White Notley facts for kids
White Notley is a small village in Essex, England. It's located right in the middle of two towns, Witham and Braintree, about 4 miles (6.4 km) from each. White Notley is a classic English village with a primary school, a pub, a train station, a post office, a village hall, and a church that's over 1,000 years old!
In 2011, about 522 people lived in the village. You can get there by train using the White Notley railway station on the Braintree Branch Line.
Contents
Discovering White Notley's Past
White Notley has a long and interesting history, with signs of people living there for thousands of years!
Ancient Times: Bronze Age and Romans
Long, long ago, in the Bronze Age, people lived in the center of what is now White Notley. We know this because archaeologists have found old pottery and tools from that time.
Even more exciting, many things from the Roman age have been found here. These include parts of a Roman villa (a large country house) and tombs. Inside these, experts discovered pottery, glass items, and pieces of Roman buildings. They even found fragments of pottery made by the Ancient Britons, who lived in England before the Romans arrived. When a bridge over the River Brain was rebuilt, Roman horseshoes and a horse harness were also found!
Where Did the Name "Notley" Come From?
White Notley and its nearby village, Black Notley, used to be one big area called "Notley." The name "Notley" likely comes from old English words meaning "nut pasture." This makes sense because even today, you can see many hazelnut trees around the village and in the hedgerows (rows of bushes that form fences).
The area is also close to Cressing Temple, which was once a special place for the Knights Templar, a famous group of knights from the Middle Ages.
The Village Church: St. Etheldreda's
The main church in White Notley is St. Etheldreda's. It's built on a hill called Church Hill, right where an even older Roman temple used to stand! The church is mostly from the 10th century (the 900s), and you can still see many Roman bricks and stones in its walls. These stones probably came from the old Roman villa and temple.
Inside the church, there are special spaces called niches on either side of the main arch. Some people think these might be parts of the original Roman temple! There's also a small, beautiful stained-glass window in the vestry (a room in the church). It shows St. Etheldreda and is set in a stone frame that was once part of an Anglo-Saxon grave marker.
White Notley Football Club
The local football team, White Notley F.C., started playing on May 12, 1950. They joined the Essex Intermediate League in 1988.
The team has had some ups and downs! In the 2001-02 season, they finished second and moved up a division. After a tough 2003-04 season, they went down a division. But they bounced back the very next season, winning the Division Two championship and getting promoted again! In 2006-07, they finished third in Division One before moving to the Essex and Suffolk Border Football League.
