Great Baddow Parish Council,
Parish Hall
19 Maldon Road, Great Baddow, Chelmsford, Essex, CM2 7DW
Welcome to the Great Baddow
Parish Council website.
Great Baddow Parish Council in Chelmsford Essex represents an urban
village with a population of over 13,000 and celebrated its
Centenary Year back in 1994. There are thirteen members of the
Parish Council and fourteen employed staff.
The name of Great Baddow is derived from an Anglo-French
combination
meaning "bad water".
At the heart of the old village there are over 30 listed buildings.
The village has been the site of a Marconi research centre (now
BAE) for many years, and major development started in the fifties
with the building of the Rothmans Estate for workers at Marconi's
and English Electric Valve Company in Chelmsford. During the 1960's
multi-storey housing, shops, and offices were built on the
Vineyards, a country house turned hotel in the centre of the
village.
According to information in the village church of St Mary, the
rebel leader Jack Straw led an ill-fated crowd (the "men of Essex")
from the churchyard to London, in one of the risings in the 1381
peasants' revolt.
A former Chain Radar transmitter tower, originally sited at
Canewdon can now be found on the outskirts of the village where it
is used to test equipment by BAE. Click here to read a historical leaflet about the tower
and mast.
One of the main aims of the Parish Council is to retain our village
identity and foster the community spirit which exists in Great
Baddow despite being so close to Chelmsford. It is amazing that
considering the population of the village most people out and about
still greet their fellow shoppers and storekeepers by name. If you
ask where they live, they say Great Baddow rather than
Chelmsford!