On my way to Boxted this evening I called upon the Rector of Mile End, and spoke to him about the correspondence which had appeared in the local press regarding the proper form of the name, - “Mile End” or “Myland”.
He is a rather silly little man, very opinionated, and will have it that “Myland” is correct, in spite of all the evidence to the contrary. The old church was of course about a mile from the centre of Colchester, whereas the present one is nearly two. Probably the centre of population moved up the hill onto the Heath at the time of the enclosures, thus causing the old church to decay.
Home to the Castle at 11.30pm, through a thick mist, the town very silent, with a solitary searchlight waving over it to the south.
The names Myland or Mile End have been used concurrently since 1130 according to the Parish of Myland website.
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