Wethersfield, Essex

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Wethersfield
St Mary Magdalene & St Mary the Virgin, Wethersfield (geograph 2756597).jpg
Church of St Mary Magdalene
and St Mary the Virgin, Wethersfield
Essex UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Wethersfield
Location within Essex
Population1,295 (Parish, 2021) [1]
OS grid reference TL7131
District
Shire county
Region
Country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town BRAINTREE
Postcode district CM7
Dialling code 01371
Police Essex
Fire Essex
Ambulance East of England
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Essex
51°57′13″N0°29′20″E / 51.9536°N 0.4889°E / 51.9536; 0.4889

Wethersfield is a village and civil parish on the B1053 road in the Braintree district of Essex, England. As well as the village itself, the parish also includes the hamlets of Beazley End, Blackmore End, and Brickkiln Green. [2] [3] It is near the River Pant. Wethersfield has a school, a social club, a fire station and one place of worship. Nearby settlements include the town of Braintree and the village of Finchingfield. At the 2021 census the parish had a population of 1,295.

The name is Old English and means the open land or clearing belonging to someone called Wether. [4]

Patrick Brontë, father of the Brontë sisters, was a young curate here in 1807, as was John West, later missionary to Canada, who married Harriet Atkinson here in 1807. [5]

MDP Wethersfield was the headquarters and training centre for the Ministry of Defence Police until 2022, located at the former RAF Station Wethersfield, and was used by the RAF, United States Army Air Force (USAAF) and the United States Air Force (USAF). It is now used to house asylum seekers. [6]

The village is also one of The Hundred Parishes. [7]

Wethersfield, Essex is the namesake of Wethersfield, Connecticut. [8]

References

  1. ↑ "2021 Census Parish Profiles". NOMIS. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 31 March 2025. (To get individual parish data, use the query function on table PP002.)
  2. ↑ Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 167 Chelmsford (Harlow & Bishop's Stortford) (Map). Ordnance Survey. 2012. ISBN   9780319232101.
  3. ↑ "Ordnance Survey: 1:50,000 Scale Gazetteer" (csv (download)). www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk. Ordnance Survey. 1 January 2016. Retrieved 18 February 2016.
  4. ↑ "Wethersfield". Key to English Place-Names. University of Nottingham. Retrieved 16 November 2025.
  5. ↑ John West in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography
  6. ↑ McMenemy, Rachael; Media, PA (12 July 2023). "Wethersfield: First migrants moved on to former airbase". BBC News . Retrieved 15 March 2025.
  7. ↑ "The Hundred Parishes Society" . Retrieved 16 November 2025.
  8. ↑ The Connecticut Magazine: An Illustrated Monthly. Connecticut Magazine Company. 1903. p. 335.


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