It has an unusual Georgian internal remodelling.

Hainault Forest Country Park

Hainault Forest Country Park

Hainault Forest Country Park is one of the remaining sections of the former Forest of Essex in England. Epping Forest and Hatfield Forest are other examples. It is located in Hainault in the London Borough of Redbridge and its area is 136 hectares...

, managed by the Woodland Trust

Woodland Trust

The Woodland Trust is a conservation charity in the United Kingdom concerned with the protection and sympathetic management of native woodland heritage.-History:...

.