Great Dunmow, Essex : Historical writing

Descriptive gazetteer entries

These other entries in our collection of descriptive gazetteers are also about Great Dunmow. You may be able to find further references to Great Dunmow in the descriptive gazetteers by doing a full-text search here.

Place Type of entry Source
Dunmow hundred Bartholomew
DUNMOW a sub-district, a district, and a hundred Imperial
Dunmow, Great market town and parish with railway station Bartholomew
DUNMOW (Great) a small town and a parish Imperial

Travel writing

This website includes the complete texts of books describing journeys around Britain, written between the twelfth and nineteenth centuries. Selecting one of the links below will take you to the first reference to Great Dunmow within the selected text. This will not always be a description of a visit: travellers often mention places other than where they are, for example as a basis for comparison.

Traveller Section No. of Refs.
William Camden Essex and Suffolk 3
Daniel Defoe Letter 1, Part 2: Harwich and Suffolk 2
Celia Fiennes 1698 Tour: London to Bury St Edmunds 2

This website includes two large libraries, of historical travel writing and of entries from nineteenth century gazetteers describing places. We have text from these sources available for these places near your location:

Place Mentioned in Travel Writing Mentioned in Historical Gazetteer
Little Dunmow 1 3
Barnston 0 2
Little Easton 0 3
Little Canfield 0 3
Black Chapel 0 1
Great Canfield 0 3
Great Easton 1 3
High Roding 1 3
Stebbing 0 2
High Easter 0 3
Lindsell 0 2
Tilty 1 2
Takeley 0 2
Ford End 0 1
Aythorpe Roding 1 3
Felsted 1 2
Broxted 0 2
Pleshy 3 2
Bush End 0 2
Bardfield Saling 0 3

Names from historical writing

The following appear as names for Great Dunmow. Follow the links for what the author actually said:

Name Author Source
DUNMAW William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
DUNMAWG William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
DUNMEW Celia Fiennes Through England on a Side Saddle in the Time of William and Mary (London: Field and Tuer, The Leadenhall Press, 1888).
DUNMOW John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
Daniel Defoe A tour thro' the whole island of Great Britain, divided into circuits or journies (London: JM Dent and Co, 1927).
Celia Fiennes Through England on a Side Saddle in the Time of William and Mary (London: Field and Tuer, The Leadenhall Press, 1888).
John Marius Wilson Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (Edinburgh: A Fullarton & Co., 1870-72).
John Marius Wilson Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (Edinburgh: A Fullarton & Co., 1870-72).
DUNMOW GREAT John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
John Marius Wilson Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (Edinburgh: A Fullarton & Co., 1870-72).
GREAT DUNMOW John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
John Marius Wilson Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (Edinburgh: A Fullarton & Co., 1870-72).

NB: These variant names come from our collections of historical travel writing and descriptive gazetteers:

  • The above links take you to the first reference to this particular version of the name within a book of travel writing, or to the relevant gazetteer entry.
  • Some names may derive from research by antiquarian writers such as William Camden and Thomas Pennant into the Roman, Saxon and medieval names of places. Their claims are not always supported by modern place-name researchers.
  • References by travel writers to the place using its "normal" name are not included. Descriptive gazetteer entries are included only if the name does not appear anywhere else.