# Shellow Bowells

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Shellow_Bowells
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Shellow_Bowells.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shellow_Bowells
> Source revision: 1324047314
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

{{Short description|Village in Essex, England}}
{{Infobox UK place
 | official_name=         Shellow Bowells
 | civil_parish =         [Willingale](/source/Willingale%2C_Essex)
 | country=               England
 | region=                East of England
 |coordinates = {{coord|51.746|0.332|display=inline,title}}
 | post_town=             ONGAR
 | postcode_area=         CM
 | postcode_district=     CM5
 | dial_code=
 | shire_district=        [Epping Forest](/source/Epping_Forest_District)
 | shire_county=          [Essex](/source/Essex)
 | hide_services=         Yes
 | population = 
 | population_ref = 
 |static_image_name=Church conversion, Shellow Bowells, Essex - geograph.org.uk - 138116.jpg
 |static_image_caption=The converted parish church
}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2015}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2015}}
'''Shellow Bowells''' is a small hamlet in the [civil parish](/source/civil_parish) of [Willingale](/source/Willingale%2C_Essex), in the [Epping Forest District](/source/Epping_Forest_District) of [Essex](/source/Essex), England. It is situated {{convert|6|mi|km|0}} to the west of [Chelmsford](/source/Chelmsford), between the villages of Willingale to the west and [Roxwell](/source/Roxwell) to the east.

The name is derived from the [Old English](/source/Old_English) ''Shellow'', meaning a bend in the river, referring to the [River Roding](/source/River_Roding). The ''Bowells'' part of the name comes from the Bueles family who owned the [manor](/source/Manorialism) in the 13th century.<ref>{{cite web |title=Shellow Bowells |url=http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Essex/Shellow%20Bowells |website=Key to English Place-Names |publisher=University of Nottingham |access-date=4 November 2025}}</ref>

In [Saxon](/source/Anglo-Saxon) times, Shellow Bowells and neighbouring Willingale appear to have formed part of the extensive [Roding](/source/The_Rodings) estate, which subsequently fragmented into multiple manors and parishes.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rippon |first1=Stephen |title=Territoriality and the Early Medieval Landscape: The Countryside of the East Saxon Kingdom |date=2022 |publisher=Boydell Press |isbn=9781783276806 |page=181 |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Territoriality_and_the_Early_Medieval_La/jj52EAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA181&printsec=frontcover |access-date=1 November 2025}}</ref> Shellow had become a separate [vill](/source/vill) by the time of the [Domesday Book](/source/Domesday_Book) of 1086 when it was listed as "Scelda" in the [Dunmow hundred](/source/Hundreds_of_Essex).<ref>{{cite web |last1=Powell-Smith |first1=Anna |title=Shellow [Bowells] |url=https://opendomesday.org/place/TL6007/shellow-bowells/ |website=Open Domesday |access-date=4 November 2025}}</ref>

No priest or church was mentioned in the Domesday Book, but Shellow Bowells came to be a [parish](/source/ancient_parish). The parish church, dedicated to St Peter and St Paul, was rebuilt in 1754. The parish was small, and in 1798 it became part of a united [benefice](/source/benefice) with the neighbouring parish of Willingale Doe.<ref>{{cite book |title=Kelly's Directory of Essex |date=1914 |page=510 |url=https://leicester.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16445coll4/id/61100/rec/2 |access-date=24 November 2025}}</ref> In 1924 it was decided that Willingale Doe, Shellow Bowells, and Willingale Spain would be combined into a single [ecclesiastical parish](/source/ecclesiastical_parish) next time a vacancy arose in one of the two benefices.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=32694|page=6040|date=12 August 1924}}</ref> The merged ecclesiastical parish came into effect in 1928.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Youngs |first1=Frederic |title=Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England: Volume I, Southern England |date=1979 |publisher=Royal Historical Society |location=London |isbn=0901050679 |page=150}}</ref> The former parish church of St Peter and St Paul at Shellow Bowells has been converted into a house.<ref>{{NHLE|desc=Church of St Peter and St Paul|grade=II|num=1306781}}</ref>

Although Shellow Bowells had ceased to be a separate [ecclesiastical parish](/source/ecclesiastical_parish) in 1928, it continued to exist as a [civil parish](/source/civil_parish) until 1946, when the civil parish was likewise abolished and merged with Willingale Doe and Willingale Spain to become the civil parish of Willingale.<ref>{{cite web| url =http://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10246556|title=Relationships and changes Shellow Bowells AP/CP through time|publisher= Vision of Britain|accessdate = 18 February 2018}}</ref> At the 1931 census (the last before the abolition of the civil parish), Shellow Bowells had a population of 95.<ref>{{cite web| url =http://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10246556/cube/TOT_POP|title=Population Statistics Shellow Bowells AP/CP through time|publisher= Vision of Britain|accessdate = 18 February 2018}}</ref>

Shellow Bowells is mentioned by [Bill Bryson](/source/Bill_Bryson) in a list of unusual British place-names in ''[Notes From A Small Island](/source/Notes_From_A_Small_Island)''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bryson |first1=Bill |title=Notes from a Small Island |date=1995 |publisher=Black Swan |location=London |isbn=0552996009 |page=182}}</ref> It is also mentioned in [Paul Theroux](/source/Paul_Theroux)'s ''[The Kingdom By The Sea](/source/The_Kingdom_By_The_Sea)''.{{citation needed|date=June 2015}} It is referred to as Shallow Bowells in Part Five of ''[Random Harvest](/source/Random_Harvest)'' by [James Hilton](/source/James_Hilton_(novelist)).<ref name="Gutenberg0500341H">{{cite web|url=http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks05/0500341h.html|title=Random Harvest|author=James Hilton|publisher=gutenberg.net.au|accessdate=2016-10-30}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{commons category-inline|Shellow Bowells}}

{{Portalbar|England|United Kingdom}}
{{Essex|state=collapsed}}
{{Epping Forest|state=collapsed}}

{{authority control}}

Category:Villages in Essex
Category:Former civil parishes in Essex
Category:Epping Forest District

{{Essex-geo-stub}}

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Shellow Bowells](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shellow_Bowells) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shellow_Bowells?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.