Heritage :: history :: Witham Town Council :: Witham is a pleasant Georgian town with a history that dates back to the time of King Alfred located at the very heart of Essex midway between Colchester and Chelmsford.

Standing on the River Brain, Witham was mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086.

The older part of Witham is Chipping Hill, an ancient village clustered around a triangular green. The parish Church of St. Nicholas near Chipping Hill is made of Roman brick and contains a 15th Century carved wooden rood screen, with the cross still in position.

The manor of Witham was given to the Knights Templar in 1148. The town became a coaching town, due to its position on the London to Colchester road, now the A12. It was also a centre for cloth making.

In the 18th century a mineral bearing spring was discovered in Witham by Dr Taverner. For a while the town became a fashionable spa, but the town remained a market town. Some fine Georgian buildings were built in Newland Street, including the Town Hall with its period garden. Starting as a merchant's house at the height of the prosperity brought about by the wool trade it later became a coaching inn as horse-drawn coaches brought travellers to Witham in its heyday as an affluent spa town.

In the 19th century the coming of the railway heralded a new era of industry and wealth. The estates of the Great House gave way in the 20th century to the building of new homes for an expanding workforce and commuters to London, attracted by good communication links which had also inspired the earliest settlements along the old Roman road.

Dorothy L. Sayers, the great detective story writer lived in one of the Georgian fronted cottages. One of the more modern roads is called Dorothy Sayers Drive and recent projects like Wimsey Court and Vane Court bear the names of characters in her famous books.

Witham's Heritage Centre is located in Witham Town Hall and displays an exhibition of local history.

Janet Gyford, Witham's local history recorder, has written several books on the history of Witham. Details can be found here:

http://www.gyford.com/janet/

The text of Janet's booklet on the entries in the Domesday Book relating to Witham can be found here:

http://www.gyford.com/domesday/