Witham

Witham (pronounced Wittam) is a town in the county of Essex, in the south east of England. The population (2001 census) is 22,500. It is part of the District of Braintree. Witham is twinned with the town of Waldbröl, Germany.

1 Geography
2 History
3 Transport
4 Local economy and facilities
5 Education
6 Government
7 External links

[edit] Geography

Witham stands between the larger towns of Chelmsford (7 miles to the south-west) and Colchester (15 miles to the north-east). The River Brain runs through the town and joins the River Blackwater shortly outside it.

[edit] History

The parish of Witham appears in the Domesday Book of 1086. http://www.gyford.com/domesday/

Excavations of the Witham Lodge area of the town unveiled remains of a Roman temple as well as of a pottery kiln. This would have been alongside the main Roman road from London to Colchester.

The manor of Witham was given to the Knights Templar in 1148. To the north of the current town is Cressing Temple which was the earliest foundation of Templar lands in Britain, built over 700 years ago.

The town started life on 'Chipping Hill', where the old forge and the church still exists to this day. As the years went by, the hamlet grew to become 'Witham' and St Nicolas Church of England Church (a unique spelling) serves a congregation of around 150 people each Sunday.

Witham briefly enjoyed a period as an affluent spa town after the discovery of a mineral-bearing spa in the town by Dr Taverner in the 18th century. Witham was also a centre of the wool trade until the decline of the industry in the late 17th century.

The town expanded greatly in the late 1960s and 1970s when the Greater London Council built 3 large estates on the west and north sides of the town for families from London to move to.

In the 1990s and 2000s a large number of houses were built in several estates to the south and southwest of the town infilling the farmland that used to exsist between the town and the A12 bypass.

A one time famous resident of the town is the author Dorothy L. Sayers whose statue stands opposite the town's library.

[edit] Transport

The town is served by Witham railway station, situated on the London Liverpool Street to Norwich main line. The station is also the junction with the Braintree branch line to Braintree and Braintree Freeport. Another branch line, now dismantled, went from Witham to Maldon East and Heybridge.

Witham is situated on the A12 trunk road between Chelmsford and Colchester. Originally the A12 ran in a straight line through the middle of the town; however for some decades there has been a by-pass completely avoiding the town.

Because of these excellent transport links, the town has a large number of residents who commute to work in London.

[edit] Local economy and facilities

Witham has a small town centre, almost exclusively concentrated on the high street and its two modest shopping precincts, the Newland Shopping Centre and the Grove Centre. There is a reasonable range of small shops and a full range of major high-street banks, but few of the major high-street retail chains have ever been attracted to the town. The town has three supermarkets - Tesco in the Grove Centre, and Morrisons and Netto both a little way away from the town centre.

Leisure facilities include Bramston Sports Centre, a bowling alley, and a library which occupies the building of the town's long-closed cinema, the Whitehall. A 'River Walk' runs for three miles through the town and is home to a range of wildlife.

The Morrisons supermarket site was previously the factory site of Crittall Windows, until 1994 when the factory was closed and moved to Braintree. However, a significant light industrial presence remains in the town, mainly concentrated on three industrial estates on the eastern side of the town close to the junction with the A12. There is also significant office accommodation in the town centre area.

[edit] Education

There are two secondary schools in Witham, The John Bramston school, and The Rickstones school, both achieving a slightly below average 5 A*-C GCSE rating, averaging around the 40% mark. The town's primary schools are Templars, Holy Family, Howbridge and Powers Hall (infants and juniors) and Chipping Hill (infants only).

[edit] Government

Witham is part of the Braintree constituency of the House of Commons. The local Member of Parliament (MP) is the Conservative Brooks Newmark, who was elected to replace the former Labour Party MP Alan Hurst on 5 May 2005.

Witham is under the jurisdiction of Witham Town Council (its parish council), Braintree District Council and Essex County Council.

Witham, and parts of the Braintree district, hold one of the best recycling schemes in the UK, with compulsory recycling, reaching over 50% recycling.