BARDFIELD (GREAT), a parish in the hundred
of FRESHWELL, county of ESSEX, 4 miles (E. by S.)
from Thaxted, containing 887 inhabitants. The living
is a vicarage, in the archdeaconry of Colchester, and
diocese of London, rated in the king's books at£Hj
and in the patronage of Sir C. M. BurrelL Bart. The
church is dedicated to St. Mary. The navigable river
Blackwater runs through the parish. In 1584, William
Benlows bequeathed property, producing about £30 per
annum, for the education of children and other charitable
purposes, to which sundry other endowments have
since been added. Petty sessions for the hundred are
held here every Thursday.