Writtle - Early History

Early History

The Romans were present in Writtle shortly after the Roman conquest by Claudius, but the presence of a metalled road, numerous archaeological finds and the ease with which the river can be forded in Writtle are still not significant enough evidence to suggest that Writtle, rather than Chelmsford, was the site of the Roman town of Caesaromagus, as suggested by the Essex historian Morant (et al.).

Named in the Little Domesday Book, as a Royal demesne (manor) of 194 households, the village boasts the site of one of King John's hunting lodges, sited within the grounds of the present HE institution Writtle College (circa 1210).

The estate and village were later a possession of Isabel de Brus (Bruce), via a grant of Henry III and a known residence of her grandson Robert, father to the future king. For a time thereafter it was leased to a Francis and Joan Bache, but the estate was taken by Isabel's great-grandson, Robert The Bruce, King of Scots, in the 1320s. It was in Writtle in 1302 that Robert had married his second wife, Elizabeth de Burgh; there is some evidence to suggest he was also born in the village rather than in Turnberry Castle, but the story is possibly conflated with that of his father of the same name.

Another well known historic figure who lived in Writtle was Sir John Petre (1549–1613). He sat as a Member of Parliament for Essex from 1584 to 1587 and also served as Lord Lieutenant of Essex. In 1603 he was raised to the peerage as Baron John Petre, the first baron of Writtle. Baron Petre publicly acknowledged that he was a Roman Catholic and refused to follow the Church of England during the time of Queen Elizabeth I and King James I. He died in October 1613, aged 63, and was succeeded in the barony by his son William, who later married Katherine Somerset. One person from Writtle who did help to bring about the English Reformation was Dr. John Bastwick (1593–1654), a religious zealot who opposed Roman Catholic ceremonial in the years before the outbreak of the English Civil War.