Castle Hedingham is a village in northern

Essex Essex () is a Ceremonial counties of England, 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 Riv ...

, England, located four miles west of Halstead and 3 miles southeast of Great Yeldham in the

Colne Valley The Colne Valley is a steep sided valley on the east flank of the Pennine Hills in the English county of West Yorkshire. It takes its name from the River Colne which rises above the town of Marsden and flows eastward towards Huddersfield. ...

on the ancient road 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. Colch ...

, Essex, to

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

. It developed around Hedingham Castle, the ancestral seat of the de Veres, Earls of Oxford. The first earl,

Aubrey de Vere III Aubrey de Vere, 1st Earl of Oxford ( – 26 December 1194) was an English noble involved in the succession conflict between King Stephen and Empress Matilda in the mid-twelfth century. He was the son of Aubrey de Vere, Lord Great Chamberlain ...

, finished the initial building of the

keep A keep (from the Middle English ''kype'') is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in c ...

and established a

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

nunnery A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...

Castle Hedingham Priory Hedingham Priory was a Benedictine nunnery in Castle Hedingham, Essex, founded in or before 1190 by Aubrey de Vere, 1st Earl of Oxford, perhaps in partnership with his third wife, Agnes of Essex. It was dedicated to the Virgin Mary, St. James, ...

, near the castle gates. Hugh de Vere, fourth earl of Oxford, purchased the right to hold a market in the town of the crown in the mid-13th century. He also founded a hospital just outside the gates of the castle around 1250. The village's main attractions are the well preserved Norman Hedingham Castle, the

Colne Valley Railway The Colne Valley Railway is a heritage railway based at Castle Hedingham Station, near Halstead in Essex, England. The railway consists of a long running line, with a fully reconstructed station, signal box and railway yard. History The r ...

, Kirby Hall and its many

timber-frame Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden ...

d medieval buildings. The church of St. Nicholas is late Norman and

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

, building having commenced around 1180. The fine double hammerbeam roof is attributed to Thomas Loveday, who was responsible for work on

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge founded by the Tudor matriarch Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corporation established by a charter dated 9 April 1511. The ...

. Its Romanesque wheel window and cemetery cross are remnants of the Norman church. The church has a ring of 6 bells. https://dove.cccbr.org.uk/detail.php?tower=11865 St Nicholas's Church, Castle Hedingham

The village was served by

Sible and Castle Hedingham railway station Sible and Castle Hedingham railway station was a station in Sible Hedingham, 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, Her ...

which was opened by Colne Valley & Halstead Railway Company in 1867. The station closed in 1964 and was dismantled and rebuilt in 1974 on a new site to the north west of the village by the

Preservation Society.

Castle Hedingham Pottery Castle Hedingham Pottery was an art pottery studio run by Edward Bingham at Castle Hedingham in Essex, England. History Bingham produced his Castle Hedingham Ware from about 1864 until 1901. It was made in a style reminiscent of medieval and T ...

was an art pottery studio run by Edward Bingham at Castle Hedingham from about 1864 until 1901.

Notable residents

Sir John Hawkwood, of "The White Company" famous Knight in Florence Italy, as shown in a fresco in the Duomo painted by Paolo Uccello as a memorial to this renowned commander who earlier served under the Black Prince. Born in 1320 at Sible Hedingham died at Florence March 16, 1394-5 and after a magnificent funeral, his body was returned to England by King Richard ll. A monument was placed in St Peter church along with a chapelry in that church and in Castle Hedingham. Robert Coe Puritan His Ancestors and Descendants by J.B. Bartlett, pages 15-16 *Edward Bingham, Victorian potter whose Castle Hedingham Ware has become increasingly sought after. *

Margery Blackie Margery Grace Blackie CVO MD, FFHom (4 February 1898 – 24 August 1981) was a British Doctor of Medicine who was appointed as the first woman royal physician to Queen Elizabeth II. Early life Blackie was born at Redbourn, Hertfordshire, on ...

, doctor of medicine who was appointed as the first woman royal physician to

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

. *

Sir Fowell Buxton, 1st Baronet Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, 1st Baronet (1 April 1786Olwyn Mary Blouet, "Buxton, Sir Thomas Fowell, first baronet (1786–1845)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004; online ed., May 201accessed 25 April 20 ...

, founder of the RSPCA, Member of Parliament and social reformer who was a leading abolitionist in the 19th century and took over

William Wilberforce William Wilberforce (24 August 175929 July 1833) was a British politician, philanthropist and leader of the movement to abolish the slave trade. A native of Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, he began his political career in 1780, eventually becom ...

's leadership of the anti slavery movement in the House of Commons when the latter retired. *

Mark Catesby Mark Catesby (24 March 1683 – 23 December 1749) was an English naturalist who studied the flora and fauna of the New World. Between 1729 and 1747 Catesby published his ''Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands'', the fi ...

, naturalist. * Aubrey de Vere I, holder of the entire manor of Hedingham (later Castle Hedingham) 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. *

, 1st Earl of Oxford, completed the stone keep at Hedingham. *

Robert de Vere, 3rd Earl of Oxford __NOTOC__ Robert de Vere (after c. 1165 – before 25 October 1221), hereditary Master Chamberlain of England, was the son of Aubrey de Vere, 1st Earl of Oxford, and Agnes of Essex. He succeeded his brother as the third Earl of Oxford, and ...

, one of the 25

baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or kn ...

s of

Magna Carta (Medieval Latin for "Great Charter of Freedoms"), commonly called (also ''Magna Charta''; "Great Charter"), is a royal charter of rights agreed to by King John of England at Runnymede, near Windsor, on 15 June 1215. First drafted by t ...

. *

Robert de Vere, 9th Earl of Oxford Robert de Vere, Duke of Ireland, KG (16 January 1362 – 22 November 1392) was a favourite and court companion of King Richard II of England. He was the ninth Earl of Oxford and the first and only Duke of Ireland and Marquess of Dublin. H ...

. *

John de Vere, 13th Earl of Oxford John de Vere, 13th Earl of Oxford (8 September 1442 – 10 March 1513), the second son of John de Vere, 12th Earl of Oxford, and Elizabeth Howard, a first cousin of John Howard, 1st Duke of Norfolk (2nd creation), was one of the principal ...

, commander of Henry Tudor's army at the

Battle of Bosworth Field The Battle of Bosworth or Bosworth Field was the last significant battle of the Wars of the Roses, the civil war between the houses of Lancaster and York that extended across England in the latter half of the 15th century. Fought on 22 Augu ...

. *

Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford (; 12 April 155024 June 1604) was an English peer and courtier of the Elizabethan era. Oxford was heir to the second oldest earldom in the kingdom, a court favourite for a time, a sought-after patron o ...

, patron of the arts, poet, courtier and proposed alternative author of the Shakespeare works * Major-General Daniel Hoghton,

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkha ...

officer who served during the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fre ...

with distinction. * Anne Lindsay, actor and

Jack Lindsay Jack Lindsay (20 October 1900 – 8 March 1990) was an Australian-born writer, who from 1926 lived in the United Kingdom, initially in Essex. He was born in Melbourne, but spent his formative years in Brisbane. He was the eldest son of Norman L ...

, Australian writer. * James Majendie, Conservative Party politician. * Lewis Majendie, Conservative Party politician. * Musette Majendie, owner of Hedingham Castle. *

Eric Ravilious Eric William Ravilious (22 July 1903 – 2 September 1942) was a British painter, designer, book illustrator and wood-engraver. He grew up in Sussex, and is particularly known for his watercolours of the South Downs and other English lands ...

, painter, book illustrator and wood engraver. * Tirzah Garwood, British artist and engraver (Eric Ravilous' wife) * Sir Robert Wilson CBE FRS, astronomer. * Henry de Vere Stacpoole, Author of The Blue Lagoon, lived at Astles, Pye Corner * Edmund Powell, vicar of St Nicholas Church 1917 - 1921

References

External links

SEAX Archaeology - Unlocking Essex's Past
(archived from th
original
on 3 June 2016). An in-depth essay about Castle Hedingham.
Hedingham School

Voices from the Pews
- National Lottery Heritage Fund project which has funded the repair of the church roof, and is sharing church and village heritage with new and diverse audiences.
Blue Lagoon - Inscription
from Henry de Vere Stacpoole to his friend George Morris Phillips 1915 {{Authority control Villages in Essex Braintree District