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Witham (St. Nicholas)

WITHAM (St. Nicholas), a market-town and parish, and the head of a union, in the hundred of Witham, N. division of Essex, 8 miles (N. E. by E.) from Chelmsford, and 37 (N. E. by E.) from London; containing 3158 inhabitants. The original erection of the town, or at least of that part of it which is situated on Cheping Hill, is attributed to Edward the Elder, about the commencement of his reign. The place was subsequently in the possession of the Knights Templars, who had a preceptory at Cressing, three miles distant. Some consider this to have been the Roman station Canonium of Antoninus, which opinion receives confirmation from the quantity of Roman bricks in the walls of the church, and from the coins of different emperors that have been discovered in levelling the fortifications. There are remains of a circular camp, defended by a double vallum, yet visible in the vicinity of the town. A mansion here, formerly the property of the Earl of Abercorn, has been repeatedly honoured by the presence of royalty; George II. rested at it in his progress to and from his Hanoverian dominions, and Queen Charlotte, consort of George III., was received here on her first arrival in England. The town is pleasantly situated near the confluence of a small stream called the Braine, with the river Blackwater, on the main road from London to Colchester. It is of respectable appearance, and consists principally of one long street, lighted with gas, paved, and supplied with water from wells. Here is a station of the Eastern Counties railway, 12½ miles from that of Colchester. In 1846 an act was passed for a railway from Maldon, by Witham, to Braintree; it was opened towards the close of 1847. The market, granted by Richard I., and kept originally at Cheping Hill, from which it was removed by Richard II., is on Tuesday; fairs take place on the Monday before Whit-Sunday, on June 4th, and September 14th. The county magistrates hold petty-sessions for the division every Tuesday; and manorial courts, at which constables and other officers are appointed, are held as occasion requires.

The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £22. 0. 7½., and in the gift of the Bishop of London, the appropriator: the bishop's tithes have been commuted for £820, the vicarial tithes for £285, and a rent-charge of £75 is paid to an impropriator; there is a handsome parsonage-house, and the glebe contains 102¼ acres. The church, situated at Cheping Hill, half a mile north of the main town, is a spacious and handsome edifice with a tower of brick, in the later English style, and contains many ancient monuments, including a large tomb erected in the reign of Elizabeth, to the memory of Judge Southcote and his lady, by whose effigies it is surmounted. The chapel of All Saints, within a few yards of the chief street of the town, was consecrated in November 1842; it is in the early English style, and cost about £3500: the east window is of stained glass. There are places of worship for Baptists, the Society of Friends, Independents, and Roman Catholics; also a national school supported partly by the rent of a house conditionally bequeathed in 1630, by Catherine Barnardiston. Two almshouses on Cheping Hill, for four widows, were endowed by Thomas Green, in 1491, with a farm in Springfield, let for £80 a year; and an almshouse for two widows was founded in the reign of Charles I., by means of a bequest from George Armond, Esq. Others established by Matthew Harvey, Esq., are occupied by nine persons; and there are five, for ten widows, endowed with a farm at Goldhanger and another at Fairstead, and having a total income of £165 per annum. Dr. Warley, amongst other benefactions, in 1719, left £100 in aid of a school; and C. Barnardiston bequeathed a similar amount to be distributed in bread and fuel. The union of Witham comprises 17 parishes or places, and contains a population of 15,407. In the neighbourhood is a mineral spring, which was formerly in great repute.


Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858.

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