WITHAM, a market-town and parish in the hundred
of WITHAM, county of ESSEX, 8 miles (N. E.
by E.) from Chelmsford, and 37 (N. E. by E.) from
London, containing 2578 inhabitants. The. original
erection of this town, or at least that part of it which
is situated oh Cheping Hill, is attributed to Edward
the Elder, about the commencement of his reign, and
was subsequently in the possession of the Knights
Templars, who had a preceptory at Crossing, about
three miles distant. Some consider this to have been
the Roman station Canonium of Antoninus, which opinion
receives confirmation from the quantity of Roman
bricks worked up in the body and tower of the church,
and from Roman coins of different Emperors, which have
been discovered in levelling the fortifications. There
are some remains of a circular camp, defended by a
double vallum, yet visible in the vicinity of the town.
A mansion here, formerly the property of the Earl of
Abercorn, has been repeatedly honoured by the presence
of royalty; George II. rested at it in his progress to
and from his Hanoverian dominions, and Queen
Charlotte, consort of George III., was received here on
her first arrival in England. The town, which is pleasantly
situated near the confluence of a small stream,
called the Braine, with the river Blackwater, on the
main road from London to Colchester, is of respectable
appearance, and consists principally of one long street >
it is partly lighted and paved, and amply supplied w}th
water from wells. There are no branches of manufacture
the principal trade is what arises from its situa-
tion on a great public thoroughfare, and the requisite
supply of the inhabitants. The market, granted by Richard
I., and kept originally at Cheping Hill, from which
it was removed by Richard II., is on Tuesday; and fairs
are held on the Monday before Whit-Sunday, June 4th,
and September 14th. The county magistrates hold here
petty sessions for the division, every Tuesday j and manorial
courts are held, as occasion requires, at which
constables and other officers are appointed. The living
is a vicarage, in the archdeaconry of Colchester, and diocese
of London, rated in the king's books at'£22. 0.7.,
and in the patronage of the Bishop of London. The
church, which is situated at Cheping Hill, about half
a, mile north of the town, is dedicated to St. Nicholas:'
it is a neat edifice in the later style of English architecture,
and contains many ancient monuments,
and a large tomb, erected in the reign of Elizabeth,
to the memory of Judge Southcote and his lady, by
whose effigies it is surmounted. There are places of
worship for Baptists, the Society of Friends, Indepen-'
dents, and Roman Catholics. A. National school, for
eighty-two boys and fifty-five girls, is siipported part-'
ly by the rent of a house, conditionally bequeathed, in
1630, by Dame Catherine Barnardistbn, and partly by
voluntary contributions. Two almshouses on Cheping
Hill, for four poor widows, were endowed by Thomas
Green, Esq., in 1491, with a farm in Springfield, let
for upwards of £50 a year j the inmates have an al-'
lowance of money and fuel: this bequest having been
lost for eighty years, it was recovered in Chancery,
chiefly through the care and exertions of Dr. Warley,
vicar of the parish. An almshouse for two poor widows
was founded, in the reign of Charles I., by means of
a bequest from George Armond, Esq. At Cheping Hill
are two tenements, with a weekly allowance, for two
poor widows, arising from a bequest of £35 per annum
by Mr. Green; six others by Matthew Harvey," Esq.,
for six poor persons chosen by the pastor and deacons
of the Independent chapel; and five, by an unknown
donor, for ten poor widows, endowed in 1687 with a
farm at Goldhanger, and another at Fairstead; the income
is about £67 per annum. Dr. Warley, amongst
ojher benefactions, in 1719, bequeathed £100 in aid of
an orthodox school for poor children, to be elected by
the minister and churchwardens for the time being.
There is a mineral spring ,in the neighbourhood, which
was formerly in great repute.