Manningtree is a town and civil parish in the Tendring district of Essex, England, which lies on the River Stour. It is part of the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Natural Beauty.

Smallest town claim

Manningtree has traditionally claimed to be the smallest town in England, but its 2007 population of 700 people in 20 hectares and the 2011 census population for the civil parish of 900 are much higher than the 351 population of Fordwich, Kent. However, it is believed to be the smallest town by area. In April 2009 it was proposed that Manningtree should merge with Mistley and Lawford to form a single parish, losing its separate identity as a town. As of 2018 such a merger has not occurred.

History

The name Manningtree is thought to derive from 'many trees'. The town grew around the wool trade from the 15th century until its decline in the 18th century and also had a thriving shipping trade in corn, timber and coal until this declined with the coming of the railway. Manningtree is known as the centre of the activities of Matthew Hopkins, the self-appointed Witchfinder General, who claimed to have overheard local women discussing their meetings with the devil in 1644 with his accusations leading to their execution as witches. Many of the buildings in the centre of the town have Georgian facades which obscure their earlier origins. Notable buildings include the town's library, which was originally built as 'a public hall for the purposes of corn exchange' and was later used around 1900 for public entertainment, and the oldest Methodist church in Essex, located on South Street. ''The Ascension'', by

John Constable John Constable (; 11 June 1776 – 31 March 1837) was an English landscape painter in the Romanticism, Romantic tradition. Born in Suffolk, he is known principally for revolutionising the genre of landscape painting with his pictures of Dedha ...

, which now hangs in Dedham church, was commissioned in 1821 for the altarpiece of the early seventeenth century church on the High Street, demolished in 1967.

Governance

Manningtree is part of the

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected to t ...

called Manningtree, Mistley, Little Bentley and Tendring. The population of this ward at the 2011 census was 4,603.

Geography

Manningtree is on Holbrook Bay, part of the River Stour in the north of Essex. It is the eastern edge of Dedham Vale. Nearby villages include Dedham, Mistley, Lawford,

Wrabness Wrabness is a small village and civil parish near Manningtree, Essex, England. The village is located six miles (10 km) west of Harwich. Wrabness railway station is served by trains on the Mayflower Line. Wrabness had a population of appr ...

and Brantham.

Transport

Manningtree railway station is on the

Great Eastern Main Line The Great Eastern Main Line (GEML, sometimes referred to as the East Anglia Main Line) is a major railway line on the British railway system which connects Liverpool Street station in central London with destinations in east London and t ...

and provides regular, direct services to London, Norwich and

Harwich Harwich is a town in Essex, England, and one of the Haven ports on the North Sea coast. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the north-east, Ipswich to the north-west, Colchester to the south-west and Clacton-on- ...

In fiction

Manningtree features in

Ronald Bassett Ronald Leslie Bassett DSM (10 April 1924 – March 1996) was a British writer and novelist. He wrote numerous works of historical fiction, sometimes under the pseudonym of "William Clive".Atkinson, Frank (1987) ''Dictionary of Literary Pseudo ...

's 1966 novel '' Witchfinder General'' and in

A.K. Blakemore A. K. Blakemore (born in 1991) is an English author, poet, and translator. Life and career Blakemore was born in London in 1991. She studied Language and Literature at the University of Oxford. She has published two full-length collections of po ...

's 2021 novel ''The Manningtree Witches''. In Shakespeare’s Henry IV Part I (Act 2 Scene 4), Flastaff is referred to as “that roasted Manningtree ox“. This was marked in 2000 with a sculpture of an ox in the town centre.

's 2021 novel, ''The Manningtree Witches'', is set in the town. The novel won the

Desmond Elliott Prize The Desmond Elliott Prize is an annual award for the best debut novel written in English and published in the UK. The winning novel can be from any genre of fiction and must exhibit depth and breadth with a compelling narrative. The winner recei ...

2021, being described by the judges as "a stunning achievement."

Notable people

* Margaret Thatcher lived in Manningtree and worked for BX Plastics * Matthew Hopkins, the self-styled Witch-Finder General, lived in Manningtree

Twin town

Frankenberg, Hesse, Germany

References

External links

Manningtree Town Council website
{{authority control Towns in Essex Civil parishes in Essex Tendring Populated coastal places in Essex