Fordham Heath and Eight Ash Green has seen, like a lot of other area's in the country, an increase in it's population and has brought about the need for a lot of extra housing over the past few years. Nevertheless,  Fordham Heath and Eight Ash Green are both fairly quiet places to live in compared to many others, Fordham Heath, as it's name implies, has a very large heath land for all to enjoy including many "outsiders" who visit on a regular basis. Football and cricket pitches for many years has been situated on the heath, these both draw many supporters of both sports to them throughout the year.

The above article is a small contribution by "yours truly", the Webmaster, all other content on this web site has been kindly contributed by other local residents of Eight Ash Green and Fordham Heath.

Eight Ashes Green........by Joan Beard

This was an area that came under the Parish of Copford. The Parishioners were required to walk quite a few miles to attend the Parish Church of Copford and had to walk through the Parish of Stanway to get there!.

However, in the late part of the last century, to the early part of this century, a Margaret Searles of Copford left some two or three acres of land upon which the Church was built. The remaining land and orchard was rented out to the locals, presumably to help with the upkeep of the Church. The local people now had a Church of their own, also, there was a small Methodist Chapel in Huxtable's Lane, Fordham Heath, The local school at the latter part of the last century was held on the corner of Spring Lane and Halstead Road, (now a second hand car sales area). During the 1920's, the school was moved next to the Church and in the 1930's, the Methodist Chapel moved to the main Halstead Road and is still there to this day, as is the Church.

In 1947 the village of Eight Ash Green was created. The village was made up of 4 acres from the village of Aldham, 125 acres of Stanway, 641 acres from Copford and 884 acres from Fordham (this included Fordham Heath). The main road from Colchester, through to Halstead and the North of England, runs through the village. The Church, Methodist Chapel and the Brick and Tile pub are all on this main road.

In the 1950's the Church was given a license for burials and the ground was consecrated, the village has grown so much and the burial ground is now nearly full. Much of the land that was down to allotments and orchard or belonging to a charitable trust has now disappeared, in  fact, houses are now planed to be built on it. The school has also moved again (to Fiddlers Folly) and is now much larger, as is the population of the village.

Originally this area was mainly agricultural, although we still have farms in the area, a lot of last has been lost to housing, with building along the lanes, at least four housing estates, we have street lights, speed limits, no cock crowing or cow's mooing anymore, we are fast loosing our country!. Fordham Heath is still a pleasant spot to walk on, it is very high and the wind can really sweep across it. It was originally grazing ground for the farmers surrounding the  heath, but the area is now built up and not many owners have retained their grazing rights. It is a wonderful area to walk and play with kids, the local football and cricket teams have their pavilions and grounds there.

January 1951. Below, members of the Parish Council on Fordham Heath planting three chestnut trees to commemorate the Festival of Britain.

Pictured from left to right: Capt. F.T. Folkard, Chairman. Mr. D.J. Funnel, Parish Clerk. Mr. T.C. Hart. Mr. L. King. Mr. E.C. Love. and Mr. G. Nice.