Name of the Village
also included
below are... Street
& Road Names
& House
& Farm Names
In 1768 Philip Morant wrote of Goldhanger in The History of Essex...
“How come this place to be dignified with the fine
name of Gold we cannot well conceive”
There are several theories as to the origin of the name Goldhanger, and over the centuries, as the English language developed, the name of the village has been spelt many different ways which has led to much speculation as to the origin. Some of these spellings are probably relatively modern typesetting errors and misinterpretations of ancient scripts, and today Optical Character Recognition(OCR) provides one more source of misinterpretation. For example, there are 26 items held in the Essex Records Office with the name Coldhanger which undoubtedly refer to Goldhanger.
However many forms of the spelling appear to be original ways the village name was recorded and there is a similar situation with street, house and farm names. With an increasing number of ancient documents available on the net, it is important to use some of these variants when searching for historical information. The Court and newspaper reports and Effects of the Reformation webpages on this site were researched in part using this technique.
In the Doomesday book Goldhanger was spelt: Goldangra and Goldhangram
In Goldhanger-an Estuary Village published in 1977, Maura Benham indentifies several methods of spelling the village name
and one origin is offered...
'Goldhanger, Goldanger, Goldangra, Goldangre - the name was spelt in many different ways from the Domesday records to the 19th century. Always the first part was 'gold', and this is said to refer to a yellow flower. For the second part there could be two meanings, 'hanger' a hill, or 'anger' grassland (as in Ongar), and the village being set on flat land, the latter is the more likely. As to the yellow flower, this is thought to be the Corn Marigold, giving the name the meaning of grassland where the Corn Marigold grows.'
Many other ways to spell the name have been identified since (in alphabetic order):
Caldhangre, Coldanger, Coldangre, Coldhanger, Coldhangre, Galdhangr(e), Goelanger, Golanger,
Gold Anger, Gold Aungre, Gold hanger, Gold Onger, Goldancher, Goldanger, Goldaucher, Goldeanger,
Goldehanger, Goldhangram, Goldhangre, Goldhaunger, Goldheng(re), Goldynger, Golehangr', Gouldhanger
Early references to the village also recognised affiliation with Little Totham via the Lord-of-the-Manor refering to...
Goldhanger-cum-Totham-Parva (Hugo Verdrun,
1375)
Goldhanger-cum-Lt.Totham - (Sammes era,
1600s)
Goldhanger-cum-Capella de Totham (1600s)
Totham-cum-Goldhanger (1700s)
In documents from the middle of the 1600s the Revd. Edward Howes, Rector of the Goldhanger and his friend John Winthrop, Governor of Massachusetts, the village was spelt Goldancher or Goldaucher, leading to speculation that the name is simply a corruption of golden anchor...
Extract from the title page of a book on mathematics
written by the Revd Howes in 1650
An article in the Newcastle Courant newspaper dated 1736 regarding flooding at Goldhanger referred to...
Gold Onger near Malden in Essex:
Other suggestions found for the origin of the name are...
In The History and Topography of Buckinghamshire published in 1862 (page 24) :
from Notes and Queries published in 1870 (page 571) :
from Maldon and the River Blackwater published in 1898, Edward A Fitch wrote:
. . .still a parish noted for the fertility of its soil, as its names denotes, cf. Dan. Guld
(see Streatfield's Lincolnshire and the Danes p291) [cf. Dan. = compare with Danish]
and in Lincolnshire and the Danes, published in 1884 by the Revd. G S Streatfeild, page 291 reveals:
Guld is a reference to the fertility of soil, eg Guldager.
Guldager is a village in northern Denmark near Esbjerg and Ribe, with the geographical coordinates of: 55 degrees, 32minutes North, 8 degrees 25 minutes East, and Guldager is also a fairly common surname in Denmark, so Goldhanger could have origins in a small Viking village now in Denmark. Also Goldanger (without the ' h') is a small village in the Salzburg region of Austria, near the town of Wagrin.
In Names and their Histories, published in 1896 Isaac Taylor wrote. . .
In more recent times, in a letter published in the Essex Countryside magazine in 1956, Goldhanger historian Crawshay Frost wrote...
As my village of Goldhanger is somewhat opposite on its Blackwater estuary to the Bergen district of Norway I feel that it was settled and named after the Romans left by Norse rovers seeking new homes, and not by Saxons from the Continent. Five places near Bergen end with anger (a slope): Geiranger, Kanpanger, Hardanger, Samnanger and Stavanger. . . Norsemen sailing up the Blackwater would think of their fjords, as the ground does rise somewhat, and there is a rise at Goldhanger.
One final theory offered locally is that the name may be derived from Gore-hange. In the Middle English language, Gore meant a small triangular piece of land, as in Gore Saltings, which is a named area of salt marsh to the east of Goldhanger Creek which at low tide has shingle, sand and mud flats exposed.
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Street & road names from the past
(in alphabetic order of current name, then previous variants by date)
Bakers Green
Bakers in 1483
Bakars & Wood Croft in a Will of 1573
Bakers Farm Earl of Essex, Indenture, 1590
Bakes in a Will of 1623
Goldhanger Green? ERO D/DCf T70 in 1788
Bobbet's Hole
Bobbet's Hole has had two locations: at Bakers Green & Wash Lane (on early maps)
Also spelt Bobbit's Hole
Blind Lane
Back Road (from the 1841 census)
Church Street
The Street (newspapers adverts in the 1870s)
Goldhanger Street (1870 sales poster for The Crickets)
Fish Street
Mill Lane (from old postcards)
Mill Street (from the 1841 census)
The Street (newspapers adverts)
High Street (from the 1851 census)
Goldhanger Street (newspapers adverts in the 1870s)
Head Street (in the 1841 census)
High Street (from ERO 1700s Deeds)
Chaple Street (from the 1841 census)
Goldhanger Street (newspaper adverts from the 1700s & 1800s
and a postcard in the late 1800s)
Head St. is a name frequently used to indicate the beheadings took place there, and smugglers were said to be gibbeted in The Square.
Lt Totham Road
Upper Street (from the 1841 census)
Maldon Road (west)
Broad Road (Deeds of No 34, Maldon Rd and from ERO 1800s Deeds)
Maldon Road (east)
The Avenue (from old postcards)
Tolleshunt D'arcy Road (sales poster for Rectory Cottage in 1906)
D'arcy Road (within living memory & Deeds of Hers-an-Mine)
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House & farm names from the past
( in alphabetic order of current name, then previous variants by date)
Apple
Leaves No. 17 head St
16th century or earlier (from ECC 2007 Historic Settlement Assessment: HSA)
Bakers
Green (as a farm)
Bakers in 1483 (HSA)
Bakars & Wood Croft in a Will of 1573
Bakers Farm Earl of Essex, Indenture, 1590
Bakes in a Will of 1623
Goldhanger Green? ERO D/DCf T70 in 1788
Barrow Marsh Farm
was once part of the Barrow Marshes
Bounds Farm
Brands Farm on the 1880 OS map and Fitch's 1898 book
Boundless in Stanley Wilkin's letter of 1934
Caunterburyes within Goldhanger Parish in Henry VIII papers 1543
Caunterberyes Place name of Essex 1553
Canterberies ERO D/DVz/359 in 1569
(now Canterbury Farm, Goldhanger Rd, Heybridge)
Charity Farmhouse
The name is derived from its association with
charities in the past
Formerly Scotts and Motts Farmhouse. See Scotts and Motts
Chequers Inn
The building existed long before it became an inn, so it
would have had another name.
Architectural analysis suggests it was built in the
1500s and could have been a Tudor Hall,
so in this location in The Square it may have been
called “The Hall”.
However there are two other contenders for this name:
Hall Farm and Falcons Hall
Coach House
Pumphouse shown on the 1730 map
Pumphouse Farm, in deeds to 1760 (ERO D/DBt T3)
Pumphouse Farm in Tithe maps of the 1800s
Pumphouse & Carters Farm in the Kellys of 1899
Became the coach house for the new Rectory in 1851
Cobbs Farm
named after William Cobb in 1222 (HSA)
named after Robert ffreville in 1408 (HSA)
Cobbys alias ffrevylles in 1499
Cobbes ERO D/DVz/359 in 1569
Cobbs Croft ERO D/DR T28/2 in 1643
Falcons Hall
named after the original owner john ffalons or ffawcon in 1346
ffakons in 1445 in The place-names of Essex
ffacones in 1484 in The place-names of Essex
Faulkins Farm on maps of 1730 & 1777
Falcons Hall Farm on 1820s Tithe Awards
The Hall on the 1841 census
Goldhanger Hall in 1848 census and an 1849 advert
Falcons Hall in a newspaper advert on 1891
Falcon Hall on a sales poster in 1920 & 1925
Falcons Hall on a sales poster in 1955
Folly Faunts
Named after Johannis Falefaunt in 1250 in The place-names of Essex
Ffollyfants in 1527
Folyphauntes Manor in Bylegh Abbey lease of 1533
Follyfauntes in Henry VIII letters of 1543
Ffollifauntes in 1540
Fallyfantes ERO D/DVz/359 in 1613
Follyfaunts on Henry VIII documents in 1543
Follyfans in a Will of 1573
Folliphants ERO D/DBs T4 in 1740
Follifaunts by Morant in 1760
Folly Fants on a sales poster in 1813
Follifauntes in 1831
Follyfants in Homes & Gardens of 1939
Follifaunts in 1848 census
Gardeners Farm (See also Vaulty Manor)
Vaulty Wick Marsh, on a 1561 Will (SEAX Monuments)
Fawlty Farm on the 1730 map
Fawlty Farm on the 1777 map
Gardner's on 1820s Tithe Awards
Gardeners Farm on 1838 Tithe map
Gardner's on 1838 Tithe Awards
Gardner's on 1841 census
Gardeners Farm on 1880 OS map
Goldhanger House
The land was once part of Pump House Farm, see The
Coach House
The Rectory, Goldhanger from 1851 to 1947
(there was also a Goldhanger House in Coggeshall)
Hall Farm
The Hall, also possibly Goldhanger Hall, in newspaper adverts in the 1800s
Joyces on the 1820 Tithe map
Joyces on the 1841 census
Joices Farm in the 1851 Census
Street Farm in Kelly's Directory of 1892 & 1899 (The Old Rectory was also called this)
Hall Farm, advert in 1926
Highams
Farm (previously within Goldhanger Parish)
Named after Thomas Heigham (or Heyham), 1531
Highums Farm ERO D/DVz/359 in 1631
Highlands Farm on the 1838 Tithe map
Highlands Farm on the 1880 OS map
Highams Farm on 1906 map
Hullings
“lands
called Hullings in Goldhanger”
referred to in the...
Calendar of Treasury book, Volume 9, 1689-1692
no other references have been found
Joyces Farm, Joyces Chase (previously within Goldhanger Parish)
named after Robert Joyce in 1353 (HSA)
Joces in 1484 (HSA)
Lauriston
Farm (previously within Goldhanger Parish)
Harvies, The Bishop of London's Commissary Court 1578-1588
Harveys Farm on the 1838 Tithe map
Harvies Farm 1846 advert in The Times, leased to J Boys
Harveys Farm on a 1924 OS map
Lauriston was named after a Mr Laurie who owned the farm in the early 1900s
The Limes, South side of Head St (named this from about 1910)
Marriners - Maura Benham refers to deeds in 1746 and 1758 with these names
Crabtree House continuing until 1894
Levers in 1857
Longwick Farm
Long Wyke in Henry VIII letters of 1543
Grange of Langwyke ERO D/DVz/359 in 1569
Langewich in ERO D/P 240/1/3 of 1598
Langewich in ERO ERO D/P 240/1/3 in 1647
Long Wick Farm in the 1820 Tithe Awards
Longwicke Farm 1906 sales
Mill House
Sillids and Silliers referred to deeds in 1743, 1764 (Maura Benham)
Little London Farm
Named after John de London (or Lundon) in 1418 (HSA)
Loughes, The history and antiquities of the county of Essex: Volume 2, P Morant
(A lough is: a lake, a fjord, estuary, bay or sea inlet - from Wikipedia)
Longs or Londons in a charities document of 1740
Little London Farm in the 1820 Tithe Awards
Little Londons on the 1841 census
Old
Parsonage on North side of Head St
The Limes before 1910
The Parsonage from 1910 until the last curate departed in the 1960s
Old Rectory
The Rectory, the 1700s and much earlier (could go back to the origins of the Church)
Glebe, Parsonage House, 1820s and 1838 Tithe Awards
The Glebe, Crockfords Clerical Directory, 1868
Church Farm
Street Farm in 1906 sales brochure (Hall Farm was also called this)
Rectory Farm, newspaper article in 1922
Old Rectory Fruit Farm, newspaper article in 1934
Scotts and Motts
Scotts and Motts ERO D/DHt T325/1 in 1569
Scottis, property of John Scott in 1599 (ERO Q/SR 148/125)
Scotts (the house) and Motts (the land) ERO D/DHt T354/1 in 1626 (HSA)
Motts and Scotts, alias Westwoods, in Goldhangre (P. Morant, 1768)
Scotts and Motts on the 1820 & 1841 Tithe maps,
& The people's history of Essex,
1861
Now Charity Farmhouse and cottage. See Charity Farmhouse
Vaulty
Manor (see also Gardeners Farm)
Fawlty in 1538 in The Reformation in Essex to The Death Of Mary
Fauty ERO D/DBe T14 in 1565
Faity, in the 15th year of Elizabeth II reign (1573)
Faltey in Henry VIII's Roll 28, Monasterium Bileigh
Faltie alias Pawtie, ERO deed and Marriage settlement D/DR T28/2 of 1643
Vantie alias Faltie ERO deeds D/DR T28/3 in 1677
Falty, Ravens Croft, Ravens Marshes, Pipers & Pipers Marsh ERO deeds D/DR T28/6 of 1709
Fawlty in 1811 in Excursions in the County of Essex
Jehews Farm in the 1820 Tithe Awards
Jehurs Farm, in 1841 census
Vaulty's or Jehu's 1834 newspaper advert
Jehurs Farm on the 1880 OS map
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