Berden

Berden is at the North West corner of Essex, on the border with Hertfordshire and only 5 miles from the border with Cambridgeshire. It is one of the higher parts of the county rising to almost 120m and is part of the chalk uplands that stretch across to Royston. There is one strange exception to this. On the southern side of Little London is a deep stretch of clean sand which might just give some credence to the theory, referenced in The Estuary, by A.K.Astbury (The Carnforth Press 1980), that the river Thames might originally have flowed through Bishops Stortford to its outlet to the sea somewhere around Kings Lynn. It was the Saxons who founded Essex in around 600 AD. The East Saxons, whose name derived from ‘sword’, is the reason why we have three of them on the coat of arms. The name of our village suggests that it has Saxon origins, but as you will read later, there has been human activity in this area since at least the Bronze Age, some 3,500 years ago. Berden has been spelt in many different ways over time but its meaning may come from the old English for ‘Swine pasture valley’. It has also been suggested that it may mean ‘Corn valley’. These theories help to explain the design found on the village sign. When walking around the area with a map, you will come across several other places that may have links with the past. For example; Arnold Spring may well have been named after John Arnold of Clavering in 1373, Coles Green after John Cole in 1273 and Rooks Farm after John de Rooke in 1327. C I Cherry suggests that Little London may be ‘a little lane leading to the London Road’ and is a common name in England. This was a former Wesleyan Chapel built in 1907 and replaced an earlier building on the same site. However, it was also the site of a Bronze Age burial site that contained a skeleton, an armlet and a beaker. The so-called ‘beaker people’ were from the Rhine basin and were the last major group to arrive in Britain for a millennium. The site was dated to around 3,500 years ago. It was used as a school for evacuees in the Second World War, and has since then been the village hall. This was the main road through Berden. Alongside it is a stream that has now been piped underground in places. There used to be a ford near the telephone box and flooding has been a problem in the past. Next to Forge cottage (the former post office) used to be a Blacksmiths owned by the Sibley family. ‘Wheelwrights’ was a former sweet shop run by Miss Ann Tant. Berden School was built in 1857 along with a teacher’s cottage in 1864 at the cost of £105 and 5 shillings. It was closed in 1947. Quebec Cottage was rebuilt after a fire but it is thought that a building with the same name has been there since the 18th Century. From there we come to the location of the former village pub. The Raven had been in existence for at least 300 years but it closed in the 1960s. It was the main meeting place in the village and was a favourite venue for skittles. Church view Cottages were built by the former lords of the Manor; Christ’s hospital In London in 1861. They were for the farm labourers who worked at Berden Hall. The coat of arms for this organisation can also be found on The Rushes, Berden Lodge and The Vicarage. These were built between the 1860s and 1870s. This was built between 1200 and 1340, the nave is Norman and the Chancel has been dated to around 1270. St Cede brought Christianity to the area in the 7th Century and a wooden church may have built on the present site. It is named after a saint who was very popular with Knights who went on the Crusades. The tower was added later in the 15th Century when England was going through an economic boom due to wool and later cloth exports. It would have been an expensive project and may well have celebrated the good fortunes of the Lord of the Manor at the time. The two transepts would probably have been private family chapels belonging to Berden Hall and Berden Priory. The South Transept door way