Great Canfield

Great Canfield
Great Canfield civil parish, Uttlesford District 1945
Great Canfield Great Canfield shown within Essex
Population	414 (2011 Census)
Civil parish	Great Canfield
District	Uttlesford District
Shire county	Essex
Region	East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Dunmow
Postcode district	CM
Dialling code	01279
Police	Essex
Fire	Essex
Ambulance	East of England
EU Parliament	East of England
List of places UK England Essex

Coordinates: 51°50′00″N 0°19′00″E / 51.8333°N 0.3167°E / 51.8333; 0.3167

Great Canfield is a village and a civil parish in the Uttlesford District, in the English county of Essex. It is near the small town of Great Dunmow and about a mile to the west of High Roding.

History

Great Canfield is a civil parish with deep roots in history with it's grade listed buildings, historic landscapes and historic records dating back to the Domesday Book. One entry found in the Domesday book describes Great Canfield as having a "Value to the Lord in 1066 [of] £6"^[1] and agricultural resources from years 1066 to 1086:"Meadow 51 acres. Woodland 160 pigs. 1 mill."^[1] Great Canfield has historically always had a grounding in agricultural practices until recent years of industrialization and the re distribution of work labour. Among other parishes found in England, Great Canfield is considered by many to be an important part of England's historic heritage. Great Canfield is apart of 'The Hundred Parishes Society' which includes 104 parishes covering "450 square miles of northwest Essex, northeast Hertfordshire and southern Cambridgeshire".^[2] The society is concerned with the conservation of 104 historic parishes found within these areas including Great Canfield; they are concerned with the protection of all historic elements of it's member parishes and the conservation of natural landscapes and culture.

One historical feature within Great Canfield that 'The Hundred Parishes Society' is protecting from urbanization in surrounding areas is the Norman church building- 'St Mary's church': St Mary's church is a classical Norman church which is thought to have been constructed between the years 1100-1150. The church itself is described as being "in the shadow of an old Motte and Bailey and it was perhaps built on the site of an earlier church".^[3] The church itself is home to a 13th century painting of The Virgin Mary and baby Jesus, which is said to be of "exceedingly good quality".^[3]St Mary's church in Great Canfield is part of a group of 5 other churches around west Essex including St Mary the Virgin in Aythorpe Roding, St Andrews's church in Halstead, St Mary the Virgin in High Easter, All Saints church in High Roding and The Church of St Margaret of St Antioch.^[4] This group of churches share a part- time priest that conducts services between all of it's member churches.

Population

Recorded from past census statistics; the population of Great Canfield has seen only one major decline in population, from its peak population of 511 people in 1831 down to 271 people by 1901.^[5] Census data shows a decline in population was consecutive with every recorded census between this time period (1841-1901). An increase in population within Great Canfield after the census of 1841 was not recorded until 1911; the population rose from 271 people recorded in 1901 to 305 people by 1911- an increase of 34 people.^[5] Since the census of 1921 Great Canfield has seen only regular increases in population, the greatest between the years 1921-1931 where there was an increase of 86 people from 254 to 340. Since then the increases have been moderate.

Housing

Alongside the changing population levels of Great Canfield since 1801, so to have the housing levels changed- recently this is mostly in accordance with the level of population but during the 1800s this was not the case. Between the years 1831-1881 Great Canfield recorded an increase in total housing from 93 houses to 104 houses.^[6] The population rate within this time period had decreased. Within the 1900s the number of houses within Great Canfield increased- between 1921-1961 there was an increase in houses from 75 to 123 with consistent increases being reported at every census between this time period.^[6] More recently with the 2001 census and the 2011 census there have been increases in the total amount of houses within Great Canfield- the 2001 census registered a total of 133 houses^[7] whilst the 2011 census registered 156.^[8] This may be due to the pressure of increasing urban development within Great Canfield- however such development remains widely rejected within the Great Canfield community. A recent proposal of major residential development within Great Canfield was the proposal to build another 211 homes on the land west of Canfield Road, the proposal was made on the 31st July 2014^[9] -but was refused on the 5th November 2014 by Uttlesford District Council.

Employment

Historically the measurement of employment within parishes such as Great Canfield has been varied in terms of categorizing workers within different industries. The 1801 census primarily recorded levels of occupation by "those 'chiefly employed in agriculture', those 'chiefly employed in trade, manufacturers or handicraft', and others".^[10] By the census of 1841 the recording of occupational data had moved on from categorizing workers into 4 broad areas of industry 'and others'; the census now "listed over 3000 different occupational titles".^[10] This allowed for future census data to categorize these 3000 or so job titles into more varied and accurate areas of industry. By the census of 1881 the occupational data for parishes such as Great Canfield was more organised then previous census data:

By 1881 Great Canfield had a working population of around 167 people^[11] -the majority being within the agricultural industry employed by farmers and land owners to tend crops and perform labouring- this accounted for 47% of the working population of Great Canfield. The fact the majority of workers were employed within the agricultural industry reflects the social demographics of the occupants living in Great Canfield during the 1800s, the majority of people would have fallen under the 'labourers & servants' social status with little education and no professional trade. The second majority which was 30% of Great Canfield's workforce in 1881, falls under the 'unknown'- this does not just suggest unemployment but reflects the inconsistency of the census data during this time period in terms of jobs that do not fall under any title, or occupants not accurately recording their job title. A percentage of those under the 'unknown' section would have fallen under the unemployed sector.

Within the 1800s it is accurate to state that Great Canfield was mostly made up of people employed within the agricultural industry, most of whom would have been on a low income. Today when one looks at the occupational distribution of Great Canfield based on the last census (2011); the majority percentage of employment is within the 'Managers, Directors and Senior Officials' sector with 21% of the working population within this sector. The second majority in distribution of employment as of the 2011 census is within the 'skilled trades occupations' sector- making up 17% of the working population. A change from Great Canfield's distribution of employment in 1881 up until 2011 is the percentage of employment within the 'professional occupations', the distribution within this sector in 1881 was 2% of Great Canfield's working population, the distribution in 'professional occupations' in 2011 was 15%- an increase of 13%. The type of sectors since 1881 has changed over 130 years, emergence of technology has allowed new job titles and industries to be created and other industries to decrease such as Great Canfield's agricultural industry.

External links

Media related to Great Canfield at Wikimedia Commons

References

A-Z Essex (page 22)