Downham is a small village and former civil parish, now in the parish of South Hanningfield, in the City of Chelmsford district, Essex, England. It is located approximately 7 mi south of the county town of Chelmsford. The village is in the parliamentary constituency of Rayleigh; however, the closest two towns are Billericay, 3 + 1/2 mi west-south-west, and Wickford, 2 + 1/4 mi south-east. In 1931, the parish had a population of 833.

History

There is evidence of Roman remains in the village suggesting it was originally of pre-Saxon origin, though it is not in the Domesday Book of 1086. The hilltop parish church is dedicated to St Margaret. The oldest section of the church is a 101/2ft by 11ft square redbrick tower from the late 15th or early 16th century. However, Christians have been recorded as worshipping on the site for over one thousand years. The nave of the church was restored in the nineteenth century, using some material from an earlier 13th-century building, and the interior was refurbished in the 1970s after a fire in March 1977. An ancient Field Maple lies north of the church. The village is home to Downham Hall, which was once the home of the De Beauvoir family; the building which currently stands is smaller than the original 17th-century mansion. On 1 October 1934 the parish was abolished and merged with South Hanningfield.

Geography

Downham has approximately 200 households. The village has an elevation of 188 ft above sea level, and the parish had an area of 2152 acre. The village is close to Hanningfield Reservoir, with its southwest bank being half a mile north from the village centre.