Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for DUNMOW (Great)

DUNMOW (Great), a small town and a parish in Dunmow district, Essex. The town stands on an eminence on the right bank of the river Chelmer, adjacent to the Bishop-Stortford and Braintree railway, at the Junction of the Ongar line, 8½ miles W of Braintree, and has a r. station. It dates from the Roman times; was connected by a Roman road with Colchester; and is identified with a Roman station, which some antiquaries think to have been Villa Faustini, but a greater number call it Cæsaromagus. Vestiges of the Roman road, in several places, still exist; and very many Roman coins and other Roman antiquities have been found in the vicinity. The town consists chiefly of two good streets; had formerly a market on Saturday, and has now one on Tuesday; has also fairs on 6 May and 8 Nov.; is a seat of petty sessions and a polling-place; and has a post office, ‡ of the name of Dunmow, under Chelmsford, a chief inn, a town-hall, a church, three dissenting chapels, a Roman Catholic chapel, a literary institution, three public schools, a workhouse of 1839, and alms-houses, - charities, £69. There was formerly likewise a market-cross. The church is large and ancient; has a five-light decorated window, and a western embattled tower; and has been partially repaired. The manufacture of baize and blankets was, at one time, extensively carried on; but both this and a subsequent kind of manufacture are extinct. The local government was vested, by a charter of Mary, in a recorder, a bailiff, and 12 burgesses; but has long been inert. The parish comprises 6, 746 acres. Real property, £13, 621; of which £100 are in gas-works. Pop., 2, 976. Houses, 600. The property is subdivided. The manor belonged anciently to the Crown; was given at Domesday to Hamo Dapifer, and by Henry VIII. to his queen Catherine; and passed afterwards to the Maynards of Easton Lodge. An ancient brick mansion, a short distance west of the church, belongs to Sir P. Brydges Henniker, Bart. Dunmow-highwood is a meet for the Essex hounds. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Rochester. Value, £500.* Patron, the Lord Chance lor.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a small town and a parish"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: Great Dunmow AP/CP       Dunmow RegD/PLU       Essex AncC
Place names: DUNMOW     |     DUNMOW GREAT     |     GREAT DUNMOW
Place: Great Dunmow

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