Wickham Bishops
| Wickham Bishops | |
  Wickham Bishops |
|
| Population | 1,829 (2011)[1] |
|---|---|
| OS grid reference | TL840120 |
| Civil parish | Wickham Bishops |
| District | Maldon |
| Shire county | Essex |
| Region | East |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | WITHAM |
| Postcode district | CM8 |
| Dialling code | 01621 |
| Police | Essex |
| Fire | Essex |
| Ambulance | East of England |
| EU Parliament | East of England |
| UK Parliament | Witham |
Coordinates: 51°46′35″N 0°40′05″E / 51.7763°N 0.6681°E
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 southeast of Witham, in whose post town it lies.
The place-name 'Wickham Bishops' is first attested in the Domesday Book 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.[2]
Governance
Wickham Bishops is part of the electoral ward called Wickham Bishops and Woodham. The population of this ward at the 2011 census was 3,500.[3]
Transport
Wickham Bishops is located close to the A12 road, while the nearest railway station is Witham on the Great Eastern Main Line.
The village once had a railway station of its own on the Witham–Maldon branch line, which opened in 1848 and closed in 1964.
Local amenities
Wickham Bishops has a village hall (reconstructed in 2005), playing fields, a library, tennis courts, a hairdresser, health food shop, estate agent, a One Stop local shop/off licence and two pubs, the Mitre and the Chequers.
The number 90 bus service runs between Maldon to Wickham Bishops and Witham every half an hour for most of the day during Monday to Friday.
There is a small library which is located in the old school building in School Road. It is only open part-time (Monday 2.00pm-6.00pm, Wednesday 2.00pm-6.00pm and Saturday 9.00am-1.00pm).
Churches
The Anglican parish church is St Bartholomew's. The clock on its steeple was converted to an electronic mechanism in June 2008 (previously being wound by hand). The church was built on the western side of the hill on which the village stands. It is a Victorian replacement for the medieval St Peter's Church, which stands alone in the fields to the west near the River Blackwater, and beyond the disused railway line to Maldon.
The redundant Church of St Peter was probably built as a private chapel for the bishops of London who then owned the village. Since 1975 it has belonged to the Friends of Friendless Churches.
Parish magazine
Wickham Bishops has a regular parish magazine, with regular contributions form the church and village. It is distributed to nearly 1,000 houses each month free of charge.
Drama club
There is a drama club, 'Wickham Bishops Drama Club', located centrally between Witham, Maldon and Tiptree 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.
GirlGuiding in Wickham Bishops
Witham South District of GirlGuiding UK is made up of two Rainbow packs for girls aged 5–7 years old, three Brownie packs for girls aged 7–10, a Guide unit for girls aged 10–14 and a Ranger unit for girls aged 14+ who live in Wickham Bishops, Great Totham and the surrounding villages.
People
England cricket captain Alastair Cook lived in Wickham Bishops as a boy.[4]
References
- ↑ "Civil Parish population 2015". Retrieved 23 September 2015.
- ↑ Eilert Ekwall, Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names, p. 516.
- ↑ "Wickham Bishops and Woodham ward population 2011". Retrieved 23 September 2015.
- ↑ Alastair Cook, Starting Out – My Story So Far, p.1.
External links
Media related to Wickham Bishops at Wikimedia Commons