Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for COGGESHALL

COGGESHALL, a town and a sub-district in the district of Witham, Essex. The town is chiefly in Great Coggeshall parish, partly in Little Coggeshall; and stands on the Roman road from Colchester, and on the river Blackwater, 2 ½ miles N by W of Kelvedon r. station, and 6 E by S of Braintree. Its site is partly low ground, partly the acclivity of a pleasant hill. A Roman station, either Ad Ansam or Canonium, is supposed by some antiquaries to have been here; and remains of a Roman villa have been found. A Cistertian abbey was founded in the vicinity, within Little Coggeshall parish, and a three-arched bridge built over an adjacent artificial cut of the Blackwater, by King Stephen; and a small part of the abbey still exists. The town has a post office‡ under Kelvedon, two banking offices, two chief inns, a parish church, five dissenting chapels, a free school, and six alms-houses. The church is perpendicular English, with a tower; and was repaired in 1847, and thoroughly renovated in 1854; and a plan for farther improvement on it, at the cost of about £2, 000, was executed in 1864. A weekly market is held on Thursday; and a fair on Whit-Tuesday. There are two silk factories, and a patent isinglass and gelatine factory. Pop., 3, 166. Houses, 714.—The sub-district contains the two Coggeshall parishes and two others. Acres, 7, 634. Pop., 4, 954. Houses, 1, 083.


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

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a town and a sub-district"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: Coggeshall CP       Witham PLU/RegD       Essex AncC
Place: Great Coggeshall

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