Wickham Bishops
Encyclopedia
Wickham Bishops is a village in Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...

, England.

The place-name 'Wickham Bishops' is first attested in the Domesday Book
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...

 of 1086, where it appears as 'Wicham', meaning 'dwelling place with a (dairy) farm'. 'Bishops' refers to the fact that the land belonged to the Bishop of London.

Transport

Roughly three miles from the town of Witham
Witham
Witham is a town in the county of Essex, in the south east of England with a population of 22,500. It is part of the District of Braintree and is twinned with the town of Waldbröl, Germany. Witham stands between the larger towns of Chelmsford and Colchester...

 (which has a mainline train station on the National Express East Anglia line). Also at Witham is access to the main A12 road that runs through Essex.

Wickham Bishops is a popular village for London-bound rail commuters as well as those who work in the nearby towns of Chelmsford
Chelmsford
Chelmsford is the county town of Essex, England and the principal settlement of the borough of Chelmsford. It is located in the London commuter belt, approximately northeast of Charing Cross, London, and approximately the same distance from the once provincial Roman capital at Colchester...

 and Colchester
Colchester
Colchester is an historic town and the largest settlement within the borough of Colchester in Essex, England.At the time of the census in 2001, it had a population of 104,390. However, the population is rapidly increasing, and has been named as one of Britain's fastest growing towns. As the...

.

The village once had a railway station of its own on the Witham - Maldon East line. The line closed to passengers in 1964.

Local amenities

Wickham Bishops has a village hall (constructed in 2005), playing fields, a library, tennis courts, a hairdresser, health food shop, estate agent, a One Stop local shop/off licence and two public houses (pubs) - The Mitre and The Chequers.

The number 90 bus service runs between Maldon
Maldon
-Placenames:* Maldon, Essex is a town on the Blackwater estuary in England** Maldon , a local government district based in Maldon, Essex** Maldon Town F.C., an English football club** Maldon *The Battle of Maldon...

 to Wickham Bishops and Witham every half an hour for most of the day during Monday to Friday.

Churches

The Anglican parish church is St Bartholomew's. The clock on its steeple was converted to electronic mechanism in June 2008 (previously being wound by hand). There is also the redundant Church of St Peter
St Peter's Church, Wickham Bishops
St Peter's Church, Wickham Bishops, is a redundant church in the village of Wickham Bishops, Essex, England. It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II* listed building, and is cared for by the Friends of Friendless Churches.-History:...

 which was probably built as a private chapel for the bishops of London who then owned the village.

Drama club

There is a drama club, 'Wickham Bishops Drama Club', located centrally between Witham, Maldon and Tiptree
Tiptree
Tiptree is a village in the English county of Essex, situated south-east of Colchester and around north-east of London. Surrounding villages include Messing, Tolleshunt Knights, Layer Marney, Inworth, Birch, Great Braxted, Great Totham and Little Totham....

in rural Essex. The club has recently won Best Production at the local Gimson One-Act Play Festival. The winning play, "Snowed Under", was an original piece written by a club member, Anne-Marie Latter and directed by Dafydd Bates. Ian Lodge was presented with the award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Mr. Whitely.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK