Twinstead

[4]Today, the village is made up of many farms, a riding school, a manor house and an Essex Volvo's business.

It has one place of worship which is the Church of St John the Evangelist, which is a Grade II* listed building.

[7] The church was built in 1859-60, it reflects the influence of William Butterfield and was designed by Henry Woodyer.

The exterior is made from red bricks with stone dressings, however the interior is far more richly decorated.

What makes it even more special is that: “Twinstead Church is thought to be one of only three churches in England featuring three equal arches of stone in the entrance to the chancel from the nave and certainly the only one if its kind in a rural setting.” [10]The name Twinstead was first recorded in the Domesday Book as Tumesteda and since the 12th century has been called various names such as Tumstead or Tunstead.

[12] This belonged to Richard Fitz-Gilbert in 1086 as he was the lord of the area, and then during the reign of Henry the Second was passed to Steven de Beauchamp.

After his murder, many others came into possession of this property, and many additions have been made for example the arms of Issac Wyncoll appears in one of the windows.

[13] Essex, Twinstead In the past the parish occupied a healthy area of the county which was very pleasant, with good soil, on a clay bottom on which crops could be cultivated hence agriculture thrived.

In the years after we see a steady incline then decline, so the population of the civil parish including Pebmarsh at the 2011 Census was 155.

[20] This has been predominately if not entirely a white Christian dominated area due to it being heavily influenced by the church in the past.

[23] In the early 1800s the social structure was based on three categories: The Employers and Professionals, The Middling Sorts and The Labourers and Servants.

By the 21st century, the occupational structure had changed in Twinstead, like many places in the UK by 2011 many primary sector jobs were gone.

1945 map of Twinstead
Interior design of The Church of St John the Evangelist
Population of Twinstead 1801-2011
Occupational Structure of Twinstead (1881)