Excavations by Essex County Council Field Archaeological unit at the recent Maltings Lane development discovered evidence of Neolithic occupation at Witham, including human remains and several trackways across ancient marsh.

Excavations of the Witham Lodge (Ivy Chimneys) area of the town in the 1970s unveiled remains of a Roman temple as well as a pottery kiln.

This would have been alongside the main Roman road from Colchester to London and used as a stopover point on the long journey.

In 913, according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Edward the Elder marched from Hertford to reconquer Essex, and encamped in Witham on his route to set up a base at Maldon.

Witham's position on the Roman road in relation to the major Viking army based at Colchester was the most likely reason for this, and it would have effectively cut Essex in two.

[3] Another suggestion is that the name is part Brythonic (probably from a cognate of Gwydd = "Woods" in modern Welsh) and "ham", a very common Saxon village designation.

To the north of the current town is Cressing Temple which was the earliest foundation of Templar lands in Britain, built over 700 years ago.

His heirs held the manor for almost two centuries, until 1648 when the Southcott family had their lands destroyed for supporting the royalist cause in the English Civil War.

Ten passengers and a luggage porter were killed when several of the carriages somersaulted on to the platforms causing considerable damage to the rolling stock and the station.

The library stands on the site of the old Whitehall cinema, which closed in the late 1970s and which was itself a conversion of the White Hall country house.

This was followed, in 2012, by the moving of Chipping Hill Primary School from its old premises in Church Street to a new-build in Owers Road.

[9] Approved developments in this period include the reconstruction of both the New Rickstones Academy and the Maltings Academy,[10] completed in 2011; the Marston's pub and restaurant on Gershwin Boulevard, completed in 2013 with the adjacent Seymour House day nursery; the refurbishment and opening of a Morrisons store in the old premises of the Jack & Jenny pub in 2014; and the newly-built Witham Leisure Centre[11] on Spinks Lane, replacing Bramston Sports Centre, completed in 2014.

The town is served by Witham railway station, situated on the Great Eastern Main Line operated by Abellio Greater Anglia.

There are also a range of small shops, restaurants, pubs, major high-street banks and several national commercial chains.

In December 2013, the financial service provider Cofunds relocated to the former Marsh building on the Grove, bringing approximately 600 jobs to the town.

Witham hockey club play on the astro turf across the road from Maltings Academy on Spinks Lane.

The constituency includes Hatfield Peverel, Langford, Wickham Bishops, Marks Tey, Tiptree, Tolleshunt Knights, Stanway Kelvedon, and Coggeshall.

On 1 October 1933 the parish of Rivenhall was abolished and merged with Witham, parts of Faulkbourne and Kelvedon were also added.