Wickham Bishops

Wickham Bishops
Beacon Hill lighting ceremony during Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee
Wickham Bishops is located in Essex
Wickham Bishops
Wickham Bishops
Location within Essex
Population1,910 (Parish, 2021)
OS grid referenceTL840120
Civil parish
  • Wickham Bishops
District
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townWITHAM
Postcode districtCM8
Dialling code01621
PoliceEssex
FireEssex
AmbulanceEast of England
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Essex
51°46′35″N 0°40′05″E / 51.7763°N 0.6681°E / 51.7763; 0.6681

Wickham Bishops is a village and civil parish in the Maldon district of Essex, England. It is located around 3 miles (4.8 km) north of the town of Maldon and 2 miles (3.2 km) south-east of Witham. At the 2021 census, the parish had a population of 1,910.

Toponymy

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. Other references note the historic name of Wycham Episcopi.

Churches

St Bartholomew's Church

The Church of England parish church is St Bartholomew's. The church was built on the western side of the hill on which the village stands. The clock on its steeple was converted to an electronic mechanism in June 2008; it was previously wound by hand. St Bartholomew's 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.

Amenities and organisations

Wickham Bishops has a village hall (reconstructed in 2005), playing fields, a library, tennis courts, a hairdresser, health food shop, estate agent and a One Stop local shop/off licence. There were formerly two pubs in the village: the Mitre has closed and turned into a Mrs Salisbury's and the Chequers is now a pub/restaurant, The Bear.

There is a small library, which is located in the old school building in School Road.

Wickham Bishops Drama Club first performed in 1928 with a production of HMS Pinafore. Since then, the club continues to perform various productions throughout the year featuring both their adult and junior groups. It produces four shows annually: the pantomime, the summer production, a spring play and an entry for the Gimson One Act Play Festival.

Witham South District of GirlGuiding UK covers the area, formed of two Rainbow packs for girls aged 5–7 years old and a Brownie pack for girls aged 7–10. The 1st Beacon Hill group forms part of Maldon and East Essex Scouts, which comprises Beaver, Cub and Scout troops for boys and girls.

Transport

The B1018 runs through Wickham Bishops and the village's nearest major road is the A12, which links east London, Chelmsford, Colchester, Ipswich and Lowestoft.

Wickham Bishops railway station served the village on the Witham–Maldon branch line, between 1848 and 1964. The nearest station is now Witham on the Great Eastern Main Line.

Stephensons of Essex operates the 90 bus route between Maldon and Witham generally every half an hour on weekdays.

Notable people

Notes

  1. ↑ To get individual parish data, use the query function on table PP002.

References

  1. ↑ "2021 Census Parish Profiles". NOMIS. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 31 March 2025.
  2. ↑ Ekwall, Eilert. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names. p. 516.
  3. ↑ "Stephen Nunn on a lost landscape...and a beheaded bishop!". Maldon and Burnham Standard. Retrieved 14 September 2021.
  4. ↑ "St Peter, Wickham Bishops Church, Essex". Essexchurches.info. Retrieved 26 September 2026.
  5. ↑ Morley, Rachel (July 2019) "No such thing as a lost cause"; The Countryman; July 2019. Skipton: Salesman; pp.64-67
  6. ↑ "Everyone is welcome at WBDC". Olio At The Chequers. Retrieved 28 September 2026.
  7. ↑ "Wickham Bishops Library". Chamber of Commerce. Retrieved 28 September 2026.
  8. ↑ "Everyone is welcome at WBDC". Wickham Bishops Drama Club. Retrieved 28 September 2026.
  9. ↑ "Welcome to the 1st Beacon Hill Scout Group website". 1st Beacon Hill Scout Group. Retrieved 28 September 2026.
  10. ↑ "A12". Roads.org.uk. Retrieved 28 September 2026.
  11. ↑ Quick, M.E. (2002). Railway Passenger Stations in England, Scotland and Wales — A Chronology. The Railway and Canal Historical Society. ISBN 978-0-90-146151-3.
  12. ↑ "Timetables". Greater Anglia. 17 May 2026. Retrieved 28 September 2026.
  13. ↑ "Wickham Bishops bus services". Bustimes.org. Retrieved 28 September 2026.
  14. ↑ Cook, Alastair. Starting Out – My Story So Far. Hodder & Stoughton. p. 1. ISBN 978-1-44-470978-0.
  15. ↑ Fuller, Sophie (2001). LeFanu, Nicola. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.16261. ISBN 978-1-56-159263-0.