Sible Hedingham
Sible Hedingham is a village and civil parish in the county of Essex, England. The village is located within the Colne Valley, in the northern region of Essex, close to both the Suffolk and Cambridgeshire borders, situated on the A1017 road. Outside of the village, the parish contains numerous smaller [|Hamlets]. The village is north of Chelmsford. At the 2021 census the parish had a population of 4,831 and the built up area had a population of 4,291.
Toponymy
The meaning of the name Sible Hedingham is uncertain. The University of Nottingham Key to English Place Names website says it could mean:- Homestead/village of Hethni's people
- Homestead/village at Hethni's place
- Alternatively, the first element could be 'landing-place'. Sibil, widow of Geoffrey of Lavington held land here in 1237.
- Haingheham
- Hegham
- Hythingham
- Hynnyngham
History
During the Roman period, a Roman military road, the Via Devana, passed through the parish, while a piece of Roman mirror and a speculum was found in the village. A possible Roman pottery kiln was found near Cobbs Fenn, while a possible Roman millstone was found just over a kilometre from the village. Further evidence of occupation in the area can be seen in St Peter's Church, where Roman bricks and tiles have been used within its walls, while a hoard of coins containing 1 denarius of Octavian; 18 siliquae to 402 and 1 toilet implement fragment was found in 2005.
The Domesday Book of 1086 lists the village together with Castle Hedingham as one, and amongst the lands given to Roger Bigod by the king, William the Conqueror. The land included woodland for 70 pigs that was in total valued at £4. The village has also been known as "Hengham Sybyle", and in 1190 a Benedictine nunnery was opened. The village came under the county division the Hundred of Hinckford, which by 1327 was the third-richest hundred in Essex. It was during the reign of Henry III that the separate parishes of Castle and Sible Hedingham first appeared. Between the 12th and 14th century, the village was one of the centres for production of the pottery, Hedingham Ware, which consisted of decorated and glazed finewares, mainly jugs, and grey-firing coarsewares.
In 1807, a Baptist chapel was opened, while a Quakers chapel had also been opened but was closed by 1833. In 1835, Sible Hedingham became part of the Halstead Poor Law Union. Prior to the union, the parish had opened a workhouse in two cottages in 1745. The village was connected to the railway in 1861, when the Sible and Castle Hedingham railway station was opened on the Colne Valley and Halstead Railway. 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". Only a year earlier, The Hedingham Gas Works were opened in Castle Hedingham to provide gas street lighting for the two villages. By 1863, the village had a National School which served 170 pupils, and held an annual fair for "toys and pleasure" on Easter Tuesday. In 1872, Sible Hedingham came under the Halstead Rural Sanitary district, the replacement for the Poor Law Union, before becoming Halstead Rural District in 1894.
In 1901, the Elsenham, Thaxted and Bardfield Light Railway received permission via the Light Railway Order of 18 November 1901, to build the Bardfield and Sible Hedingham light railway, which would have linked the ET&BLR at Great Bardfield to the Great Eastern Railway at Sible Hedingham. However, the ET&BLR failed to receive permission to be built and a further attempt to build a light railway from Sible Hedingham to Ongar by the Central Essex Light Railway failed too. At the start of the 20th century, the village was more segmented, with Church Street separated from the rest of the village and the existing commercial centre had not yet been built.
During World War I, the Royal Flying Corps founded a landing strip near to Southey Green, while during World War II, a bomb landed on Rippers Joinery works in February 1941. In between the wars, the village had become home to Rachel Barrett, who upon her death in 1953, left Lamb Cottage to her niece, Gwyneth, whose husband was the poet J. Redwood Anderson. Redwood Anderson would die in the cottage in 1964. The Colne Valley and Halstead Railway ceased operating passenger services in 1961, being used solely for freight until it finally closed in 1964. The station was taken down in 1973 and rebuilt as part of the heritage Colne Valley Railway. A year later, the parish transferred to the newly created Braintree District as part of local government reorganisation.
Geology
Sible Hedingham parish has been surveyed, along with areas around Castle Hedingham, Great Yeldham and Wethersfield, by the Institute of Geological Sciences. In their survey in 1981, they found the following:| Period | Drift or Solid | Type |
| Recent and Pleistocene | Drift | Alluvium |
| Recent and Pleistocene | Drift | River Terrace Deposits |
| Recent and Pleistocene | Drift | Head |
| Recent and Pleistocene | Drift | Head Gravel |
| Recent and Pleistocene | Drift | Boulder Clay |
| Recent and Pleistocene | Drift | Glacial Silt |
| Recent and Pleistocene | Drift | Glacial Sand and Gravels, upper |
| Recent and Pleistocene | Drift | Barham Sands and Gravels |
| Recent and Pleistocene | Drift | Kesgrave Sands and Gravels |
| Pleistocene | Solid | Red Crag |
| Eocene | Solid | London Clay |
| Palaeocene | Solid | Lower London Tertiaries - Woolwich and Reading Beds, Thanet Beds |
| Cretaceous | Solid | Upper Chalk |
Governance
Parliamentary seat
Sible Hedingham comes under the Braintree Parliamentary constituency which Sir James Cleverly of the Conservative Party has held since 2015.Prior to sitting in the Braintree Parliamentary constituency, Sible Hedingham parish sat within the following constituencies:
| Constituency name | Years of operation | Reference |
| Essex | 1290–1832 | |
| North Essex | 1832–1868 | |
| East Essex | 1868–1885 | |
| Saffron Walden | 1885–1974 |
Local Government
Sible Hedingham sits within the non-metropolitan county of Essex, governed by Essex County Council; and the non-Metropolitan district of Braintree governed by Braintree District Council. Sible Hedingham is within the Hedingham ward of Braintree District Council. The civil parish is managed by Sible Hedingham Parish council.Twinning
The village is twinned with the French commune of Choisy-au-Bac, located in Picardy region, Oise department.Demographics
Population
The population of the parish has been recorded since the first national census of 1801. The following table shows the population total between the first census until 1971:| Census | Population | Source |
| 1801 | 1866 | |
| 1811 | 1702 | |
| 1821 | 2060 | |
| 1831 | 2194 | |
| 1841 | 2322 | |
| 1851 | 2364 | |
| 1881 | 1926 | |
| 1891 | 1785 | |
| 1901 | 1701 | |
| 1911 | 1789 | |
| 1921 | 1762 | |
| 1931 | 2149 | |
| 1951 | 2251 | |
| 1961 | 2377 | |
| 1971 | 3326 |
The parish had a population of 4,800 according to the 2021 census, and covers some.
Ethnicity
At the 2021 census, the parish population was recorded as having the following breakdown of ethnicity:| Ethnicity background | % of population - Sible Hedingham | % of population - U.K. |
| Asian, Asian British or Asian Welsh | 1.1 | 9.6 |
| Black, Black British, Black Welsh, Caribbean or African | 0.4 | 4.2 |
| Mixed or Multiple ethnic groups | 1.3 | 3.0 |
| White | 96.6 | 81.0 |
| Other ethnic groups | 0.6 | 2.2 |
Age groups
The population of 4,800 at the 2021 census fell into the following age groups:| Age group | % of population - Sible Hedingham | % of population - U.K. | - |
| Age group | 0-4 | 6.3 | 5.4 |
| 5-9 | 7.0 | 5.9 | - |
| 10-14 | 5.7 | 6.1 | - |
| 15-19 | 4.7 | 5.8 | - |
| 20-24 | 4.9 | 6.0 | - |
| 25-29 | 5.4 | 6.5 | - |
| 30-34 | 6.5 | 7.0 | - |
| 35-39 | 6.2 | 6.8 | - |
| 40-44 | 6.1 | 6.5 | - |
| 45-49 | 5.7 | 6.1 | - |
| 50-54 | 7.3 | 6.8 | - |
| 55-59 | 7.0 | 6.7 | - |
| 60-64 | 5.8 | 5.9 | - |
| 65-69 | 5.8 | 4.9 | - |
| 70-74 | 5.3 | 4.7 | - |
| 75-79 | 5.1 | 4.0 | - |
| 80-84 | 2.6 | 2.5 | - |
| 85 and over | 2.6 | 2.5 | - |