Alphamstone Essex hotels:

BURES is located on the border between South Suffolk and North Essex (UK), in the heart of picturesque `Constable` country. The village we call Bures, is not a single entity but a union of the two villagers of Bures Hamlet and Bures St Mary. Both villages lie either side of the River Stour, which is the county boundary between Essex and Suffolk. The centre of the village is old, many of the buildings dating from the 16th and 17th centuries. Within the three parishes of Bures St Mary, Bures Hamlet and Mount Bures we have 101 "Listed" properties. To make life much easier, the residents consider themselves all part of a single village called Bures. The parish church of Bures stands on the Suffolk side of the river Stour, and serves the parishes of Bures St. Mary, in Suffolk, and Bures Hamlet, in Essex. In Domesday the village is referred to as "Bura" or "Bure", and it is stated that there was a church with 18 acres of free land. 'The name "Bures" could be derived from either an Old English word "bur", meaning a cottage or bower, or from a Celtic word meaning a boundary, but, if the village was not named until after the Norman Conquest, it could have been called after a French village of the same name, of which there are several. It is not known at what date the suffix "St. Mary" was added to the name, but there are references to (he village as "Bures Nostre Dame" in the 13th century, and as "Bures Seinte Marie" in the 14th. On some old maps and documents, the name of the village is spelled "Bewers" or "Bewres", and this is probably the nearest phonetic spelling to the local pronunciation. It is usually assumed that the "St. Mary" suffix was added, because the church was dedicated to St. Mary the Virgin. This may or may not have been the case, but, as will appear in the next paragraph, there is considerable doubt on the point. DEDICATION In a Charter dated 1075, Waleran Fitzranulph or Fitzralph, grants '... the church of St. Mary, which is mine in Buri' to Caen Abbey. If this 'Buri' refers to our own village, as stated by the British Museum, and strengthened by the fact that the Fitzralphs owned land in the district, and have their coat of arms on the font, it is evidence that a church dedicated to St. Mary, existed in Bures in 1075, before Domesday........................