Sible Hedingham ( ) is a large village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

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. ...

in 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 ...

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 ...

, in England. It has a population of 3,994 according to the 2011 census. Sible Hedingham lies in the northern corner of Essex, close to both the Suffolk and Cambridgeshire borders. The village covers some . 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 ...

lists the village together with Hedingham Castle amongst the lands given to Roger Bigod by the

king King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen regnant, queen, which title is also given to the queen consort, consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contempora ...

.''Domesday Book: A Complete Translation''. London: Penguin, 2003. p. 1036 Roger Bigod held a number of manors including a massive number in

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include ...

and

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the Nor ...

given to him by the

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen regnant, queen, which title is also given to the queen consort, consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contempora ...

. These obviously included Sible Hedingham, but also included Pebmarsh, Ovington and the area of Belchamp. The land included woodland for 70 pigs that was in total valued at £4. A variation on the village name is "Hengham Sybyle". In 1863, Sible Hedingham was the site of one of the last 19th century witchcraft accusations in England. The victim is now known as " Dummy, the Witch of Sible Hedingham". The village is twinned with the French commune of

Choisy-au-Bac Choisy-au-Bac () is a commune in the Oise department in northern France. See also * Communes of the Oise department The following is a list of the 679 communes of the Oise department of France. The communes cooperate in the following interc ...

, located in Picardy region, Oise department (c. 80 km north of Paris, near Compiègne).

Notable people associated with Sible Hedingham

* J. Redwood Anderson (1883–1964), poet died here *

Rachel Barrett Rachel Barrett (12 November 1874 – 26 August 1953) was a Welsh suffragette and newspaper editor born in Carmarthen. Educated at the University College of Wales in Aberystwyth she became a science teacher, but quit her job in 1906 on hearing ...

(1874–1953), suffragette and newspaper editor *

Savitri Devi Savitri Devi Mukherji (born Maximiani Julia Portas, ; 30 September 1905 – 22 October 1982) was a French-born Greek fascist, Nazi sympathizer, and spy who served the Axis powers by committing acts of espionage against the Allied forces in I ...

(1905–1982), prominent proponent of Nazism, animal rights and deep ecology, who died here * 'Dummy' , an unnamed elderly deaf mute man murdered by a mob in 1863 after he was accused of witchcraft. * Sir

John Hawkwood Sir John Hawkwood ( 1323 – 17 March 1394) was an English soldier who served as a mercenary leader or ''condottiero'' in Italy. As his name was difficult to pronounce for non-English-speaking contemporaries, there are many variations of it i ...

(1320–1394), English mercenary (or condottiere) who was active in 14th-century Italy *

John Hilton (surgeon) John Hilton FRCS, FRS, FZS (22 September 1805 – 14 September 1878) was a British surgeon. Born in Sible Hedingham in Essex in 1805, Hilton was educated at King Edward VI Grammar School, Chelmsford and in Boulogne (where he became fluent in ...

FRCS, FRS, FZS (1805–1878), Surgeon Extraordinary to Queen Victoria and greatest anatomist of his time * Joan Prentice, a woman living in a almshouse here who was accused of witchcraft and she was hanged in Chelmsford in 1589. * Samuel Wilbore (1595-1656) – a founder of Portsmouth Colony (Rhode Island, US; 7 March 1638) as a religious dissenter from the

Plymouth Colony Plymouth Colony (sometimes Plimouth) was, from 1620 to 1691, the first permanent English colony in New England and the second permanent English colony in North America, after the Jamestown Colony. It was first settled by the passengers on the ...

of Boston, Massachusetts Alderford Mill, Sible Hedingham - geograph

References

External links

Villages in Essex Braintree District {{essex-geo-stub