Witham () is a town in the
county
A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...
of
Essex
Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...
in the
East of England
The East of England is one of the nine official regions of England. This region was created in 1994 and was adopted for statistics purposes from 1999. It includes the ceremonial counties of Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire ...
, with a population (
2011 census) of 25,353.
It is part of the District of
Braintree and is twinned with the town of
Waldbröl
Waldbröl is a town in the southern part of the Oberbergischer Kreis (upper Berg county), in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
Geography Location
The town is located on the slopes of the Nutscheid range of hills and is part of the Bergisches Land ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
. Witham stands between the city of
Chelmsford
Chelmsford () is a city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Southend-on-Sea and Colchester. It is located north-east of London a ...
(8 miles to the south-west) and the City of
Colchester
Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian.
Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colches ...
(13 miles to the north-east), on the
Roman road
Roman roads ( la, viae Romanae ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, and were built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Re ...
between the two. The
River Brain
The River Brain is a tributary of the River Blackwater in Essex, England. It gives its name to the town of Braintree, although Braintree lies on a low ridge between the Brain and the River Blackwater. To the north of Braintree it is known as P ...
runs through the town and joins the
River Blackwater just outside.
History
Early history
Excavations by Essex County Council Field Archaeological unit at the recent Maltings Lane development discovered evidence of
Neolithic
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...
occupation at Witham, including human remains and several trackways across ancient marsh. Excavations of the Witham Lodge (Ivy Chimneys) area of the town in the 1970s unveiled remains of a Roman temple as well as a pottery
kiln
A kiln is a thermally insulated chamber, a type of oven, that produces temperatures sufficient to complete some process, such as hardening, drying, or chemical changes. Kilns have been used for millennia to turn objects made from clay int ...
. This would have been alongside the main
Roman road
Roman roads ( la, viae Romanae ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, and were built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Re ...
from
Colchester
Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian.
Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colches ...
to London and used as a stopover point on the long journey. Another notable find during the excavation was a votive offering pool in the grounds of the temple, containing several artefacts that would have been offered to the gods.
In 913, according to the ''
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' is a collection of annals in Old English, chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the ''Chronicle'' was created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of Alf ...
'',
Edward the Elder
Edward the Elder (17 July 924) was King of the Anglo-Saxons from 899 until his death in 924. He was the elder son of Alfred the Great and his wife Ealhswith. When Edward succeeded to the throne, he had to defeat a challenge from his cousin Æt ...
marched from
Hertford
Hertford ( ) is the county town of Hertfordshire, England, and is also a civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district of the county. The parish had a population of 26,783 at the 2011 census.
The town grew around a ford on the River Lea, ne ...
to reconquer Essex, and encamped in Witham on his route to set up a base at
Maldon
Maldon (, locally ) is a town and civil parish on the River Blackwater, Essex, Blackwater estuary in Essex, England. It is the seat of the Maldon District and starting point of the Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation. It is known for Maldon Sea ...
. Witham's position on the Roman road in relation to the major Viking army based at Colchester was the most likely reason for this, and it would have effectively cut Essex in two.
The place-name Witham is first attested in the ''
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' is a collection of annals in Old English, chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the ''Chronicle'' was created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of Alf ...
'' in 913 (mentioned above), where it appears as ''Witham''. It also appears as ''Witham'' in the
Domesday Book
Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...
of 1086. The name may mean 'village in a bend'. Another suggestion is that the name is part
Brythonic
Brittonic or Brythonic may refer to:
*Common Brittonic, or Brythonic, the Celtic language anciently spoken in Great Britain
*Brittonic languages, a branch of the Celtic languages descended from Common Brittonic
*Britons (Celtic people)
The Br ...
(probably from a cognate of Gwydd = "Woods" in modern Welsh) and "ham", a very common Saxon village designation.
The manor of Witham was given to the
Knights Templar
, colors = White mantle with a red cross
, colors_label = Attire
, march =
, mascot = Two knights riding a single horse
, equipment ...
in 1148. To the north of the current town is
Cressing Temple
Cressing Temple is a medieval site situated between Witham and Braintree in Essex, close to the villages of Cressing and White Notley. It was amongst the very earliest and largest of the possessions of the Knights Templar in England,http://www. ...
which was the earliest foundation of Templar lands in Britain, built over 700 years ago. The manor of Witham was held by the Church after the
dissolution of the Templars in England in . The manor was sold to
Sir John Southcott in , he was a prominent Judge and Politician from
Devon
Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...
. His heirs held the manor for almost two centuries, until 1648 when the
Southcott family
, heirlooms =
, estate =
* Southcott House,
* Indio, Bovey Tracey,
* Witham Place,
* Mohuns Ottery,
* Lesnewth,
* Blyborough Hall,
* Woburn Park,
* Buckland House,
* Sowenna,
, website =
, fo ...
had their lands destroyed for supporting the
royalist cause in the
English Civil War
The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...
.
The town as it is now started life on 'Chipping Hill', which is the location of St Nicolas's Church. As the years went by, the hamlet grew to become 'Witham' and St Nicolas's Church of England Church (a unique spelling) serves a congregation of around 150 people each Sunday. During the latter half of the 18th century and the early 19th century, Admiral Sir
William Luard
Admiral Sir William Garnham Luard (7 April 1820 – 19 May 1910) was a leading British naval figure during the latter half of the 19th century.
Naval career
Born in 1820, he was the eldest son of a local magistrate, William Wright Luard J.P., D ...
was the town's most prominent citizen, a resident of Chipping Hill and a founder and patron of St Nicolas's Church. His funeral cortège through the town in 1910 was witnessed by thousands.
In the 18th century, Witham briefly enjoyed a period as an affluent
spa town
A spa town is a resort town based on a mineral spa (a developed mineral spring). Patrons visit spas to "take the waters" for their purported health benefits.
Thomas Guidott set up a medical practice in the English town of Bath in 1668. H ...
after the discovery of a mineral-bearing spa by a Dr Taverner. Witham was also a centre of the wool trade until the decline of the industry in the late 17th century.
Witham rail crash
Witham railway station
Witham railway station is on the Great Eastern Main Line (GEML) in the East of England, serving the town of Witham, Essex. It is about half a mile (1 km) to the north of the town centre and is down the line from London Liverpool Street. On ...
was the scene of a serious accident on 1 September 1905. The
London Liverpool Street
Liverpool Street station, also known as London Liverpool Street, is a central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in the north-eastern corner of the City of London, in the ward of Bishopsgate Without. It is the t ...
-to-
Cromer
Cromer ( ) is a coastal town and civil parish on the north coast of the English county of Norfolk. It is north of Norwich, north-northeast of London and east of Sheringham on the North Sea coastline.
The local government authorities are Nor ...
14-coach express derailed whilst travelling at speed through the station. Ten passengers and a luggage porter were killed when several of the carriages somersaulted on to the platforms causing considerable damage to the rolling stock and the station. Seventy-one passengers were seriously injured. It remains to this day the worst single loss of life in a railway accident in Essex.
In 2005, an opportunity to commemorate the centenary was missed and the incident is now largely forgotten. Ben Sainty, a signalman, whose quick action averted the next train hitting the wreckage, has a road named after him in the town, Ben Sainty Court.
20th and 21st centuries
The town expanded greatly in the late 1960s and 1970s, when the
Greater London Council
The Greater London Council (GLC) was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater London from 1965 to 1986. It replaced the earlier London County Council (LCC) which had covered a much smaller area. The GLC was dissolved in 198 ...
built three large
council estates
Public housing in the United Kingdom, also known as council estates, council housing, or social housing, provided the majority of rented accommodation until 2011 when the number of households in private rental housing surpassed the number in so ...
on the west and north sides of the town, and a smaller one to the south, for families from London to move to as part of the ''New Town and Expanded Town
overspill policy'' of that time.
![Witham Public Library (geograph 5405138)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6a/Witham_Public_Library_%28geograph_5405138%29.jpg)
A famous one-time resident of the town was the author
Dorothy L. Sayers
Dorothy Leigh Sayers (; 13 June 1893 – 17 December 1957) was an English crime writer and poet. She was also a student of classical and modern languages.
She is best known for her mysteries, a series of novels and short stories set between th ...
, whose statue stands opposite the town's library, which is a short distance from the author's house. The library stands on the site of the old Whitehall cinema, which closed in the late 1970s and which was itself a conversion of the White Hall country house.
Witham has grown in size after the development of the Maltings Lane estate to the south of the town between 2002 and 2003. This was followed, in 2012, by the moving of Chipping Hill Primary School from its old premises in Church Street to a new-build in Owers Road. The development of this area has continued, including the opening of an
Aldi
Aldi (stylised as ALDI) is the common company brand name of two German multinational family-owned discount supermarket chains operating over 10,000 stores in 20 countries. The chain was founded by brothers Karl and Theo Albrecht in 1946, when t ...
superstore in 2015.
Approved developments in this period include the reconstruction of both the
New Rickstones Academy
New Rickstones Academy (NRA) is an Academy (English school), academy secondary school in Witham, Essex. It is the smaller of the two major comprehensive schools in Witham.
During 2012 the school moved into a new building, constructed by Carillio ...
and the
Maltings Academy, completed in 2011; the
Marston's
Marston's plc is a British pub and hotel operator. Founded by John Marston in 1834, it is listed on the London Stock Exchange. Marston's disposed of its brewing operations in 2020, selling the assets to a newly formed joint venture with the Ca ...
pub and restaurant on Gershwin Boulevard, completed in 2013 with the adjacent Seymour House day nursery; the refurbishment and opening of a
Morrisons
Wm Morrison Supermarkets, trading as Morrisons, is the fifth largest supermarket chain in the United Kingdom. As of 2021, the company had 497 supermarkets across England, Wales and Scotland, as well as one in Gibraltar. The company is headqua ...
store in the old premises of the Jack & Jenny pub in 2014; and the newly-built Witham Leisure Centre on Spinks Lane, replacing Bramston Sports Centre, completed in 2014.
Transport
The town is served by
Witham railway station
Witham railway station is on the Great Eastern Main Line (GEML) in the East of England, serving the town of Witham, Essex. It is about half a mile (1 km) to the north of the town centre and is down the line from London Liverpool Street. On ...
, situated 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 ...
operated by
Abellio Greater Anglia
Greater Anglia (legal name Abellio East Anglia Limited) is a train operating company in Great Britain owned as a joint venture by Abellio (transport company), Abellio, the international arm of the state-owned Dutch national rail operator Neder ...
. Trains take approximately 40–45 minutes to reach . The station is also the junction for a
branch line
A branch line is a phrase used in railway terminology to denote a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line.
Industrial spur
An industri ...
to
Braintree. Another branch line went from
Witham to Maldon, but this has now been dismantled having been closed to passengers in 1964.
Witham is situated on the
A12 trunk road between
Chelmsford
Chelmsford () is a city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Southend-on-Sea and Colchester. It is located north-east of London a ...
and
Colchester
Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian.
Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colches ...
, which was originally a
Roman road
Roman roads ( la, viae Romanae ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, and were built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Re ...
from London to Colchester. The A12 used to run in a straight line through the middle of the town, but a by-pass now completely avoids the town.
Witham is on
National Cycle Route 16
National Cycle Route 16, part of the National Cycle Network, connects Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire to Southend-on-Sea, Essex.
Route Bishop's Stortford to Shoeburyness
Bishop Stortford , Little Dunmow , Braintree, Essex, Braintree , Ba ...
.
The town has a large number of residents who commute to work in London because of its excellent transport links. This is evident by Witham railway station's appearance within the 150 busiest railway stations in Great Britain, which would not be expected based on the town's population alone.
Economy and facilities
Witham has a mainly linear town centre, focused on the high street and two shopping precincts to form a cross that bisects the high street; these are the Newlands Shopping Centre of 1970s design to the north and the Grove Centre of a 1980s brick design to the south. There are also a range of small shops, restaurants, pubs, major high-street banks and several national commercial chains. The town also has five supermarkets: Tesco in the Grove Centre, Morrisons near the railway station, Asda on Highfields Road, Aldi at the southern entrance to the town and Lidl that recently opened towards the centre of town on the old Bramston sports centre site.
A significant industrial presence remains in the town, concentrated on three industrial estates on the eastern side of the town close to the junction with the A12. There are also commercial offices located in the town centre area.
In March 2007,
Crittall Windows
Crittall Windows Ltd is a notable English manufacturer of steel-framed windows, today based in Witham, Essex, close to its historic roots in the county. Its products have been used in thousands of buildings across the United Kingdom, including ...
closed its Braintree factory and returned to Witham to occupy a new factory on the Freebournes Industrial Estate. The factory Crittall moved into was built for J.L. French in 2001, but never used for production. The new Crittall factory is visible on the right hand side of the road exiting Witham towards Colchester, via the A12.
In December 2013, the financial service provider Cofunds relocated to the former Marsh building on the Grove, bringing approximately 600 jobs to the town.
Sport and leisure
Witham has a
Non-League football
Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to de ...
club
Witham Town F.C.
Witham Town Football Club is a semi professional English football club based in Witham, Essex. The club are currently members of the and play at the Simarco Stadium.
History
Clubs named Witham Town have been in existence since the mid 19th ce ...
who play at Spa Road.
There is also a rugby club situated behind the football ground.
Witham also has a hockey club formed in 1924 and is now made up of 5 men's teams and 3 women's teams. Witham also participates in the local mixed league as well as the men's and women's summer league and indoor league. Witham hockey club play on the astro turf across the road from Maltings Academy on Spinks Lane. The hockey club share a clubhouse with the cricket club which is situated next to the recreation ground, commonly known as the Maldon Road Park, on Maldon Road.
Leisure facilities include Benton Hall Golf and Country Club, a pool club, and a library which occupies the site of what was the town's long-closed cinema, the Whitehall. A 'River Walk' runs for three-and-a-half miles through the town and is home to a range of wildlife. Witham Leisure Centre is located in Spinks Lane, adjacent to the former Bramston Sports Centre.
Education
There are two secondary schools in Witham,
Maltings Academy and
New Rickstones Academy
New Rickstones Academy (NRA) is an Academy (English school), academy secondary school in Witham, Essex. It is the smaller of the two major comprehensive schools in Witham.
During 2012 the school moved into a new building, constructed by Carillio ...
. Maltings Academy achieved 94% A*- C GCSE grades in 2012. (51% including English and Maths) and an above national average of 99% of pupils gaining at least one GCSE in 2012. The two schools are part of the AET Academies chain. New Rickstones Academy was rated Good by Ofsted in January 2015 and Maltings Academy was rated Outstanding by Ofsted in March 2015.
The town's primary schools are Templars, Holy Family Catholic School, Howbridge, Powers Hall, Chipping Hill (which became a primary school in September 2010), Rivenhall CoE, Elm Hall Primary, Southview, and Silver End Primary. Both Chipping Hill School and Powers Hall Junior School received Outstanding OfSTED reports in 2008.Chipping Hill was named the Top School in East Anglia by the Sunday Times.
The Chatten free school is a special educational needs school which opened in 2021. The school provides up to 75 places to pupils from across Essex with severe, complex autism.
Governance
Witham is part of the
Witham constituency of the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
. The local Member of Parliament (MP) is the
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
Home Secretary
The secretary of state for the Home Department, otherwise known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The home secretary leads the Home Office, and is responsible for all national ...
Priti Patel
Priti Sushil Patel (born 29 March 1972) is a British politician who served as Home Secretary from 2019 to 2022. A member of the Conservative Party, she was Secretary of State for International Development from 2016 to 2017. Patel has been the Me ...
, who was elected at the
2010 general election, becoming the first
Asian
Asian may refer to:
* Items from or related to the continent of Asia:
** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia
** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia
** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...
female Conservative MP. Ms Patel was re-elected at the
2015 general election with an increased majority and again in the
2019 general election.
The constituency includes
Hatfield Peverel
Hatfield Peverel is a village and civil parish at the centre of Essex, England. It is located 6 miles (10 km) north-east from Chelmsford, the nearest large city, which it is connected by road and rail. The parish includes the hamlets of ...
,
Langford,
Wickham Bishops
Wickham Bishops is a village and civil parish in the Maldon district of Essex, England. It is located around three miles north of the town of Maldon and around two miles south-east of Witham, in whose post town it lies.
The place name ''Wickham ...
,
Marks Tey
Marks Tey is a large village and electoral ward in Essex, England; it is located six miles west of Colchester.
Facilities
Marks Tey is one of a group of villages called the Teys, also including Great Tey and Little Tey. Its main features includ ...
,
Tiptree
Tiptree is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the English county of Essex, situated south-west of Colchester and around north-east of London. Surrounding villages include Messing, Essex, Messing, Tolleshunt Knights, Toll ...
,
Tolleshunt Knights
Tolleshunt Knights is a village and civil parish in the English county of Essex.
The Parish has a Parish council, and lies within the area of Maldon District Council. It borders Tiptree, Layer Marney and Salcott cum Virley within the Colchest ...
,
Stanway Kelvedon
Kelvedon is a village and civil parish in the Braintree District of Essex in England, between Chelmsford and Colchester. It had a population of 4,717 in 2001, reducing to 3,587 at the 2011 Census. It is now home to several businesses including ...
, and
Coggeshall
Coggeshall ( or ) is a small town in Essex, England, between Colchester and Braintree on the Roman road Stane Street and the River Blackwater. It has almost 300 listed buildings and a market whose charter was granted in 1256 by Henry III.
...
. It is regarded as one of the safest seats for the
Conservative Party
The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right.
Political parties called The Conservative P ...
, and Priti Patel holds a strong 15,196 vote majority. Over 66% of the votes in the 2019 general election went to Ms Patel.
Witham is under the jurisdiction of Witham Town Council (its
parish council), Braintree District Council and Essex County Council. Witham Town Council is based at
Witham Town Hall
Witham Town Hall is a municipal building in Newland Street, Witham, Essex, England. The building, which is the meeting place of Witham Town Council, is a Grade II listed building.
History
The building was originally built as a two-storey timber ...
.
Witham, and parts of the
Braintree district
Braintree is a local government district in the English county of Essex, with a population (2011 census) of 147,084. Its main town is Braintree. The three towns of the district are Braintree, Halstead and Witham. The district was formed on 1 Ap ...
, hold one of the best
recycling
Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. The recovery of energy from waste materials is often included in this concept. The recyclability of a material depends on its ability to reacquire the p ...
schemes in the UK, with compulsory recycling, reaching over 50% recycling.
Notable residents
*
Archibald Douglas, Lt-General and 18th-century MP lived in White Hall.
*
James Gibson, the 2003 World Breaststroke 50m (Long-course) Champion, was born in
Chelmsford
Chelmsford () is a city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Southend-on-Sea and Colchester. It is located north-east of London a ...
and lived in Witham.
*
Dorothy L. Sayers
Dorothy Leigh Sayers (; 13 June 1893 – 17 December 1957) was an English crime writer and poet. She was also a student of classical and modern languages.
She is best known for her mysteries, a series of novels and short stories set between th ...
, translator of Dante's ''
Divina Commedia
The ''Divine Comedy'' ( it, Divina Commedia ) is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun 1308 and completed in around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature and ...
'', and a famous writer of detective fiction, died in Witham in 1957.
* Admiral Sir
William Luard
Admiral Sir William Garnham Luard (7 April 1820 – 19 May 1910) was a leading British naval figure during the latter half of the 19th century.
Naval career
Born in 1820, he was the eldest son of a local magistrate, William Wright Luard J.P., D ...
, K.C., President of the Greenwich Naval College and
Admiral
Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...
of the Fleet.
*
John Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh
John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh, (; 12 November 1842 – 30 June 1919) was an English mathematician and physicist who made extensive contributions to science. He spent all of his academic career at the University of Cambridge. Amo ...
, Nobel Prize–winning physicist for the discovery of
argon
Argon is a chemical element with the symbol Ar and atomic number 18. It is in group 18 of the periodic table and is a noble gas. Argon is the third-most abundant gas in Earth's atmosphere, at 0.934% (9340 ppmv). It is more than twice as abu ...
, died in 1919 at Terling Place, Witham.
*
James Winslow
James Winslow (born 16 April 1983) is a British professional car racing driver who races at Le Mans 24 Hours. A ten-time Motorsport champion member of the British Racing Drivers' Club, he competes in Europe, Australia & Asia in Le Mans LMP & GT ...
, Australian and Asian Formula 3 champion lived in Witham before moving to Australia and then the US to race in Formula Atlantic.
*
Graham Hedman
Graham Hedman (born 6 February 1979 in Witham, Essex) is a British sprinter. At the 2006 European Athletics Championships in Gothenburg, he won the silver medal in the 4x400 m relay along with Robert Tobin, Rhys Williams and Timothy Benjami ...
, 2006 European Champion, 4 × 400 men's relay, was born in Witham.
*
Nadine Lewington
Nadine Lewington (born 15 October 1980) is an English actress, most notable for her role as Dr. Maddy Young on ''Holby City''.
Early and personal life
Born 15 October 1980, in Chelmsford, Essex, she is the eldest daughter of Tony and Sonia Lewi ...
who appeared in
Holby City
''Holby City'' (stylised on-screen as HOLBY CIY) is a British medical drama television series that aired weekly on BBC One. It was created by Tony McHale and Mal Young as a spin-off from the established BBC medical drama ''Casualty'', and pr ...
between 2007 and 2009 lived in Witham.
*
Cody McDonald
Cody Darren John McDonald (born 30 May 1986) is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker.
Club career
Early career
McDonald was born in Witham, Essex. He started his career playing for Valley Swiftshttp://www.bnesl.co.uk/vs.h ...
former Witham Town player, who eventually moved to
Norwich City F.C.
Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the ...
and then
Coventry City F.C.
Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed the ...
*
Olly Murs
Oliver Stanley Murs (born 14 May 1984) is an English singer, songwriter, and television presenter. He was runner-up on the sixth series of ''The X Factor'' in 2009 and was subsequently signed to RCA Records and Sony Music in the United Kingdom, ...
, singer, television presenter, current ''
The Voice UK
''The Voice UK'' is a British singing competition television series. Created by John de Mol, it premiered on BBC One during the spring television cycle on 24 March 2012. Based on the original ''The Voice of Holland'', and part of ''The Voice ...
'' coach
References
External links
Witham Town Council
{{authority control
Towns in Essex
Civil parishes in Essex
Braintree District