Ramsden Bellhouse
| Ramsden Bellhouse | |
|---|---|
 St. Mary the Virgin, Ramsden Bellhouse | |
  Ramsden Bellhouse Location within Essex | |
Interactive map of Ramsden Bellhouse | |
| Population | 832 (Parish, 2021)[1] |
| OS grid reference | TQ721943 |
| • London | 27 miles (43 km) WSW |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | BILLERICAY |
| Postcode district | CM11 |
| Dialling code | 01268 |
| Police | Essex |
| Fire | Essex |
| Ambulance | East of England |
| UK Parliament | |
Ramsden Bellhouse is a village and civil parish in the Basildon borough of Essex, England. It lies 3 miles (5 km) east of Billericay, its post town, and 2 miles (3 km) west of the centre of Wickford. At the 2021 census the parish had a population of 832.
The River Crouch flows through Ramsden Bellhouse, flowing under Church Road.[2]
History
The meaning of the name Ramsden is uncertain. The "-den" means a valley, but there are a variety of theories as to the meaning of the first element. Suggestions include a person's name, wild garlic (also known as ramsons), ravens, and rams. The Bellhouse comes from the name of the family who owned the manor in the 13th century.[3]
The Domesday Book of 1086 records seven estates or manors in the vill of Ramsden, listed as Ramesdana or Ramesduna, in the Barstable Hundred of Essex.[4][5]
The Ramsden area came to form the two parishes of Ramsden Bellhouse and Ramsden Crays. In the 12th century, Roger fitzReinfrid, a royal justice, held land at Ramsden Bellhouse. He granted the church at Ramsden Bellhouse to Lesnes Abbey in north Kent.[6] The church was subsequently rebuilt; the oldest parts of the current church, dedicated to St Mary, date from the 14th century.[7]
Governance
There are three tiers of local government covering Ramsden Bellhouse, at parish, district, and county level: Ramsden Bellhouse Parish Council, Basildon Borough Council, and Essex County Council. The parish council meets at the village hall on Church Road.[8]
When elected parish and district councils were established in 1894, the parish of Ramsden Bellhouse was included in the Billericay Rural District. The civil parish of Ramsden Bellhouse was abolished in 1934, when its area was split along the line of the railway. The part of the parish north of the railway, which included the village of Ramsden Heath, was transferred to the parish of South Hanningfield. The part of the parish south of the railway, which included the village of Ramsden Bellhouse itself, was added to the parish of Great Burstead in the new Billericay Urban District. The parish of Great Burstead was abolished three years later in 1937 when all the parishes in the urban district were merged into a single parish called Billericay. The urban district was renamed Basildon in 1955 and was reformed to become the modern Basildon district in 1974, at which point the district also became an unparished area.[9]
The modern parish of Ramsden Bellhouse was created in 1996 from part of the unparished area. It covers a smaller area than the pre-1934 parish, with Ramsden Heath north of the railway remaining part of the parish of South Hanningfield.[10]
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River Crouch passing under Church Road.
References
- ^ "2021 Census Parish Profiles". NOMIS. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 31 March 2025. (To get individual parish data, use the query function on table PP002.)
- ^ "Essex Explorer". Archived from the original on 31 January 2013. Retrieved 30 December 2012.
- ^ "Ramsden Bellhouse". Key to English Place Names. University of Nottingham. Retrieved 6 December 2025.
- ^ "The Domesday Book Online - Essex P-S".
- ^ Powell-Smith, Anna. "Ramsden [Bellhouse and Crays]". Open Domesday. Retrieved 6 December 2025.
- ^ Keats-Rohan, K. S. B. (2002). Domesday Descendants: A Prosopography of Persons Occurring in English Documents, 1066–1166: Pipe Rolls to Cartae Baronum. Ipswich, United Kingdom: Boydell Press. p. 942. ISBN 0-85115-863-3.
- ^ Historic England. "Church of St Mary (Grade II*) (1122254)". National Heritage List for England.
- ^ "Minutes and Agendas". Ramsden Bellhouse Parish Council. Retrieved 6 December 2025.
- ^ "Ramsden Bellhouse Parish". Vision of Britain. University of Portsmouth. Retrieved 6 December 2025.
- ^ "The Basildon (Parishes) Order 1996" (PDF). Local Government Boundary Commission for England. The National Archives. Retrieved 5 December 2025.
External links
- Basildon Heritage
- Basildon Borough History - Ramsden Archived 18 May 2015 at the Wayback Machine
Media related to Ramsden Bellhouse at Wikimedia Commons