According to folk etymology, the name derived from "Wyvernhoe",[4] originating from the mythical beast called a wyvern and the previously mentioned ridge (hoe).

Wivenhoe[5] is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Wiivnhou in the hundred of Lexden,[6] when it formed part of the land of Robert Gernon, where there was a mill, 12 acres (4.9 ha) of meadow and pasture for 60 sheep.

Elizabeth de Vere (d. 1537), widow of John, 13th earl of Oxford, left Wivenhoe church the vestments and ornaments from her private chapel.

[13] A view of the house across the lake was painted by John Constable on a social visit to Major-General Francis Slater Rebow in 1816 for a fee of 100 guineas.

Direct electric services, operated by Abellio Greater Anglia, run from Wivenhoe station to Clacton-on-Sea, Walton-on-the-Naze, Colchester and London Liverpool Street.

The town is connected by a seasonal foot ferry service, which runs on weekends and bank holidays according to the tide from April to mid-October, across the river Colne to Fingringhoe and Rowhedge.

[10] Wivenhoe has a population of between nine and ten thousand people with a mixture of students from the University of Essex, a long-standing artistic community, and commuters.

[23] The town is served by local newspapers, Colchester Gazette, Essex County Standard and East Anglian Daily Times.

[24] The actor-manager Sir John Martin-Harvey was born in the village in 1863 (died 1944)[25] and is commemorated by a blue plaque on Quay House, one of his childhood homes.

Harry Bensley, who became famous for taking on a wager to walk around Britain and eighteen other countries while wearing an iron mask and pushing a perambulator, lived in the village with his wife Kate after having served in the First World War,[citation needed] whilst pianist and popular entertainer Semprini (1908–1990) lived in Talisman House, adjacent to the high street in Wivenhoe, during his retirement.

[citation needed] Wivenhoe was also the home of actress Joan Hickson (1906–1998)[26] who played Miss Marple in the BBC adaptations of Agatha Christie's novels and children's author, journalist, and writer Leila Berg (1917–2012).

Everitt was Secretary-General of the Arts Council of Great Britain and is author of Cicero: The Life and Times of Rome's Greatest Politician.

Other residents include the poet and musician Martin Newell, writer A. L. Kennedy, James Dodds, painter, printmaker and publisher under the imprint of Jardine Press, who has been described as "boatbuilding's artist laureate",[30][31] and the singer Polly Scattergood, who was born in Wivenhoe before moving to London.

[citation needed] Poet and political activist Anna Mendelson (as 'Grace Lake') was a resident of Wivenhoe and associated with the short-lived British terrorist organisation the Angry Brigade whilst a student at Essex University.

The musician Keith Christmas was born in Wivenhoe in 1946 and lived there until 1961, in a house at the top of the High Street called Myrtle Villa.