Coggeshall

Our visit

We have driven through this very pretty village many times and marvelled at the myriad historic buildings, nearly 250 being listed, that make up this picturesque, historic place. We've already visited 16th century Paycockes House, an example of a wealthy clother's house, and Grange Barn founded in 1140, the remains of the former abbey, both owned by the National Trust but have not walked through the village to learn about its history and individual buildings. We decided to remedy this and spend an afternoon there.

Armed with a walk which started in one of the central car parks, we set out, looking forward to a history lesson.

As we walked down a picturesque small passage, coming across a very picturesque row of cottages one of which I coveted, we arrived at a field. We crossed the field expecting to find a road but it was another field. Instead of walking towards the centre of the village, we were walking away from it. We carried on, enjoying the quiet and the perfect walking weather. We eventually crossed a main road next to the football club into a shady area planted with trees to deter flooding from the River Blackwater which meandered nearby. Our first goal was to reach Nunn's Bridge so we could cross the river and make our way back towards the village centre.

Nunn's Bridge was built by a local blacksmith, Dick Nunn, and opened in 1892 to much public acclaim. When in 2020, it was announced that it needed to be replaced with a more modern design, there was a public campaign to save the bridge. Fortunately, Historic England listed it as Grade II and in 2022 it was fully restored and reopened. See photograph for more details.

Once across the bridge, we walked through pleasant, easy walking farmland on a well-trodden path, enjoying the early autumn views, the trees still being green despite the record summer heatwaves.

The walk exited at the ancient Grange Barn which unfortunately was closed that day. After that, it was a lovely walk back to the car park, alongside many interesting and varied old buildings. We enjoyed free parking for two hours at the car park so we decided to return before expiry and revisit lovely Coggeshall on another day when we can visit the museum and learn more about its rich history and architecture.