Writtle

Coordinates: 51°44′N 0°26′E / 51.73°N 0.43°E / 51.73; 0.43

Writtle
Writtle green and church, in snow, c. 1935
Writtle  Writtle shown within Essex
OS grid reference	TL679063
District	Chelmsford
Shire county	Essex
Region	East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	CHELMSFORD
Postcode district	CM1
Dialling code	01245
Police	Essex
Fire	Essex
Ambulance	East of England
EU Parliament	East of England
UK Parliament	West Chelmsford
List of places: UK • England • Essex

The village of Writtle lies in Essex, England, two miles west of Chelmsford.

It is home of Writtle College, one of the UK's oldest and largest land-based colleges and a partner institution of the University of Essex. Writtle has a traditional village green, complete with duck pond, and a Norman church. It has been described as: 'one of the loveliest villages in England, with a ravishing variety of ancient cottages'^{[citation needed]}. The suggestion that Writtle is the birth place of Robert the Bruce (or perhaps his father Robert de Brus, 6th Lord of Annandale) is hotly contested; the importance of the village during the reign of the Plantagenet kings, however, is incontrovertible.^{[citation needed]}

Early History

The Romans were present in Writtle^[1] shortly after the Roman conquest by Claudius, but the presence of a metalled road^[2], numerous archaeological finds and the ease with which the river can be forded in Writtle are still not significant enough evidence to suggest that Writtle, rather than Chelmsford, was the site of the Roman town of Caesaromagus, as suggested by the Essex historian Morant (et al.).^[3]

Named in the Little Domesday Book, as a Royal demesne (manor) of 194 households, the village boasts the site of one of King John's hunting lodges ^[4], sited within the grounds of the present HE institution Writtle College (circa 1210).

The estate and village were later a possession of Isabel de Brus (Bruce), via a grant of Henry III ^[5] and a known residence of her grandson Robert, father to the future king^[6][7]. For a time thereafter it was leased to a Francis and Joan Bache, but the estate was taken by Isabel's great-grandson, Robert The Bruce, King of Scots, in the 1320s. ^[8][9]. It was in Writtle in 1302 that Robert had married his second wife, Elizabeth de Burgh; there is some evidence to suggest he was also born in the village rather than in Turnberry Castle, but the story is possibly conflated with that of his father of the same name.

Another well known historic figure who lived in Writtle was Sir John Petre (1549-1613)^[10]. He sat as a Member of Parliament for Essex from 1584 to 1587 and also served as Lord Lieutenant of Essex. In 1603 he was raised to the peerage as Baron John Petre, the first baron of Writtle. Baron Petre publicly acknowledged that he was a Roman Catholic and refused to follow the Church of England during the time of Queen Elizabeth I and King James I. He died in October 1613, aged 63, and was succeeded in the barony by his son William^[11], who later married Katherine Somerset. One person from Writtle who did help to bring about the English Reformation was Dr. John Bastwick (1593-1654), a religious zealot who opposed Roman Catholic ceremonial in the years before the outbreak of the English Civil War^[12].

Two Emma Toc, Writtle

Writtle holds a distinguished place in the history of radio broadcasting. In the early 1920s it was the site of the experimental Marconi station 2MT ("Two Emma Toc"), from where Captain Peter Eckersley made the name of the village famous with his station announcement "this is Two Emma Toc, Writtle testing, Writtle testing". The Writtle transmission station was also the last independent outside the BBC, suspending transmission in January 1923. Independent radio did not re-imerge in the UK till the 1960s.

Writtle Church

The Domesday Book mentioning a church and priest in Writtle suggests that Christian worship in the village pre-dated the Norman Conquest^[1]; the early 13th century nave and chancel seem to be extensions of an 11th century construction which itself replaced a Saxon church. During the mediaeval period, the church "changed hands" several times, revenues being received by the Prior of Bermondsey in the 12th century, and then by the Hospital of the Holy Ghost in Rome from the early 13th; the turbulent reign of Richard II saw the church being seized by the king, eventually coming under the control of William of Wykeham's New College, Oxford in 1399.^[13]

The church has twice suffered arson attacks in recent history - the first in 1974, the second in 1991.

Longmeads House

Longmeads House is a large Victorian building with grounds, and an important feature of the village. It was built by Robert Woodhouse in the 1880s and remained in the family until it was acquired by the Seabrooke family in 1930. The estate was acquired by Essex County Council in 1950 and is now the village's community centre.^[14]

References

External links

• Writtle Parish Council
• Writtle Future (the Parish Plan Association)
• Writtle College

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