Hedingham Castle

Castle Hedingham is a village in northern Essex, England, located four miles west of Halstead and 3 miles southeast of Great Yeldham in the Colne Valley on the ancient road from Colchester, Essex, to Cambridge. It developed around Hedingham Castle, the ancestral seat of the de Veres, Earls of Oxford. The first earl, Aubrey de Vere III, finished the initial building of the keep and established a Benedictine nunnery, Castle Hedingham Priory, 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, Kirby Hall and its many timber-framed medieval buildings. The church of St. Nicholas is late Norman and Gothic, 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. 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 The village was served by Sible and Castle Hedingham railway station 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 Colne Valley Railway Preservation Society. Castle Hedingham Pottery was an art pottery studio run by Edward Bingham at Castle Hedingham from about 1864 until 1901.

Halstead was a rural district in Essex, England from 1894 to 1974. It was created by the Local Government Act 1894 as a successor to the Halstead rural sanitary district. In 1934 it was greatly enlarged by adding the areas of the disbanded Belchamp Rural District and Bumpstead Rural District. It was abolished under the Local Government Act 1972 and now forms part of the district of Braintree.

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, and the Holy Cross.

Sible and Castle Hedingham railway station was a station in Sible Hedingham, Essex. It was 59 miles 56 chains (96.08 km) from London Liverpool Street via Marks Tey. It closed for passengers in 1962.

Hedingham Secondary School and Sixth Form is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form with academy status, situated in Christmas Fields in Sible Hedingham, Essex, England.

Sible Hedingham ( SIB-əl HED-ing-əm) is a large village and civil parish in the Colne Valley in the Braintree District of Essex, 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 2,123 hectares (5,246 acres). The Domesday Book of 1086 lists the village together with Hedingham Castle amongst the lands given to Roger Bigod by the king. 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, located in Picardy region, Oise department (c. 80 km north of Paris, near Compiègne).

Kirby Hall is a house in Castle Hedingham, Braintree, Essex.

The Yellow House School is a 13–17 mixed, private special school and sixth form in Sible Hedingham, Essex, England. It was established in June 2002 by Debbie Pester and caters for children with Tourette's, ADHD and ADD, autism spectrum disorders, and other sensory issues.

The Colne Valley Railway is a heritage railway based at Castle Hedingham Station, near Halstead in Essex, England. The railway consists of a 1 mile (1.6 km) long running line, with a fully reconstructed station, signal box and railway yard.

Great Maplestead is a village and a civil parish in the Braintree District, in the English county of Essex. In the sixteenth century the Deane family were Lords of the Manor of Great Maplestead. Later in the century the manor passed by marriage to Sir John Tyndal, Master of the Court of Chancery. It was here in 1618 that Tyndal's daughter Margaret Tyndal Winthrop married John Winthrop, a crucial figure in the founding of Massachusetts. In the 1870s the Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales said that Great Maplestead "took its name from maple trees, which anciently flourished on or around its site; and has the repute of being a very healthy place".

Little Yeldham is a small village in north west Essex, approximately one mile north east of Great Yeldham.

Southey Green is a hamlet near Sible Hedingham, in the Braintree district, in the county of Essex, England. Other nearby hamlets include Forry's Green, Cobbs Fenn and Harrowcross.