{{Short description|Village in Essex, England}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2020}} {{Use British English|date=January 2015}} {{Infobox UK place |country = England |official_name= Finchingfield |static_image_name = Finchingfield village green (geograph 2496080).jpg |static_image_width = |static_image_caption=Finchingfield village green |coordinates = {{coord|51.96747|0.44995|display=inline,title}} |os_grid_reference= TL683327 |population= 1,443 | population_ref = (Parish, 2021)<ref name=2021census>{{cite web |title=2021 Census Parish Profiles |url=https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/sources/census_2021_pp |website=NOMIS |publisher=Office for National Statistics |access-date=31 March 2025}} (To get individual parish data, use the query function on table PP002.)</ref> |civil_parish= Finchingfield |shire_district= Braintree |shire_county = Essex |region= East of England |constituency_westminster= Braintree |post_town= BRAINTREE |postcode_district= CM7 |postcode_area= CM |dial_code= 01371 |london_distance_mi = 40<!-- straight line per MOS – constant and comparable with other place distances --> |london_direction = SW }} '''Finchingfield''' is a village and civil parish in the Braintree district of North Essex, England, a primarily rural area. It is approximately {{convert|6|mi|km|0}} from Thaxted, with the nearest larger towns being Saffron Walden and Braintree. At the 2021 census the parish had a population of 1,443.
Nearby villages include Great Bardfield, Great Sampford, and Wethersfield.
==History== There has been a settlement in Finchingfield since historical records of the area began. Archaeological evidence suggests a Roman villa once stood 400 metres south-southwest of today's village church. The place-name 'Finchingfield ' is first attested in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it appears as ''Fincingefelda,'' meaning 'the field of Finc or his people'.<ref>Eilert Ekwall, ''The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names'', p.179</ref> The village was an official stop for horse-drawn coaches travelling from London to Norwich.
Spains Hall, the nearby Elizabethan country house, was built in the early fifteenth century. The hall is named after Hervey de Ispania, who held the manor at the time of the 1086 ''Domesday Book''. Since then, the land has been owned by four families: the de Ispania family, the Kempe family, who acquired it when Margery de Ispania married Nicholas Kempe in the early fifteenth century, the Ruggles family (later the Ruggles-Brise family), and currently celebrity chef Jamie Oliver with wife Jools and their 5 children.<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|title=Spains Hall: Jamie and Jools Oliver splash out £6m on Tudor mansion in Finchingfield, Essex|url=https://www.eadt.co.uk/news/tv-chef-jamie-oliver-buys-a-new-house-in-finchingfield-1-5847116|last=Smith-Jarvis|first=Charlotte|date=10 January 2019|website=East Anglian Daily Times|language=en|access-date=2020-05-18}}</ref> The hall was the hub of the community, those families owning much of the village, and employing most of the villagers.<ref name="EL1108">{{cite news|title=Finchingfield's friendly faces |last=Jarvis |first=Joanne |date=November 2008 |work=Essex Life |url=http://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/Launch.aspx?referral=other&pnum=&refresh=Qs3051eD1rF8&EID=e2b10cf0-fd31-44b7-837b-a7ba94501771&skip=true |publisher=Archant |pages=78–79 |access-date=24 January 2009}} (Registration required)</ref>
==Community== Finchingfield and Cornish Hall End combined had a population of 1,471 at the United Kingdom Census 2011.<ref>[http://www.braintree.gov.uk/housingstatnav/info/4/parishes/4/finchingfield_and_cornish_hall_end "Finchingfield & Cornish Hall End"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141230025717/http://www.braintree.gov.uk/housingstatnav/info/4/parishes/4/finchingfield_and_cornish_hall_end |date=30 December 2014 }}, Braintree District Council. Retrieved 4 January 2015</ref>
The ecclesiastical parish covering Finchingfield includes Cornish Hall End, Shalford, and Wethersfield.
Societies and clubs founded in Finchingfield, include The Finchingfield Society, the Horticultural Society, the Royal British Legion, and Finchingfield Cricket Club.<ref name="EL1108" />
It often is called the most beautiful village in England, a "picture-postcard" village and one of the most photographed, with a duck pond and village green surrounded by Georgian and medieval cottages; St John the Baptist Church on the hill; an eighteenth-century windmill; three public houses; Post Office; tea rooms; a hall; a primary school; and a doctor's surgery.<ref name="EL1108" />
Finchingfield was the home and is the burial place of Dodie Smith, whose books include ''The Hundred and One Dalmatians'' (1956). She lived in The Barretts at Howe Street, a hamlet in the parish about {{convert|1.5|mi|km|1}} from the village.<ref name=BBC>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2281001.stm|title=Cruella's 'home' up for sale|date=25 September 2002|work=BBC News|publisher=BBC|access-date=24 January 2009}}</ref>
The 2013 Sky series ''Chickens'' was filmed in the village. The series concerns three young men who avoided going to fight during the First World War, written by and starring Simon Bird and Joe Thomas.{{citation needed|date=January 2015}}
The village is on the route of the Dunwich Dynamo annual cycle ride.
==Notable people== <!-- Only add those people with a Wikipedia article and for whom it can be verified that they lived in or are substantially associated with Finchingfield - any who are not are likely to be removed --> *Thomas Howard, 21st Earl of Arundel{{citation needed|date=January 2015}} *Norman Lewis, travel writer, novelist, founder of Survival International<ref>{{Cite ODNB |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-92251 |title=Lewis, (John Frederick) Norman (1908–2003) |last=Tomes |first=Jason |date=8 January 2009 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/92251}}</ref> *Dodie Smith, author of ''The Hundred and One Dalmatians''<ref name=BBC/> *A J A Symons, author of ''The Quest For Corvo'', an acclaimed biography of the author Frederick Rolfe.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.iwfs.org/americas/a.j.a.-symons|title=The International Wine & Food Society (IW&FS)|first=CAMALEO web|last=intelligence (camaleo.com)|website=www.iwfs.org}}</ref> *Janie Terrero (1858 – 1944), militant suffragette born here.<ref name=Suffrage>{{Cite web|url=https://www.suffrageresources.org.uk/database/2546/mrs-janie-terrero|title=Mrs Janie Terrero / Database - Women's Suffrage Resources|website=www.suffrageresources.org.uk}}</ref> *Jamie Oliver, chef, TV personality and author<ref name="auto"/>
==Listed buildings== {{main|Listed buildings in Finchingfield}}
== Gallery == <gallery> File:Finchingfield, Essex.jpg|A quintessential English village. File:Finchingfield(ChristineMatthews)Jun2005.jpg|Finchingfield, June 2005 File:Finchingfield post Windmill.jpg|Finchingfield post mill File:Finchingfield Guildhall.jpg|Finchingfield Guildhall (before 2011-2013 restoration)<ref>[http://www.finchingfieldguildhall.org.uk/the-story-so-far/ "Guildhall Finchingfield Essex"], Retrieved 4 January 2015</ref> File:Finchingfield church of St John the Baptist 2.jpg|The church of St. John the Baptist File:02 THE FOX INN, FINCHINGFIELD.jpg|The Fox Inn, Finchingfield </gallery>
==See also== *The Hundred Parishes
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons category|Finchingfield}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20070621175054/http://www.btinternet.com/~roger.beckwith/Finchingfield/index.htm Images of Finchingfield] * [http://www.our-cottage.co.uk/html/finch.htm Cliff Lawson's tribute to Finchingfield]
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Category:Finchingfield Category:Villages in Essex Category:Civil parishes in Essex Category:Braintree District