Great Burstead

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Great Burstead
Great Burstead (Essex)
Great Burstead

Great Burstead shown within Essex
OS grid reference TQ679922
District Basildon
Shire county Essex
Region East
Constituent country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town Billericay
Postcode district CM11 2
Dialling code 01277
Police Essex
Fire Essex
Ambulance East of England
European Parliament East of England
UK Parliament Billericay
List of places: UK • England • Essex

Coordinates: 51°36′14″N 0°26′42″E / 51.604, 0.445

Great Burstead (pronounced /ɡreɪt ˈbɝstɛd/) is a village in Essex, England. It is situated to the south of Billericay.

By tradition, the origins of the church at Great Burstead are linked to St Cedd around 653; he was a missionary monk, trained by the Celtic Saint Aidan at Lindisfarne. Cedd's original chapel at Bradwell-juxta-Mare can still be visited. It is understood that at first he set up his wayside preaching cross by a well near the road between Tilbury (another of his establishments) and Chelmsford, having led to faith in Christ Ebba,the Thane of Great Burstead. However, it is also reputed that the East Saxon King Sebert (d616ad) was buried nearby, a convert under the earlier Christian mission of Bishop Mellitus, the area first having been settled by the East Saxons around 527ad; Cedd subesquently became bishop. Later, around 680ad, the cross was replaced with a building in wood by the Thane, Edwy, perhaps dedicated by Theodore of Tarsus, Archbishop of Canterbury.

Great Burstead was part of the Barnstaple hundred[1], and in 1841 had a populus of 884 persons spread over 3620 acres of land. The complete census can be viewed, as can a listing of many of the historical public houses.[2]

The Great Burstead parish, abolished 1934, also covered Billericay.[3] The parish formed part of the Billericay Rural District from 1894 and Billericay Urban District from 1934. The district was renamed Basildon Urban District in 1955 and became part of the present-day Basildon district in 1974.

The village has South Green as its main shopping district.

Great Burstead has a successful cricket team who were formed in 1956 and who currently play at Hannikins Farm

[edit] See also

  • Little Burstead

[edit] References

  1. ^ 1841 censusBarnstaple hundred
  2. ^ Essex Public Houseshistorical public houses.
  3. ^ Vision of Britain - Great Burstead parish (historic map). Retrieved 9 November 2006.

[edit] External links

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