Places of Interest

There are many of these and they are very varied.

Buildings:

• There are 59 listed buildings, mostly along Main Road. A map of their locations is in the Neighbourhood Plan, due to be published later this year:
• St. John Baptist Church was built and extended from the 13th century onwards and may have replaced a Norman church. There are Roman bricks incorporated in the walls and interesting features inside;
• Number 10 Main Road was originally a medieval hall house, extended over the years and used in the 19th century as the village workhouse;
• The Chantry on Main Road in front of St. John’s Church was a 1500 guild house;
• Parts of Fretton’s dates back to the early 16th century;
• The Griffin has a plaque for 1666 but was built about 1500;
• Gill House on Runsell Green was a late 16th century hall house with cross-wings;
• Hill House at Copt Green was built in the late 17th/early 18th century and the front range was added to in the late 18th century;
• Several 18th century buildings include the Old Bakery on Pennyroyal Road, the Old Rectory on Church Green, Millington House and the cottages round Eves Corner;
• Danbury Palace in Danbury Country Park dates from the 19th century and several houses built by William Baker are on Bicknacre Road as well as what is now Heathcote School at Eves Corner;
• The Library and Parish Office were schools built by the Rector and Lord of the Manor in 1840 and 1835 before education was compulsory. Other small schools were opened in people’s homes, for example Trellis Cottage in the 17th century and Millington House in the 1800s.

Country Park:

Danbury Country Park is well worth a visit with its pathways, ice house, ancient trees and lakes. Eves Corner has its pond, probably originally a source of clay for the village’s medieval tile and later brick industries. It centres the Conservation area.

Monuments:

Danbury has 3 scheduled monuments, the most famous being the Iron Age fort around the top of the hill. Some of its surrounding banks can still be seen and it offered 360 degree views to present day London, Chelmsford and Maldon.