Approximate Population: 42,393

Braintree is a town of about 42,000 people and the principal settlement of the Braintree district of Essex in the East of England. It is ten miles north-east of Chelmsford and fifteen miles west of Colchester on the River Blackwater, A120 road and a branch of the Great Eastern Main Line.

The origin of the name Braintree is obscure. It is believed by some scholars that the name of the River Brain came later, and so was named after the town, rather than the other way round. One theory is that Braintree was originally Branoc’s tree, Branoc apparently being an old personal name. Another theory is that the name is derived from that of Rayne, which was actually a more important settlement in Norman times. Braintree was called Branchetreu in the Domesday Book. Other scholars say the “Brain” element in the word is accepted to be derived from “Brid/ Brigantia/ Bride/ Bigit/ Britain”.

Braintree dates back over 4,000 years when it was just a small village. When the Romans invaded, they built two roads; a settlement developed at the junction of these two roads but was later abandoned when the Romans left Britain. The town was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1085 when it was called Branchetreu and consisted of 30 acres in the possession of Richard, son of Count Gilbert. Pilgrims used the town as a stop-over, the size of the town increased and the Bishop of London obtained a market charter for the town in 1190. The town prospered from the 1600s when Flemish immigrants made the town famous for its wool cloth trade. In 1665, the Great Plague killed 865 of the population of just 2,300 people.

Braintree lies in north Essex, about 40 miles from London, with factories and housing to the south and rural areas to the north, where arable crops are grown. It lies about 50 metres above sea level. Essex is rather flat on the whole, and the Braintree area is no exception; however, there is a general downward trend in the height of the ground from the northwest towards the coast to the southeast. Two rivers flow through Braintree in this direction. Pod’s Brook approaches the western side of the town, forms a natural boundary between Braintree and the neighbouring village of Rayne about two miles to the west. Pod’s Brook becomes the River Brain as it passes under the Roman road, before running through the southern part of Braintree. The River Pant (or Blackwater) runs roughly parallel to it, through the north of Bocking, and away to the east of the town. The Brain eventually flows into the Blackwater several miles away, near Witham.

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