Springfield, Essex
| Springfield | |
|---|---|
 Springfield Place |
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 Springfield All Saints |
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 Springfield
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| Springfield shown within Essex | |
| Area | 3.2 sq mi (8.3 km2) |
| Population | 17,405 |
| • Density | 5,439/sq mi (2,100/km2) |
| OS grid reference | TL71980796 |
| • Charing Cross | 31 mi (50 km) |
| Civil parish |
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| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | CHELMSFORD |
| Postcode district | CM1 |
| Dialling code | 01245 |
| Police | Essex |
| Fire | Essex |
| Ambulance | East of England |
| EU Parliament | East of England |
| UK Parliament | |
Springfield has been a civil parish of the Borough of Chelmsford, Essex, England since 1907. The parish takes in the portion of the town north of river Chelmer and west of the A12 bypass and originally comprised the manors of Springfield Hall, Springfield Barnes (now Chelmer Village), Cuton Hall, and in part New Hall (now Beaulieu Park).
Until the 1950s the parish was a semi-rural village lying one mile north east of Chelmsford, on the old Roman Road, with little to attract the visitor outside of the annual Essex show, a half dozen pubs and the town's prison and Essex Police headquarters, both of which still lie to the east of the Roman road. The Essex show-ground was once located on fields north of The Green, and south of Pump lane. Since this time the former show site along with a thousand or so acres of surrounding arable land have been developed to create the most populous suburb of Chelmsford.
Springfield is continuing to expand with the planned Greater Beaulieu Park development, which is a mixed-use development comprising a residential development of up to 3,600 dwellings, new business park, retail spaces, hotel, leisure facilies, open space, education and community facilities, landscaping, new highways including a radial distributor road, public transport provisions and associated and ancillary development, including full details in respect of roundabout access from Essex Regiment Way and a priority junction from White Hart Lane.
Through the increased development planned for Springfield and Greater Beaulieu, Springfield now has its first-ever estate agent, namely Hamilton Piers, that opened in July 2014.
The historic heart of the parish is centred on the Anglican All Saints Church, Springfield Place and Green. This historic heart is one of the few areas not to have been visibly transformed in the last 50 years.
A former resident of the village of Springfield, William Pynchon, went on to become one of the leaders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony - a group of New World settlers whose capital city was Boston. In 1636, Pynchon and a group of pioneers founded Springfield, Massachusetts, beside New England's greatest river, the Connecticut River, amidst New England's most fertile soil. Originally named Agawam (which is now a nearby suburb of Springfield, featuring the famous Six Flags New England amusement park,) the settlement was renamed "Springfield" in Pynchon's honour, after Pynchon had suffered indignities from Connecticut's Captain John Mason - the notorious "Indian Killer" of America's Pequot Wars - who expressed disdain at Pynchon's "delicate treatment" of the region's Native People. After this, Springfield forever aligned with Boston, although 89 miles separate the two, instead of aligning with Hartford, Connecticut, now the state capital of Connecticut - only 23 miles south of Springfield.
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Wikipedia