•  Gosfield, Essex

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In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Gosfield like this:

GOSFIELD, a village and a parish in Halstead district, Essex. The village stands on a branch of the river Colne, 2 miles SW of Halstead town and r. station; and has a post office under Halstead. The parish comprises 2, 990 acres. Real property, £4, 578. Pop., 620. Houses, 132. The manor belonged to the Veres, the Rolfes, the Wentworths, the Ryches, and others; passed to the Duke of Buckingham; and went afterwards to the Barnards. ...

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Gosfield Hall, once the seat of the Duke of Buckingham, dates from the time of Henry VIII.; has been much altered from its original appearance, but still is a fine specimen of the stately castellated mansion of its period; and stands amid well-wooded grounds, with a splendid lake. Gosfield Place is a handsome modern edifice. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Rochester. Value, £266.* Patron, not reported. The church includes two chapels; in one of which is a large marble monument, by Scheemaker, to John Knight, Esq., with the follow. ing epitaph by Pope:-

O fairest pattern to a falling age,
Whose public virtue knew no party rage;
Whose private name all titles recommend,
The pious son, fond husband, faithful friend;
In manners plain, in sense alone refined;
Good without show, and without weakness kind;
To reason's equal dictates ever true;
Calm to resolve, and constant to pursue;
In life with every social grace adorned,
In death, by friendship, honour, virtue, mourned.

Gosfield through time

Gosfield is now part of Braintree district. Click here for graphs and data of how Braintree has changed over two centuries. For statistics about Gosfield itself, go to Units and Statistics.

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