England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Langford St Giles

The Parish

The parish of Langford lies in eastern Essex roughly 2 miles northwest of the market town and port of Maldon. Langford sits at the junction of 2 "B"-roads, the B1019 linking Maldon with Hatfield Peverel and the B1018 linking Maldon with Witham. There is actually barely a half mile gap today between the edge of Maldon and Langford. Langford is little more than a hamlet, a few properties line each B-road with a more dispersed scatter along the Hatfield Peverel road. Like most Essex parishes Langford is an arable farming parish with most of the acreage set to cereals, root crops or to oil-seed. Modern developments have arrived in the parish, the canalised River Chelmer has an additional cut to Langford, the railway line which linked Maldon to the main London to Colchester line at Witham has closed and largely disappeared. The River Chelmer drains the parish the short distance to the Blackwater Estuary and thence to the North Sea. Langford is sited at just 2 metres above sea level, land does rise gently away from the Chelmer reaching 70 metres at nearby Wickham Bishops. Langford parish was typically sized for its area covering a little under 1,100 acres and supporting a population of around 250 parishioners. In Domesday times Langford was an equally typical small farming community, held by one Ralph Bynard its assets of just 4 ploughs backed by small meadows and woodlands but did possess a mill.

The Church

St Giles church sits within the shallow fork formed by the B1019 & B1018 in a triangular churchyard. The church has an unusual claim to fame as it has what is apparently the only western apse in the land and Norman 12th century in origin, the church is believed to have also had an eastern apse, said to have been removed in the 14th or 15th century, in a style reminiscent of Germanic architecture. Also Norman and the only remaining original feature of the church is the rather plain southern doorway. The church we see today is, however, largely the result of a thorough restoration/rebuild carried out between 1880 & 1882. That work removed the traditional western bell-turret replacing it with the new one sitting north of the chancel, removed the northern aisle, the vestry and the southern porch. The work also created the modernistic external appearance which makes St Giles seem very modern. There are verges for parking on the Witham road but the main entrance through the picket fence which surrounds the site is placed on the B1019. There are some trees within but all are easily avoided by the photographer.