Preface
A very tidy village steeped in history, this small Essex village
is a very pretty place that doesn't resemble
its name in the slightest! This was how a magazine
started it's feature on our village recently.
Messing along with Ugley near the Essex-Suffolk
border (which genuinely has the Ugley Women's
Institute based there) certainly do not deserve
the modern derivation of their names. A claim
to fame is the fact that it is the ancestral
home of the Bush family - whose members have
produced two presidents of the USA. The family
of ex-president George and his son, George W.
Bush (aka 'Dubya'), has its roots in our tiny
community - the Bush clan left the village for
America in the 17th Century. There are coffee
mugs on sale in All Saints' Church, with the
motto: "Messing: birthplace of Reynold
Bush, ancestor of George Bush, President of
the USA".
Location
The grid reference
for the centre of the village is Lat: 51:50:14N
(51.8372) Lon: 0:45:07E (0.7519).
The parish that Messing exists in covers an
area of approximately (1027 hectares / 2538
acres) and is bounded by the parishes of Kelvedon
to the west, Feering to the north, Birch to
the east and Tiptree to the south. Colchester,
the oldest recorded town in Britain, is 8.5
miles to the east and Chelmsford is just over
15 miles to the west. The highest point in the
parish is no more than 69 metres (226 feet)
above sea level dropping to 32 metres (105 feet)
in the vicinity of Domsey Brook. It is situated
in the Birch & Winstree ward of Colchester
Borough Council and encompasses the village
of Inworth as well. The main roads in the parish
are the B1023 in the west and the B1022 in the
south. The A12 lies just on the boundary to
the north.
Origins
Known as Maesa's settlement
and Mething and by various names in the past,
it is close by a site called The Rampart which
according to legend is where Boudica, Queen
of the Icini was defeated by the Romans. Once
referred to as 'the land of slaughter' it is
now a peaceful pretty village of 250 inhabitants.
The history of Messing has been published twice.
Once in the book called Simply Messing which
was researched and written by Roger Carter,
and also by a past
vicar of Messing, William Goldsborough Whittam
in The Story of Messing. A book entitled No
Messing written by C.C Thorburn is the autobiography
of John C. Chevely and provides an insight into
the affluent childhood of someone born in Messing
in 1795. Being the ancestral home of the American
Presidential Bush family draws visitors to the
village and All Saints' Church which
has visible post-medieval architecture and an
outstanding stained glass window attributed
to Abraham Van Linge.
Landscape
In broad terms
the land in which the parish lays, is a plateau
landscape situated on a broad, elevated ridge,
dissected by a number of small streams, providing
undulations and giving the appearance of a gently
folded landscape. Large areas of mixed woodland
(Layer Wood and Pods Wood) punctuate areas of
predominantly arable farmland, consisting of
large rolling arable fields. Smaller regular
patches of woodland are a characteristic feature
of the south western corner of the area, extending
from a band of similar landscape pattern, which
extends across the Borough boundary into areas
of landscape to the southwest. The network of
minor roads is lined with mature hedges. Single
mature trees in field boundaries and standing
within fields, create distinctive landscape
features, which contribute to a unique sense
of place. There is a sense of tranquility within
the area, away from the fringes of the Tiptree
settlement.