COPFORD

The ancient parish of Copford four miles west southwest of , which covered 2,492 a. (1,034 ha.), was an irregular shape, stretching c. 5 miles from north to south. (fn. 1) Between 1756 and 1818 there were boundary disputes with Birch over Copford's claim to land along their complex shared border. (fn. 2) In the 1880s detached or almost detached parts of the south of Copford comprising 343 a., and ranging in size from less than ½ a. up to 313 a., were transferred to Birch, c. 4 a. to Easthorpe and c. 1 a. to ; a detached 10 a. of Birch and two parts of Stanway, of 105 a. and c. 3 a., were transferred to Copford. (fn. 3) In 1949 most of Easthorpe parish (872 a.) was transferred to Copford, and an area of 844 a. of Copford north of the railway line was transferred to the new of Eight Ash Green. (fn. 4)

The part of the parish south of London Road, which includes , with the Hall and the church at the eastern edge, occupies a plain of fertile boulder clay 30-40 m. high, which falls away eastwards to below 20 m. at , and northwards to the same river north of London Road. Bands of sands and gravels run alongside the river. North of Roman river the land rises to more than 40 m. and the soil is a mixture of glacial sand and gravel with bands of London clay. (fn. 5)

Copford was an agricultural parish, described by the poet Matthew Arnold c. 1870 as having a 'deeply rural character'. (fn. 6) In 1923 it was promoted as an attractive residential area for 'a City gentleman desiring the delights and pursuits of the country'. (fn. 7) In 1998 the Copford Green area retained a rural aspect, whilst the London Road area was more suburban.

The placename Copford may mean Coppa's ford, presumably the ford across Roman river where the London road crosses it on the eastern parish boundary and where Stanway bridge was later built. (fn. 8) That road was the Roman road from London and Kelvedon which joined Stane Street at Marks Tey before crossing Copford parish from west to east to continue east to Colchester. Two other minor Roman roads appear to intersect each other west of Copford Green. (fn. 9) A road known as Colneweye in 1401 was probably the road from Colchester to Halstead and Cambridge, turnpiked in 1766 and disturnpiked in 1866, which formed a section of the northern parish boundary. (fn. 10) School Road runs south from London Road through Copford Green to Birch, perhaps the road called Grenestrete in 1390; it can probably be identified as Coldbolteslane recorded in 1406 or Godboltstrete in 1409, presumably associated with Godbolts mentioned in 1422 on the site of the later Godbolt's farm. (fn. 11) Other minor roads and footpaths lead to Copford church and Hall and to neighbouring parishes. Part of the Colchester bypass, built at Marks Tey in 1969, provided relief from through traffic for Copford. (fn. 12)

Copford has no railway station, but Marks Tey station, on the main line from London to Colchester built in 1843, and at the head of the branch line to Sudbury built in 1849, is just ½ mile outside Copford's western boundary, and the railway crosses the north of Copford. (fn. 13) There was a daily postal service from Colchester by 1848, and by 1878 a post office at Copford Green and by 1906 another at Eight Ash Green. In 1863 a carrier went to Colchester four times a week. The carrier service was discontinued in the late 1920s. (fn. 14) Horse drawn omnibus services ran along the Halstead and Colchester roads to Colchester by 1848, but were apparently withdrawn after the railways opened. There were motor omnibus services by 1914 which were increased in the mid-20th century, one route running through Copford Green to Easthorpe. (fn. 15)