The village of Writtle lies two miles to the west of Chelmsford, Essex.

Named in the Little Domesday Book, as a Royal demesne/manor of 194 households, the village is the site of one of King John's hunting lodges, sited within the grounds of Writtle College around 1210 A.D.

The estate and village were later possessed by Isobel de Bruys, by means of a grant from King Henry III. For a time thereafter it was leased to a Francis & Joan Bache before the estate was seized by Isobel's Grandson in the 1320s.

Isobel's grandson was no other than the the ex-communicated Robert The Bruce, King of Scots, and was born here on 11th July 1274.

Writtle college, a partner of the University of Essex, was founded around 1893. Being one of the UKs oldest and largest land-based colleges it is a unique place set in its own 220-hectare estate.

Writtle is a traditional village with its very own Norman church, and has been described as 'one of the loveliest villages in England, with a ravishing variety of ancient cottages'.