History
Originally a hermitage during the reign of Henry II the name Woodham was adopted in 1175 when it became a priory, including 60 acres (240,000 m2) of forest stretching towards Danbury.
There is a residence in the village that was once owned by the Bishop of York and was attacked during the Peasants' Revolt in 1381.
At the turn of the 16th century, the convent was used as a hospital until being returned to the church in 1540.
Due to the proximity of both the Marconi Company and North Weald Airfield, the village was in the flight path for a number of air-raids during World War II; however it was not a direct target itself.
The village was the centre of national media attention in July 2011 when some 4,000 gypsies arrived there for the Christian Light and Life Festival nearby. Local residents were angered by vandalism and litter which occurred after the gypsies arrived; local crime subsequently doubled and an extra 40 police officers were put on patrol to deal with it.
Read more about this topic: Woodham Ferrers
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“Hence poetry is something more philosophic and of graver import than history, since its statements are rather of the nature of universals, whereas those of history are singulars.”
—Aristotle (384–322 B.C.)
“To history therefore I must refer for answer, in which it would be an unhappy passage indeed, which should shew by what fatal indulgence of subordinate views and passions, a contest for an atom had defeated well founded prospects of giving liberty to half the globe.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)
“All history attests that man has subjected woman to his will, used her as a means to promote his selfish gratification, to minister to his sensual pleasures, to be instrumental in promoting his comfort; but never has he desired to elevate her to that rank she was created to fill. He has done all he could to debase and enslave her mind; and now he looks triumphantly on the ruin he has wrought, and say, the being he has thus deeply injured is his inferior.”
—Sarah M. Grimke (1792–1873)