The town is in the valley of the River Chelmer, not far from its source in the nearby village of Debden, and is 97 metres (318 feet) above sea level (where the parish church stands).

Much of its status as a "town" rests on its prominent late medieval guildhall, a place where guilds of skilled tradesmen regulated their trading practices, and its English Perpendicular parish church.

[3] In the 1086 Domesday Book, the settlement is referred to as 'Tachesteda' and in subsequent official records variously as "Thacstede",[4] "Thaxstede", "Thackestede" and "Thakstede",[5] amongst other spellings.

[10] The first documented record of Thaxted, including a church, is in the Liber Eliensis, describes a gift of land in "Thacstede" by a woman named Æthelgifu at some time between 881 and 1016.

[4] 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.

[11] In the 1086 Domesday Book, the settlement, in the Hundred of Dunmow, consisted of 108 households with a population of 54 villagers, 34 smallholders, 16 slaves, and 4 freemen.

The land supported 28.5 plough teams—being seven 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.

[13] Why a town like Thaxted, lacking in the natural resources required for the large-scale manufacturing metal products, should have developed this industry is unclear.

[14] Although it had been assumed that Thaxted's cutlers were finishing blades made elsewhere, excavations undertaken in 2015 in Orange Street found evidence to support the work of bladesmiths alongside cutlers/hafters.

[26] In November 1481, Edward IV, at the behest of his mother, Cecily, who held the manor, issued letters patent to license some residents of Thaxted "to found a fraternity or perpetual gild", empowered to regulate itself and own land.

[32] However, despite efforts to encourage the development of the wool trade in the town with the creation of a guild of clothiers in 1583, Thaxted's fortunes did not return.

[29] It still occupies the fine Victorian building on the eastern edge of the town built for it in 1880 and is run by Essex County Council.

A day school, operated by the Church of England, opened in 1819 and was housed in a building funded by Lord Maynard on the Broxted Road.

There are numerous public footpaths offering walks and hiking opportunities; the Harcamlow Way long-distance trail passes through the town.

[52] The annual Thaxted Festival takes place over four weekends in June and July every year,[53] presenting a programme of musical concerts.

The side (team) performed locally as part of coronation celebrations for George V.[59] Since 2001, Thaxted has been twinned with Saint-Vrain in the French department of Essonne.

[61] Thaxted once lay on the busy A130 trunk road from Chelmsford to Cambridge which brought large trucks through the centre of the town past the Guildhall and Church.

[64] From 1913 to 1952, Thaxted was served by a light railway branch line from Elsenham which ran to a terminus station located about one mile south of the town.

[68] It was built in the late 15th century, supposedly with funding from the significant cutlery industry, hence the assumption that it served the cutlers' guild.

[75] Dick Turpin's Cottage is one of a group of timber-framed terrace houses in picturesque Stoney Lane, but there is no evidence to support its association with the famous highwayman.

Encouraged by the vicar, Conrad Noel, a medievalist and folk-dancing and church music enthusiast, Holst had the idea of organizing a Whitsun festival there, bringing singers and players from St Paul's Girls' School and Morley College in London to join with local people in a weekend of musical festivities.

The carols Bring us in good ale (dedicated to Conrad Noel), Lullay my liking, Of one that is so fair and bright and Terly, terlow were specifically written for Thaxted.

His most outstanding achievement was This have I done for my true love (also dedicated to Noel), "an evocation of the medieval notion of dancing and religious worship being closely intertwined".

Thaxted is the name given to a hymn tune, a setting for "I Vow to Thee, My Country", which Holst composed, based on the theme of "Jupiter" in his orchestral Planets suite.

In 1934, the year that Holst died, the Cambridge Morris Men invited five other teams (Letchworth, Thaxted, East Surrey, Greensleeves and Oxford) to join them in the formation of a national organisation.

[83] The town and surrounding countryside feature in the documentary film Ripe Earth, directed and produced by the Boulting Brothers in 1938.

[85] The film was directed by Lewis Gilbert, starred Eddie Byrne, and also featured Dora Bryan and Sid James.

Part of Passolini's The Canterbury Tales (I racconti di Canterbury) was filmed in Thaxted: the unrestored Windmill, with the church spire in the distance, formed the backdrop to the scene depicting the Summoner, the Devil and the Old Woman in The Friar's Tale, somewhat anachronistically since the tower mill is a nineteenth century structure of the Industrial Revolution that would have been unknown in Chaucerian times.

[29] It saved Thaxted, became a major employer and led to the advent the light railway, with the support of the gin magnate, Sir Walter Gilbey.

Three public houses remain in the town itself: the Swan Hotel, opposite the Church, is an historic coaching inn in a Grade II listed building;[121] the Star, in Mill End, occupies a Grade II listed hall house from the fourteenth century;[122] The Maypole, formerly the Rose & Crown, is at the top of Mill End opposite the petrol station.