ELMDON
The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales...., by John Marius Wilson. circa 1866
ELMDON, a village and a parish in Saffron-Walden district, Essex. The village stands near the boundary with Cambridgeshire, 3 miles SW by S of Chesterford r. station, and 5¾ WNW of Saffron-Walden. The parish comprises 2,480 acres. Real property, £3,654. Pop., 731. Houses, 161. The living is a vicarage, annexed to the rectory of Wenden-Lofts, in the diocese of Rochester. The church has a brass of a man and wives. An endowed school has £17; and other charities £4.
Transcribed by Noel Clark
KELLY'S DIRECTORY OF ESSEX 1933
ELMDON is a parish and compact village, on a range of hills on the borders of Cambridgeshire, 5 miles west-north-west from Audley End station, and 6 west-north-west from Saffron Walden, on the London and North Eastern railway, in the Saffron Walden division of the county, Uttlesford hundred, Saffron Walden petty sessional division, rural district and county court district, and in the rural deanery of Saffron Walden, archdeaconry of Colchester and diocese of Chelmsford. The church of St. Nicholas, situated on rising ground at the north end of the village, is a building of flint with stone dressings, in the Early English style, and consists of chancel with aisles, nave of four bays, aisles, south porch and an embattled tower at the west end containing 6 bells, two being added in 1877 and the four old ones recast, and a clock: there are brasses, the effigies belonging to which are missing, to Thomas Crawley esq. ob. 30 Sept. 1559, founder of a free school here, and his wife, with figures of children, and of a civilian with two wives, c. 1530, , and marginal inscription: there is also a tomb to Thomas Meade, a justice of the Common Pleas, 1577-85, who died here in May of the latter year: in 1911 a stained east window was put in to the memory of the Rev. Robert Wilkes (formerly vicar of the parish) and his family: there are 250 sitting. The register dates from the year 1618. The living is a vicarage, annexed to the rectory of Wendon Lofts, joint net yearly value £300, including residence, in the gift of Harrogate College Ltd. and held since 1932 by the Rev. Frederick William Townshend A.K.C. A sum varying from £8 to £12 is distributed yearly to the poor. Elmdon Bury, the property of A. Morris Wheeler esq. J.P. is the residence of Mrs. Ellaby. A. Morris Wheeler esq. J.P. is the principal landowner. The soil is part heavy and part light; subsoil, principally chalk, with some clay. The crops are usually on the four-course shift. The area is 3,461 acres; the population in 1931 was 474.
DUDDENHOE END, one mile and a half south-by-west, is a small hamlet containing a few farm houses; a wooden building suitably adapted from a barn by the late Rev. Robert Wilkes, is licensed for divine service, which is conducted by the vicar of Elmdon.
LEEBURY, or Elmdon Lee, is 2 miles south-east.
Post, M. O. T. & T. E. D. Office (available for calls to places within a limited distance). Letters from Saffron Walden
Police Station