ASHDON
The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales...., by John Marius Wilson. circa 1866
ASHDON, a village in Saffron-Walden district, Essex, and a parish chiefly in that district and county, but partly also in Linton district, Cambridge. The village stands on an affluent of the river Cam, 3 and ½ miles NE of Saffron-Walden , and 5 and ½ ENE of Audley-End r. station; and has a post-office under Cambridge. Pop., 1,011. Houses, 220. The parish includes also the hamlet of Bartlow-End. Acres, 4,969. Real property £6,969. Pop., 1,235. Houses, 270. The property is divided among a few. Ashton Park is the seat of the Pipers. A place with a fine prospect and four barrows - the latter supposed to be sepulchral monuments of Danish chiefs - contends with Ashingdon in Rochford district the repute of being the battleground of Canute's victory of Assundune, in 1016, over Edmund Ironside. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Rochester. Value, £909. Patron, Caius College, Cambridge. The church is good; and there are a Baptist chapel, and charities £21.
Transcribed by Noel Clark
KELLY'S DIRECTORY OF ESSEX 1933
ASHDON (in Domesday "Ascenduna," and "Essenduna," "Assenduna" and "Asshedon" in documents of the 13th and 14th centuries) is a scattered parish and village near the borders of Cambridgeshire, with a halt on and 2 miles south from Bartlow station on the London and North Eastern railway, and 4 miles north-east from Saffron Walden, in the Saffron Walden division of the county, Freshwell hundred, Saffron Walden petty sessional division, rural district and county court district, Saffron Walden rural deanery, Colchester archdeaconry and Chelmsford diocese. The church of All Saints is an ancient building of rubble and stone in mixed styles, ranging from the 11th to the 15th century, and consists of chancel, nave of three bays, aisles, a chapel on the south side known as the "Maynard chapel," north and south porches and an embattled western tower containing 6 bells, one of which is of pre-Reformation date: on the north side of the chancel is a fine altar-tomb, over which are the arms of Richard Tyrrell, ob. 1566, and on the south side are sedilia and a piscina: the stairs formerly leading to the rood loft still remain in the south pier of the chancel arch: a round-headed stoup, belonging to an earlier church, may be seen near the south doorway, and part of the square basin of the font of the 11th century, with fluted carving, is still preserved; the font now in use is octagonal, and two or three centuries later: a carved oak pulpit was erected in 1882 in memory of the Rev. J. F. Walker, a former rector, by his widow: there is an alabaster and bronze tablet to the memory of the 24 men who fell in the Great War, 1914-18: the arcades of the nave are of clunch on basements of squared Barnack stone: the interior of the church underwent partial restoration during the years 1883-9, and the flooring and seating have been renewed: the roofs were restored in 1895: there are 370 sittings. The register dates from the year 1553. The living is a rectory, net yearly value £900, with glebe and residence, in the gift of C. G. Brocklebank esq. and held since 1931 by the Rev. Tom Philip Rumbold Clark B.A. of University College, Durham. There is a Baptist chapel here with a schoolroom attached. The churchyard was closed by Order in Council in Aug. 1879. A cemetery of three roods, adjoining the churchyard, was formed in 1877 at a cost of £360, a portion is consecrated, and the whole is under the control of the Parish Council. The parochial charities, amounting to about £20, are under the management of trustees appointed under a scheme sanctioned by the Charity Commissioners, and are distributed yearly. The Boys’ home is for twelve boys, who are supported by the Church of England Central Society for Waifs and Strays. Capt. J. A. Collins is lord of the manor of Ashdon Hall, and the rector is lord of the Rectory manor. Mrs. Tansley Luddington M.B.E. and Charles Gerald Brocklebank esq. are the principal land owners. The soil is mixed clay, loam and chalk; sub soil, various. The crops are wheat, oats, beans and barley. The area is acres; the population in 1931 was 476.
BARTLOW HAMLET, or Bartlow End, including part of the village of Ashdon and Steventon End, called in Domesday "Stavintuna," is a civil parish in this county and adjoins Great Bartlow (Cambridgeshire), to which parish the inhabitants pay tithe and rates. At Bartlow in Cambridgeshire is a station on the London and North Eastern railway, 50 miles from London. Waltons, 1½ miles from the parish church, is a mansion in the Tudor style, once occupied by Sir William Maynard, who rebuilt it; it is now the property and. residence of Mrs. Tansley Luddington M.B.E.; the estate derives its name from an ancient and important family. Here are four celebrated harrows, known as the Bartlow Hills, and forming part of the boundary separating this county from Cambridgeshire: they were opened in 1832 and 1835, and were found to contain interesting remains and works of art of Roman workmanship: most of the relics subsequently perished in a fire, but drawings and casts are preserved in the museum at Saffron Walden. A stone trough in the garden at Ashdon rectory is said to have been brought from the Hills (see Archaeologia, vols. xxv, xxix). The area is 1,070 acres; the population in 1931 was 84.
RUDDUCK’S HILL is 1½ miles south east.
The ecclesiastical parish of Bartlow St. Mary is partly in this county and partly in the county of Cambridge. The population in 1921 was 216. For particulars see Kelly ‘s Directory of Cambridgeshire.
Post, M. O., T. & T. E. D. Office (available for calls to places within a limited distance). Letters arrive from Saffron Walden
Police Station
Carriers to Saffron Walden. Martin & Thompson, tues