The civil parish of Bures Hamlet rises from the west bank of the River Stour, in the county of Essex – the ancient Kingdom of the East Saxons, although it remains in the ecclesiastical parish of Bures St. Mary, Suffolk – land of the South Folk of the East Angles.
This anomaly was first recorded in the footnotes to the Domesday Book of 1086 which correct the allocation of Bures lands between the counties.
Named when no more than a few scattered cottages, the Hamlet now rivals its parent Parish in size, with a population of some 765 people.
The rest of the parish of Bures Hamlet is undulating agricultural land with scattered patches of woodland, some being remnants of the ancient forest and later deer parks.
There are no other major settlements, but a few clusters of cottages by ancient greens and crossroads, and some isolated farms.