Layer Breton
| Layer Breton | |
|---|---|
 St Marys Church |
|
 Layer Breton
|
|
| Layer Breton shown within Essex | |
| Population | 287 |
| Civil parish |
|
| Shire county |
|
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Police | Essex |
| Fire | Essex |
| Ambulance | East of England |
| EU Parliament | East of England |
| UK Parliament | |
Layer Breton is a village and a civil parish in Essex, England. According to the 2011 census there were 144 males and 143 females. "LAYER-BRETON, a parish, with a village, in Lexden district, Essex; on a branch of the river Roman, 5 miles SE by S of Marks-Tey r. station, and 6 SW by S of Colchester." Layer Breton is part of the Layer parishes with Layer de la Haye being the neighbouring village to the west and Layer Marney neighbouring Layer Breton to the East. Layer Breton also touches parishes Birch and Great and little Wigborough. The village has a church dedicated to St Mary the Virgin, rebuilt in brick in 1923 on a new site nearly a mile to the north of the old one. The village was among those which suffered damage from the 1884 Colchester earthquake.
In the 1870s, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Layer Breton as:
"A parish, with a village, in Lexden district, Essex. Post town, Kelvedon. Acres, 954. Real property, £1, 763. Pop., 298. Houses, 62. The property is divided among a few. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Rochester. Value, £350. * Patron, the Rev. W. Blow. The church is tolerable. There are chapels for Independents and Quakers; and the Independent one was rebuilt and enlarged in 1860."
Name
The name Layer Breton originally came from a river name of Celtic origins, 'Leire', most likely to be identical with one found in Leicester. Lewis Brito ('the Breton') gave land here to St. John's Abbey, Colchester in the 12th century.
St. Mary's Anglican Church stands next to the Heath in the main part of the village. It was built in 1915. The original church stood opposite Layer Breton Hall. It was demolished in 1913 after deration following the 1884 Colchester earthquake . "A watercolour painting of the old church, which was painted shortly before the demolition, hangs in the new church. It shows that the old building was of a similar shape and size to the new, having a vestry behind the altar and a wooden porch. It had a wooden bell turret as does the new building. It was of rubble construction with a tiled roof. The modern church is of brick construction with tiles.There was a church on the old site from at least Norman times. The old church probably dated from the 14th century." ST Mary The Virgin church it is part of a group of seven parishes of which belong to the Benefice of Thurstable and Winstree which came into being on 1 October 2013. The other six parishes in the benefice are Tolleshunt Knights with Tiptree, Great Braxted, Messing, Inworth, Copford and Easthorpe.
...
Wikipedia