Civic Amenities

The Five Greens

Broomfield Parish is known as the Parish of 5 Greens:-Church Green; Angel Green; Parsonage Green; Partridge Green and Scots Green. For the last 4 years we have held a ‘Five Greens’ Walk’. The walk takes place one evening in the summer months and we visit each of the 5 Greens. The walkers are supplied with a potted history of the Greens and some background information on the historic buildings on route. The walk takes about 2 hours at a fairly leisurely pace.

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The potted history of the 5 Greens and the background information on the historic buildings met on the route is printed below.

Broomfield Parish Council 5 Greens Walk
Angel Green
* pre 17O0 known as Camomile Green
* Angel Public House, 15th Century, list of licensees from 1702
* Angel Stores, shop since 1758
* Broomfield Place, c1827
* Brooklands, c1827

Parsonage Green
* Pre 1300 area known as How Tye,
* Parsonage. Rector of Broomfield’s residence 1150-1303,1555 owned by Richard Rich, who used the income to endow his new school of Felsted. burned down in 1840 and rebuilt
* Glovers c1402

Scots Green
* Probably named after Peter Scot, landowner in 1341

Partridge Green
* Probably associated with Robert Partridge c 1319.
* Partridge Green Farm. c16th Century, bought in 1934 by Essex CC as part of estate for TB Sanatorium, old house demolished 1960,
* The Lonely Grave, Ruth Marriage 1772

Church Green
* Church c1300. St Leonard originally then St Mary now both.
* Broomfield Hall, old Manor Mouse, present building c 15th Century,
* Vineries and Broomfields cl470,
* Woolards c16th Century, in 1758 main block rebuilt for use as new Parish workhouse,
* Kings Arms Title deeds 1474 when known as Crouch House. Kings Arms pub since 1763 although Coach and Horses from 1807 to 1820

Some of the Historic Buildings of Broomfield
A Stacey’s farm – Richard Stacey bought a house and land here in 1362. Peasants from Chelmsford attacked the house in 1381 to destroy Manorial records.
B Scravels – The Scraffield family lived here from 1524: the house had a new Facade in 1890, of 2 large barns close by the house the 16th century wheat barn still stands
C Prlors:-probably has history back to 1241, present house dates to 16th century, originally moated, (part of moat still exists)
D Broomfield Place:- there have been at least 3 buildings on this site, in 1569 it was Hunwickes, it was then rebuilt and renamed New House, in 1820 it was rebuilt again  as Broomfield Place
E Glovers:-in 1402 Richard Glover bought a house and 7 acres of land in Broomfield, the farm was worked for more than 500 years, only the house remains
F The Parsonage-until 1300 the residence of Broomfields Rector, rebuilt c1840, now there is a Vicar in the Village with their own Vicarage
G Broomfield Hall – has history from before the Norman Conquest when it was held by the Saxon Seawolf as vassals of Ansgar, a Saxon nobleman, present building has been dated to 15th century
H Butlers -probably associated with Geoffrey le Botiler in 1254, rebuilt in 1569 and again in 1765 for the Vicar of Wethersfield
I The Well House:-has 1 well inside and 1 well outside, Robert and William at Welle were probably here in 1319, present house is said to date from the 1500s
J Mill House-there was a Mill here when the Domesday survey was made in 1086, the last Mill on the site was demolished in the 1920s, the Millers house remains

The group of volunteers who help on P3 and in Centenary Wood have also helped plant the Greens with crocuses, daffodils, snowdrops and broom.

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Parish Paths Partnership (P3)

Our role is to walk all of the Public Footpaths in the Parish over the course of the year in order to identify any problems that could make the footpaths un-useable. We choose a different walk each month. We then work with the County to rectify the problem; they provide the materials and we provide the volunteer labour. A typical walk would be as follows:-

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The P3 group of volunteers have cleared pathways of fallen trees and have helped to install new footbridges where necessary. We try to mark each way-marker post with the path number so that walkers can check where they are on the map.

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Centenary Wood

Centenary Wood was bought by Broomfield Parish Council in 1982. In 1994, to celebrate the centenary of the Parish Council, the lower portion of the wood was planted, with the help of Broomfield Primary School, with a mix of indigenous trees. A working group of volunteers help to maintain the wood.

We maintain food sources such as nettles and thistles for the many food chains/webs seen in the Wood. These plants attract insects which in turn attract birds into the Wood. In addition, there are some bird and bat boxes to encourage additional wildlife into the Wood. There is a planned schedule of work for the volunteer working party which meets once a month throughout the year. Volunteers also work in the wood at other times to mow grass, weed etc. Local groups such as the Primary School, a local Nursery School and the local U3A make use of the wood.

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Allotment site

The Parish Council maintains an allotment site within the village. Tenants sign an agreement to ensure that the site is used for cultivation of fruit and vegetables and some flowers. Typical plot-

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Village Playing Field, Angel Meadow

Broomfield Football Club hire the Playing Field (Angel Meadow) from the Parish Council. We work together on maintenance issues regarding the playing surface, which needs to be suitable both for the Football Club’s needs as well as members of the Parish. We regularly inspect the Children’s Play Area and carry out repairs, where necessary, to ensure that the equipment stays safe to use.

If you are interested in joining the P3 group and/or the Centenary Wood working group then the dates for 2015 are as follows:-

Broomfield Parish Pathways Partnership (P3) and Centenary Wood working party dates for 2015

The Centenary Wood volunteers meet by the allotment store on the allotment site on the first Tuesday of each month at 10:00am

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The P3 group meet by St Mary’s Church on the third Tuesday of each month at 10:00am

Dates for Centenary Wood working party and P3 ‘walks’ for 2018

 

Centenary Wood – meet by the Barn on the allotment site at 10:00am P3 – meet by St Mary’s Church at 10:00am
Tuesday 2nd Jan Tuesday 16th Jan
Tuesday 6th Feb Tuesday 20th Feb
Tuesday 6th March Tuesday 20th March
Tuesday 3rd April Tuesday 17th April
Tuesday 1st May Tuesday 15th May
Tuesday 5th June Tuesday 19th June
Tuesday 3rd July Tuesday 17th July
Tuesday 7th Aug Tuesday 21st Aug
Tuesday 4th Sept Tuesday 18th Sept
Tuesday 2nd Oct Tuesday 16th Oct
Tuesday 6th Nov Tuesday  20th Nov
Tuesday 4th Dec Tuesday 18th Dec

 

All are welcome to join in with these activities. The Centenary Wood working group cut grass, weed around shrubs and flower beds, prune and generally maintain the good condition of the area. The working group usually spend approximately 2 hours each session. The P3 group try to walk each of the Parish public footpaths at least once a year. They attend to problems such as cutting back overhanging vegetation and replacing damaged way- marker posts etc. Each ‘walk’ takes in the region of 2 to 2½ hours.

Local government for the Parish of Broomfield