| Witham | |
|---|---|
 | |
  Witham Location withinEssex | |
| Population | 27,797 (Parish, 2021)[1] 27,395 (Built up area, 2021)[2] |
| OS grid reference | TL821145 |
| Civil parish |
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| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | WITHAM |
| Postcode district | CM8 |
| Dialling code | 01376 |
| Police | Essex |
| Fire | Essex |
| Ambulance | East of England |
| UK Parliament | |
| 51°47′52″N0°38′14″E / 51.7978°N 0.6373°E /51.7978; 0.6373 | |
Witham (/ˈwɪtəm/) is a town andcivil parish in theBraintree district, in thecounty ofEssex, England. It stands on theRoman road between the cities ofChelmsford (8 mi or 13 km south-west) andColchester (13 mi or 21 km north-east). TheRiver Brain runs through the town and joins theRiver Blackwater on the outskirts. At the2021 census the population of the parish was 27,797 and the population of the built up area was 27,395.
Excavations by Essex County Council Field Archaeological unit at the recent Maltings Lane development discovered evidence ofNeolithic occupation at Witham, including human remains and several trackways across ancient marsh. Excavations of the Witham Lodge (Ivy Chimneys) area of the town in the 1970s unveiled remains of a Roman temple as well as a potterykiln. This would have been alongside the mainRoman road fromColchester to London and used as a stopover point on the long journey. Another notable find during the excavation was a votive offering pool in the grounds of the temple, containing several artefacts that would have been offered to the gods.
In 913, according to theAnglo-Saxon Chronicle,Edward the Elder marched fromHertford to reconquer Essex, and encamped in Witham on his route to set up a base atMaldon. Witham's position on the Roman road in relation to the major Viking army based at Colchester was the most likely reason for this, and it would have effectively cut Essex in two.
The place-name Witham is first attested in theAnglo-Saxon Chronicle in 913 (mentioned above), where it appears asWitham. It also appears asWitham in theDomesday Book of 1086. The name may mean 'village in a bend'.[3] Another suggestion is that the name is partBrythonic (probably from a cognate of Gwydd = "Woods" in modern Welsh) and "ham", a very common Saxon village designation.[4]
TheSaxon settlement of Witham was centred on Chipping Hill, about 0.5 miles (0.8 km) north of the Roman road. Although a church is not mentioned in the Domesday Book, it is thought there was a church at Witham by that time. The parish church of St Nicolas is at Chipping Hill; it was substantially rebuilt around 1330, retaining fragments of an earlier building.[5]
The manor of Witham was given to theKnights Templar in 1148, supplementing the property atCressing Temple to the north that they had been granted in 1136. There had been a market at the original settlement at Chipping Hill ("chipping" means a market inOld English). The Knights Templar moved the market to a new location on the Roman road in the mid-12th century.[5]
The manor of Witham passed to the church after thedissolution of the Templars in England inc. 1309.[6] The manor was sold toSir John Southcott inc. 1575, a prominent judge and politician fromDevon. His heirs held the manor for almost two centuries, until 1648 when theSouthcott family had their lands destroyed for supporting theroyalist cause in theEnglish Civil War.[7]
During the latter half of the 18th century and the early 19th century, Admiral SirWilliam Luard was the town's most prominent citizen, a resident of Chipping Hill. His funeral cortège through the town in 1910 was witnessed by thousands.
In the 18th century, Witham briefly enjoyed a period as an affluentspa town after the discovery of a mineral-bearing spa by a Dr Taverner. Witham was also a centre of the wool trade until the decline of the industry in the late 17th century.
Witham railway station was the scene of a serious accident 09:27 on 1 September 1905. TheLondon Liverpool Street-to-Cromer 14-coach express derailed whilst travelling at speed through the station. Ten passengers and a luggage porter were killed when several of the carriages somersaulted on to the platforms causing considerable damage to the rolling stock and the station. Seventy-one passengers were seriously injured.[8][9] It remains to this day the worst loss of life in a railway accident in Essex.
In 2005, an opportunity to commemorate the centenary was missed and the incident is now largely forgotten. Ben Sainty, a signalman, whose quick action averted the next train hitting the wreckage, has a road named after him in the town, Ben Sainty Court.
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The town expanded greatly in the late 1960s and 1970s, when theGreater London Council built three largecouncil estates on the west and north sides of the town, and a smaller one to the south, for families from London to move to as part of theNew Town and Expanded Townoverspill policy of that time. A famous one-time resident of the town was the authorDorothy L. Sayers, whose statue stands opposite the town's library, which is a short distance from the author's house. The library stands on the site of the old Whitehall cinema, which closed in the late 1970s and which was itself a conversion of the White Hall country house.
Witham has grown in size after the development of the Maltings Lane estate to the south of the town between 2002 and 2003. This was followed, in 2012, by the moving of Chipping Hill Primary School from its old premises in Church Street to a new-build in Owers Road. The development of this area has continued, including the opening of anAldi superstore in 2015.[10]
Approved developments in this period included the reconstruction of both the town's secondary schools, theNew Rickstones Academy and theMaltings Academy,[11] completed in 2011; theMarston's pub and restaurant on Gershwin Boulevard, completed in 2013 with the adjacent Seymour House day nursery; the refurbishment and opening of aMorrisons store in the old premises of the Jack & Jenny pub in 2014; and the newly-built Witham Leisure Centre[12] on Spinks Lane, replacing Bramston Sports Centre, completed in 2014.
The town is served byWitham railway station, situated on theGreat Eastern Main Line operated byGreater Anglia. Trains take approximately 40–45 minutes to reachLiverpool Street. The station is also the junction for abranch line toBraintree. Another branch line went fromWitham to Maldon, but this has now been dismantled having been closed to passengers in 1964.
Witham is situated on theA12trunk road betweenChelmsford andColchester, and can be accessed via junctions 21 and 22. It was originally aRoman road from London to Colchester. The A12 used to run in a straight line through the middle of the town, but a by-pass now completely avoids the town. The A12’s former route is now called the B1389.
Witham is onNational Cycle Route 16.
The town has a large number of residents who commute to work in London because of its excellent transport links. This is evident by Witham railway station's appearance within the 150 busiest railway stations in Great Britain,[13] which would not be expected based on the town's population alone.
Witham has a mainly linear town centre, focused on the high street and two shopping precincts to form a cross that bisects the high street; these are the Newlands Shopping Centre of 1970s design to the north and the Grove Centre of a 1980s brick design to the south. There are also a range of small shops, restaurants, pubs, major high-street banks and several national commercial chains. The town also has five supermarkets: Tesco in the Grove Centre, Morrisons near the railway station, Asda on Highfields Road, Aldi at the southern entrance to the town and Lidl that recently opened towards the centre of town on the old Bramston sports centre site.
A significant industrial presence remains in the town, concentrated on three industrial estates on the eastern side of the town close to the junction with the A12. There are also commercial offices located in the town centre area.
In March 2007,Crittall Windows closed its Braintree factory and returned to Witham to occupy a new factory on the Freebournes Industrial Estate. The factory Crittall moved into was built for J.L. French in 2001, but never used for production. The new Crittall factory is visible on the right hand side of the road exiting Witham towards Colchester, via the A12.
In December 2013, the financial service provider Cofunds relocated to the former Marsh building on the Grove, bringing approximately 600 jobs to the town.[14]
Witham has aNon-League football clubWitham Town F.C. who play at Spa Road.
There is also a rugby club situated behind the football ground.
Witham also has a hockey club formed in 1924 and is now made up of 5 men's teams and 3 women's teams. Witham also participates in the local mixed league as well as the men's and women's summer league and indoor league. Witham hockey club play on the astro turf across the road from Maltings Academy on Spinks Lane. The hockey club share a clubhouse with the cricket club which is situated next to the recreation ground, commonly known as the Maldon Road Park, on Maldon Road.
Leisure facilities include Benton Hall Golf and Country Club, a pool club, and a library which occupies the site of what was the town's long-closed cinema, the Whitehall. A "River Walk" runs for3+1⁄2 miles (5.5 kilometres) through the town and is home to a range of wildlife. Witham Leisure Centre is located in Spinks Lane, adjacent to the former Bramston Sports Centre.
Witham istwinned with the town ofWaldbröl,Germany.[15]
Local news and television programmes are provided byBBC East andITV Anglia. Television signals are received from theSudbury TV transmitter,[16]BBC London andITV London can also be received from theCrystal Palace TV transmitter.[17] Local radio stations areBBC Essex on 103.5 FM,Heart East on 102.6 FM,Radio Essex on 107.7 FM andActual Radio onDAB. The town is served by the local newspaper,Braintree and Witham Times which publishes on Wednesdays.[18] TheColchester Gazette also covers the town.
There are two secondary schools in Witham,Maltings Academy andNew Rickstones Academy. Maltings Academy achieved 94% A*- C GCSE grades in 2012. (51% including English and Maths) and an above national average of 99% of pupils gaining at least one GCSE in 2012. The two schools are part of the Lift Academies chain. New Rickstones Academy was rated Good by Ofsted in January 2015 and Maltings Academy was rated Outstanding by Ofsted in March 2015.
The town's primary schools are Templars, Holy Family Catholic School, Howbridge, Powers Hall, Chipping Hill (which became a primary school in September 2010), Rivenhall CoE, Elm Hall Primary, Southview, and Silver End Primary. Both Chipping Hill School and Powers Hall Junior School received Outstanding OfSTED reports in 2008.Chipping Hill was named the Top School in East Anglia by the Sunday Times.
The Chatten free school is a special educational needs school which opened in 2021. The school provides up to 75 places to pupils from across Essex with severe, complex autism.[19]
There are three tiers of local government covering Witham, atparish (town),district, andcounty level: Witham Town Council,Braintree District Council, andEssex County Council. The town council is based atWitham Town Hall at 61 Newland Street.[20]
For national elections, Witham forms part of theWitham constituency. The Member of Parliament (MP) is theConservativePriti Patel, who was elected at the2010 general election, becoming the firstAsian female Conservative MP.
Witham was anancient parish in theWitham hundred of Essex.[21]
In 1852, the parish was made alocal board district, administered by an elected local board.[22] Such districts were reconstituted asurban districts under theLocal Government Act 1894.[23][24] In 1933, the neighbouring parish ofRivenhall (which includedSilver End) was abolished and its area absorbed into Witham. At the same time, there were some more minor adjustments to the boundaries with the neighbouring parishes ofFaulkbourne andKelvedon.[25]
Witham Urban District was abolished in 1974 under theLocal Government Act 1972, when the area became part of the new Braintree district.[26][27] Witham was originally planned to be inMaldon district, it was later decided to place it in Braintree district.[28] The area of the pre-1974 urban district becameunparished as a result of the 1974 reforms. Three new parishes covering the area of the old urban district were subsequently created in 1982: Witham, Rivenhall, and Silver End.[29][30] The parish council for Witham adopted the name Witham Town Council.[20]
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