Thaxted

According to A Dictionary of British Place Names, Thaxted derives from the Old English thoec with stede, being a "place where thatching materials are got".[2]

Thaxted was a development of a Saxon settlement on a Roman road.[3] Archeological research of the area by Oxford Archaeology in 2007 produced finds showing Bronze Age, late Iron Age, Roman, late medieval and post-medieval occupation, including flint fragments, floor and roof tiles, pottery sherds, ditch enclosures, graves, and skeletal remains.[4] A further archeological excavation in the centre of the town by the Colchester Archeological Trust in 2015 found a large medieval ditch which may have been a part of the town's defences, 15th- to 16th-century artifacts, and fragments of animal bone waste, mainly from cattle.[5]

The town is listed in the 1086 Domesday Book by Norman scribes with no real sense of any orthodox orthography as 'Tachesteda'. The settlement of 108 households was in the Hundred of Dunmow, with a population that included 54 villagers, 34 smallholders, 16 slaves, and 4 freemen. The land supported 28.5 plough teams—being 7 lord's teams and 21.5 men's teams—and contained two mills, meadow of 154 acres (0.62 km²), and woodland with 850 pigs. In 1066 there were four cobs, 36 cattle, an additional 128 pigs, 200 sheep, and 10 beehives. The sheep had increased to 320, and the beehives to 16, by 1086. In 1066 the lord was WihtGar, son of Aelfric, who was lord or overlord of 27 other manors, chiefly in west Essex. After 1086 the lordship of Thaxted was given in part to Warner, and to Richard fitz Gilbert—son to Gilbert, Count of Brionne—who was also Tenant-in-chief to the king.[6]

Thaxted parish is run by a parish council, and the town provides two district council representatives on Uttlesford District Council and one councillor on Essex County Council. The Thaxted electoral ward had a recorded population of 3,512 at the 2011 census.[7]

In 1829, there were 2,293 people living in Thaxted; in 1848 there were 2,527. At the time of the 1881 census, that figure had fallen to 1,914, and it fell further by 1921 to 1,596. In 2001, the population was 2,526. Thaxted had a total population of 2,845, according to the 2011 census.

Thaxted Morris Men

Between 2007 and 2009, a village design statement was produced for Thaxted to describe the character of the town and parish and to inform any future development. It was drawn up after consultation with local residents and under the auspices of Thaxted Parish Council and the Thaxted Society, and was published after further consultation with the rural community council and Uttlesford District Council.[8]

The Thaxted Society is a conservation charity founded to safeguard and promote Thaxted's legacy. It was fifty years old in 2013 and published the 100th issue of the Thaxted Bulletin in winter 2017. The society's remit is to scrutinise and respond to local planning and Government planning regulation and policy.

The annual Thaxted Festival takes place over four weekends in June and July every year, presenting a programme of musical concerts.[9]

Thaxted Cricket Club represents the town and parish.[10] The club's teams play in the Herts and Essex League, play Sunday Friendlies, and in under-12 and under-15 competitions.[11]

Thaxted football club, the Thaxted Rangers, has a senior team and youth teams.

Thaxted Morris Men is a morris side which was founded in 1911, under the instigation of Conrad Noel, Vicar of Thaxted, as a response to a renewed interest in morris dancing. The side performed locally as part of coronation celebrations for George V.[12]

From 1913 to 1952, a short railway branch line from Elsenham ran to a terminus station located about one mile south of the town. The line was closed to passenger traffic on 15 September 1952.

Horham Hall

Horham Hall is a Grade I listed mansion at the southeast of Thaxted parish. It was rebuilt in brick by Sir John Cutte between 1510 and 1515, having previously been a timber-framed late–c. 1470 moated manor house.

The town was used as the location for the 1952 British comedy film Time Gentlemen, Please![13] The film was directed by Lewis Gilbert and starred Eddie Byrne, and also featured Dora Bryan and Sid James.

• The British composer Gustav Holst – town resident. Thaxted is the name given to a hymn tune, commonly used for "I Vow to Thee, My Country"[3]
• Diana Wynne Jones – author of Howl's Moving Castle and other novels, was raised in the town[14]
• Conrad Noel (1869–1942) – Christian socialist and known as the town's 'Red Vicar', serving in the post from 1910 until his death[15]
• Samuel Purchas (1577–1626) – English cleric and author, born in the town his works are an important source of information about the age of exploration.[16] son of an English yeoman. He graduated from St John's College, Cambridge, in 1600.[17]

• 
  The Guildhall
• 
  The Manse where composer Gustav Holst lived from 1917 to 1925
• 
  Parish church of St John
• 
  Almshouses at the church, with the sailless John Webb's Windmill in the background
• 
  Dick Turpin's cottage, suggesting the supposed association of the highwayman with Thaxted
• 
  John Webb's Windmill

• The Hundred Parishes

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Thaxted.

• Thaxted Church on Essex Churches website
• Pictures and information on Thaxted station from subbrit.org.uk