Stephen Nunn on Purleigh's link with George Washington

He was referring to the village’s main claim to fame – its association with the great-great-grandfather of George Washington, first president of America.

Rev Lawrence Washington was appointed rector of Purleigh in 1633, but was ejected from 'the living' in 1643, on a (pardon the presidential-pun) trumped-up charge of “tippling” (drinking too much).

If Lawrence really did like a pint or two, he didn’t have far to stagger, as the Bell sits alongside the churchyard and has been serving ales since 1635. (I’ve enjoyed a few there myself).

Rev Washington died in poverty in 1652, aged only 50, and was buried, not in Purleigh, but in Maldon.

Someone who does sleep in the village churchyard is local Bobby Adam Eves.

On April 15, 1893, he was murdered during a botched robbery at Hazeleigh Hall Farm.

The resulting public outcry led to a fine headstone being erected by “his brother officers”. That ghostly white memorial can still be seen today, in the shadow of the mighty tower of All Saints' Church.

The grave of Sgt Adam Eves (Image: Stephen Nunn)

Re-built in the 14th Century and “restored” by the Victorians, the church is packed with special features - communion rails and a pulpit of c.1700, brasses to the Freake family, to Margaret Freake (who died in 1592), Cecily (1599) and to John, rector of Purleigh and archdeacon of Norwich (1604).

There are also floor slabs to Elizabeth Burton (1624), Rev Thomas Shaw (1785) and his widow Anna (1814), and to Rev Roger Hayne (1810) and his widow Elizabeth (1817).

The vicar during the Second World War was Rev Shepheard-Walwyn. As well as looking after the spiritual needs of his flock, he served as a civil defence warden.

He wrote about his experiences - the air raid warnings, bombs and crashed aircraft - in his booklet Purleigh in Wartime (published in 1946).

Talking of the war, one of the biggest acts of local historic vandalism occurred during the conflict, when the Home Guard decided to dig a shelter right into the heart of ancient Purleigh Mount.

This earthwork is all that is left of a motte. Its origins are hotly disputed. Some say it is Iron Age, others Saxon, whilst one expert has suggested it was “constructed during the anarchy” (the civil war between Stephen and Matilda, from 1135 to 1153) and “demolished in the early 13th Century after a change of ownership in 1233”.

It might have been all three, but in any case it is very old and could mark the origins of the settlement – the “Purlea” or “bittern clearing” - that appears in a document of 998 and in the Domesday Survey of 1086.

A nice nod to those early days is the distinctive image of a bittern on the village signage.

The parish slowly evolved over the following centuries and, with the continued removal of the trees of the “lea”, relied heavily on farming.

It also had at least four windmills – Gibcrack’s (in the 14th Century), Mecklenburgh’s and Barns (in the 19th Century) and Raven’s, built for Roger Cook in 1778 and demolished in August 1929.

I surveyed the site of Raven’s smock mill during the early 1980s, climbed the church tower and, in 1984, carried out an archaeological watching brief at All Saints', during the excavation of surface water drainage trenches.

Part of the village in the 1900s (Image: by permission Kevin Fuller)

Around the same time, I was a regular visitor (for work purposes) to Purleigh Primary School.

It was another vicar, Rev Horsmanden, who first left an endowment (effective from 1800) to provide for the education of Purleigh’s children.

Another rector, John Eveleigh, had a school room and masters house built opposite the church (now Eveleigh House).

The successor school sits alongside Pump Lane, just a “grape’s throw” away from the vines of New Hall.

Founded by the Greenwood family in 1969, I have fond memories of a tasting session at the vineyard in 1991, which included a splendid 1989 Muller-Thurgan and an equally lovely Bacchus of the same vintage.

I wonder if Rev Washington liked wine?

Not far from the entrance to New Hall is The Limes, once home to another famous resident – Francis Camps (1905-1972), a pathologist notable for his work in the case of serial killer John Christie.

The route from Purleigh to Maldon is via the B1010. Known as Baron’s Lane, in 1889 it was intersected by the railway line from Maldon West to Woodham Ferrers, but it wasn’t until July 10, 1922, that the trains stopped at the Halt.

The bridge is still there, but the railway is long gone. However, just like Lawrence Washington it is part of a fascinating heritage that makes up the unique village “to which Americans come”.