Writtle

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Writtle
Coordinates: 51.73° N 0.43° E
OS grid reference	TL679063
District	Chelmsford
Shire county	Essex
Region	East
Constituent country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	CHELMSFORD
Postcode district	CM1
Dial code	01245
Police	Essex
Fire	Essex
Ambulance	East of England
UK Parliament	West Chelmsford
European Parliament	East of England
List of places: UK • England • Essex

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

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, sited within the grounds of the present HE institution "Writtle College" (circa 1210).

The estate and village were later a possession of Isobel de Bruys (Brus), via a grant of Henry III. For a time thereafter it was leased to a Francis & Joan Bache, the estate was seised by Isobel's Grandson, the ex-communicated, Robert The Bruce, King of Scots, in the 1320s, also noted here.

Of its claims to fame, the most notable are:

1. The birthplace of Robert the Bruce on July 11, 1274 (chronicled by Richard le Baker, et al),
2. Robert's later marriage to his second wife Elizabeth de Burgh in 1302, while trying to gain the crown of Scotland at the court of Edward I.
3. The home of Writtle College [1], one of the UK's oldest and largest land-based colleges. It is a partner institution of the University of Essex.

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 to be assorbed by the BBC, suspending transmission in January 1923. Independent Radio did not reimerge in the UK till the 1960s.

Writtle has a traditional village green, complete with duck pond, and Norman church and has been described as: 'one of the loveliest villages in England, with a ravishing variety of ancient cottages'.

[edit] References

• Scottish Kings 1005 - 1625, by Sir Archibald H Dunbar, Bt., Edinburgh, 1899, p.127, where Robert the Bruce's birthplace is given "at Writtle, near Chelmsford in Essex, on the 11th July 1274". Baker, cited above, is also mentioned with other authorities.

[edit] External links

• Writtle - White's Directory of Essex, 1848
• Writtle Parish Council
• Writtle Future (the Parish Plan Association)

view • talk • edit  The towns and villages of Chelmsford borough, Essex in the East of England:
Around the town of Chelmsford: Broomfield • Chelmer Village • Great Baddow • Springfield Towns: Chelmsford • South Woodham Ferrers Villages: Bicknacre • Boreham • Chalk End • Chapel Row • Chatham Green • Chignal Smealy • Chignal St James • Cooksmill Green • Danbury • Downham • East Hanningfield • Fanner's Green • Ford End • Galleywood • Galleyend • Good Easter • Great Leighs • Great Oxney Green • Great Waltham • Highwood • Howe Green • Howe Street • Little Baddow • Little Leighs • Littley Green • Little Waltham • Margaretting • Margaretting Tye • Mashbury • Moulsham • Newney Green • North End • Pepper's Green • Pleshey • Ramsden Heath • Rettendon • Rettendon Place • Roxwell • Runwell • Sandon • South Hanningfield • Stock • Tye Green • West Hanningfield • Writtle • Woodham Ferrers
Chelmsford is the county town of Essex List of places in Essex