Writtle

Writtle
Aubyns, a half-timbered house dated 1500
Writtle is located in Essex
Writtle
Writtle
Location within Essex
Population5,383 (2011)[1]
OS grid referenceTL6706
Civil parish
  • Writtle
District
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townCHELMSFORD
Postcode districtCM1
Dialling code01245
PoliceEssex
FireEssex
AmbulanceEast of England
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Essex
51°43′44″N 0°25′37″E / 51.729°N 0.427°E / 51.729; 0.427

Writtle is a village and civil parish 1 mile (1.6 km) west of Chelmsford, Essex, England. It has a traditional village green complete with duck pond and a Norman church, and was once described as "one of the loveliest villages in England, with a ravishing variety of ancient cottages".[2] The village is now home to Writtle University College, one of the UK's oldest and largest land-based colleges and a partner institution of the University of Essex, the grounds of which once housed a Royal hunting lodge, later the possession of the De Brus and De Bohun families.

The suggestion that Writtle is the birthplace of Robert the Bruce, as well as his father Robert de Brus, 6th Lord of Annandale, is contested, though its possession and use by both is incontrovertible. From 1996 until 2017 Writtle hosted the annual southern V Festival within the grounds of Sir John Comyn's Hylands Park. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 5,632,[3] decreasing to 5,383 at the 2011 Census.[1]

  1. ^ a b "Civil Parish population 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 8 September 2016.
  2. ^ Hope-Moncrieff, A.R. (1909). Essex. A&C Black Ltd.
  3. ^ "Census 2001: Parish Headcounts: Chelmsford". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 10 July 2012.