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Manningtree

Coordinates: 51°56′39″N 1°03′41″E / 51.9443°N 1.0614°E / 51.9443; 1.0614
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Manningtree
The River Stour at Manningtree
Manningtree is located in Essex
Manningtree
Manningtree
Location within Essex
Population911 (2011 census)[1]
OS grid referenceTM105317
District
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townMANNINGTREE
Postcode districtCO11
Dialling code01206
PoliceEssex
FireEssex
AmbulanceEast of England
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Essex
51°56′39″N 1°03′41″E / 51.9443°N 1.0614°E / 51.9443; 1.0614

Manningtree is a town and civil parish in the Tendring district of Essex, England, which lies on the River Stour. It is part of the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.[2]

Smallest town claim

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Manningtree has traditionally claimed to be the smallest town in England, but its 2007 population of 700 people in 20 hectares[3] and the 2011 census population for the civil parish of 900 are much higher than the 351 population of Fordwich, Kent.[4] However, it is believed to be the smallest town by area.[5]

In April 2009 it was proposed that Manningtree should merge with Mistley and Lawford to form a single parish, losing its separate identity as a town.[6] As of 2023 such a merger has not occurred.

History

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Manningtree Library

The name Manningtree is thought to derive from 'many trees'.[7] The town grew around the wool trade from the 15th century until its decline in the 18th century and also had a thriving shipping trade in corn, timber and coal until this declined with the coming of the railway.[7] Manningtree is known as the centre of the activities of Matthew Hopkins, the self-appointed Witchfinder General, who claimed to have overheard local women discussing their meetings with the devil in 1644 with his accusations leading to their execution as witches.[7]

Many of the buildings in the centre of the town have Georgian facades which obscure their earlier origins. Notable buildings include Manningtree Library, which was originally built as 'a public hall for the purposes of corn exchange' and was later used around 1900 for public entertainment,[7] and the Methodist church located on South Street, completed in 1807.[8]

The Ascension, by John Constable, which now hangs in Dedham church, was commissioned in 1821 for the altarpiece of the early seventeenth-century church on the High Street, demolished in 1967.[9]

Governance

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Manningtree is part of the electoral ward called Manningtree, Mistley, Little Bentley and Tendring. The population of this ward at the 2011 census was 4,603.[10]

Geography

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River Stour near Manningtree

Manningtree is on Holbrook Bay, part of the River Stour in the north of Essex. It is the eastern edge of Dedham Vale.

Nearby villages include Dedham, Mistley, Lawford, Wrabness and Brantham.

Transport

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Manningtree railway station

Manningtree railway station is on the Great Eastern Main Line and provides regular, direct services to London, Norwich and Harwich.

Media

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Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC East and ITV Anglia. Television signals are received from the Sudbury TV transmitter. [11]

The town is served by both BBC Essex and BBC Radio Suffolk. Other radio stations including Heart East, Greatest Hits Radio Essex, and Actual Radio.

Harwich and Manningtree Standard is the town's local newspaper which publishes on Fridays. [12]

In fiction

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Manningtree features in Ronald Bassett's 1966 novel Witchfinder General and in A. K. Blakemore's 2021 novel The Manningtree Witches.

In Shakespeare’s Henry IV Part I (Act 2 Scene 4), Flastaff is referred to as “that roasted Manningtree ox“.[13] This was marked in 2000 with a sculpture of an ox in the town centre.[14]

A. K. Blakemore's 2021 novel, The Manningtree Witches, is set in the town.[15] The novel won the Desmond Elliott Prize 2021, being described by the judges as "a stunning achievement."[16]

Notable people

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Twin town

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Manningtree is twinned with Frankenberg, Hesse, Germany.

References

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  1. ^ "Town population 2011". Archived from the original on 25 September 2015. Retrieved 25 September 2015.
  2. ^ "Suffolk Coast and Heaths: England's first 'beauty extension' since 1991". BBC News. 7 July 2020.
  3. ^ "Essex: Town is happy to be small wonder". Echo Newspapers. 7 November 2007. Retrieved 24 September 2010. [dead link‍]
  4. ^ "Area: Fordwich CP (Parish)". National Statistics. 28 April 2004. Archived from the original on 12 June 2011. Retrieved 24 September 2010.
  5. ^ "Manningtree | Manningtree Town Council".
  6. ^ Collitt, Andrea (17 April 2009). "Manningtree: Threat to Mayor". Harwich and Manningtree Standard. Archived from the original on 4 October 2011.
  7. ^ a b c d Peers, Deborah (February 2009). "Once upon a time in... Manningtree". Essex Life. Archant Life. p. 52.
  8. ^ Historic England. "Methodist Church (1240124)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 23 July 2023.
  9. ^ "The Ascension By John Constable RA (1776–1837)". Dedham and Ardleigh Parishes. Retrieved 23 July 2023.
  10. ^ "Manningtree,Mistrey, Little Bentley and Tendring ward population 2011". Archived from the original on 26 September 2015. Retrieved 25 September 2015.
  11. ^ "Sudbury (Suffolk, England) Full Freeview transmitter". May 2004.
  12. ^ "Harwich and Manningtree Standard". British Papers. 3 May 2014. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  13. ^ "Famous Quotes | Henry IV Part I | Royal Shakespeare Company". www.rsc.org.uk. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  14. ^ "Shakespeare's Manningtree to celebrate bard's anniversary". Harwich and Manningtree Standard. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  15. ^ O’Donnell, Paraic (12 March 2021). "The Manningtree Witches by AK Blakemore review – a darkly witty debut". the Guardian. Retrieved 1 September 2022.
  16. ^ McKenna, Steph. "The Desmond Elliott Prize 2021". National Centre for Writing. Retrieved 1 September 2022.
  17. ^ Lewis, Russell (1975). Margaret Thatcher: a personal and political biography. Routledge and Kegan Paul. p. 16. ISBN 0-7100-8283-5.
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Manningtree.
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