Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town in Essex, East of England, home to 4,261 people. 83 listed buildings, 0 of them Grade I.
Pupils here do less well than most: primary results beat 26% of towns in England; secondary results beat 33% of towns in England. It also trails on walkability: on the way to work, 10% walk, cycle or take a bus or train. The median home sold for £312,000, 5.3 times what households in the Braintree council area earn in a year. Its strongest is health — men here can expect to live to 81.4, women to 84.9. Put together, the subjects come to a B− overall, better than 47% of UK towns. That places it #47 of 81 in Essex. Its other grades sit near the middle: B− for safety, C+ for jobs & income and B− for hazard risk.
Figures: life expectancy and incomes, ONS · commuting, Census 2021 · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · crime, police.uk, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026 · claimants, DWP · flood risk, Environment Agency.
The 3 things Sible Hedingham does most differently from other towns.
Each subject compared with the 2,160 UK towns with an overall grade (schools within England), ordered by how far Sible Hedingham is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 83 buildings inside Sible Hedingham’s built-up area, 4 of them Grade II*, and 1 scheduled monument.
13% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
Explore the history →Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Sible Hedingham.
People 65 and over make up 21% of the town, higher than both Essex’s towns (20%) and England’s towns (18%). Those aged 15 to 24 account for 10% of residents. The median resident of Sible Hedingham is 41.4 years old.
51% women, 49% men
About an even split. Across England, 51% of residents are women.
| Sible Hedingham | Essex | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 19% | 18% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 10% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 26% | 26% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 25% | 26% | 25% |
| 65+ | 21% | 20% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 19% | 19% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 7.2% | 5.5% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 19% | 17% | 17% |
| Degree level | 22% | 27% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Essex and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
GCSE results at the one secondary school within 3 km: 40% of pupils get a strong pass (grade 5+) in English and maths, and the Attainment 8 average is 43.5. Both of the town’s schools appear below. Some 1,390 pupils attend Sible Hedingham’s one primary and one secondary.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| St Peter's Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School, Sible HedinghamLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 213 | C |
| Hedingham School and Sixth FormLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,177 | C+ |
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Of Sible Hedingham’s land, 15% lies in conservation areas, above both Essex’s towns (3%) and England’s towns (7%). Historic England’s list names 83 listed buildings in the town: 4 Grade II*. One scheduled monument lies here.
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 24% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Jobs per working resident: 0.5. 89% of commuters drove, above Essex’s towns (74%) and England’s towns (70%) alike. The census counted nearly a quarter of workers working mainly from home.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
The nearest A&E to Sible Hedingham is Colchester General Hospital, 14 miles away. One GP practice serves the town; 83% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. Women here live to 84.9 on average and men to 81.4 (2019–23).
| Census 2021 | Sible Hedingham | Essex | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 83% | 83% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 3.7% | 4.8% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 17% | 17% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · Self-reported health favours young towns, since these answers ignore age; the Health Grade leans on age-adjusted measures such as life expectancy and early deaths.
The owner-occupied share of households is 70%. Private rents average £1,213 a month across the Braintree council area. Half of the 154 standard sales inside Sible Hedingham’s built-up area from September 2023 to August 2026 went for more than £312,000.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £441,250 | 48 |
| Semi-detached | £300,000 | 52 |
| Terraced | £268,000 | 37 |
| Flat or maisonette | £125,000 | 17 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
Homes saw 8.3 burglaries and acts of damage per 1,000 residents a year, lower than both Essex’s towns (10.6) and England’s towns (9.4). A year of reports to August 2026 adds up to 185 offences in Sible Hedingham and 14 cases of nuisance behaviour. 46% of the crimes fell under violence and sexual offences.
Not gradedAnti-social behaviour, shoplifting and other theft are shown but left out of the Safety Grade, which counts violence and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident.
data.police.uk street-level crime · points inside the ONS built-up-area boundary · OGL · The police category of violence and sexual offences includes harassment and stalking.
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Sible Hedingham. Best known first.
CastleHedingham Castle800 m outside town, to the northeast
MuseumColne Valley Railway900 m outside town, to the northPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
83 listed buildings in Sible Hedingham.
Church of St Peter: Photo: Robert Edwards · CC BY-SA 2.0 · The White Horse Inn: Photo: Marathon · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Davenants: Photo: Spudgun67 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 45 (Reeves House) and 47 (Reeves Cottage), Swan Street: Photo: Nigel Cox · CC BY-SA 2.0
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sible Hedingham | 4,261 | — | B− | B | B− | B+ |
| Castle Hedingham | 1,045 | 0.9 | — | B− | A− | B+ |
| Great Yeldham | 1,824 | 2.8 | — | B− | B− | A− |
| Gosfield | 1,453 | 3 | — | C− | A+ | B |
| Halstead | 13,902 | 3.2 | C+ | B | C+ | C+ |
| Earls Colne | 3,360 | 5.7 | C+ | B | C+ | B− |
| Great Bardfield | 1,372 | 6.7 | — | C | A− | A |
| Braintree | 43,179 | 6.9 | C+ | B | C− | C |
Castle Hedingham, Great Yeldham, Gosfield and Great Bardfield have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
That is 8 times the typical UK town for its size. It also has 1 scheduled monument.
GCSE results trail 67% of towns in England, and primary results trail 74% (Department for Education, Attainment 8 and Key Stage 2). Sible Hedingham has 2 state schools; places are handled by Essex council.
Town in Essex, England
Sible Hedingham is a built-up area of 4,261 people, in the Braintree council area. TownRatings uses ONS’s 2022 built-up areas as towns: the physical town, as people mean the word, rather than a council district, so its figures cover the town itself.
Built from ONS geography and Census 2021
Sources: ONS Census 2021, output areas summed to the ONS 2022 built-up area · HM Land Registry Price Paid (standard sales, September 2023 to August 2026) · ONS Price Index of Private Rents (August 2026, by council) · MHCLG and Welsh Government council tax, Band D 2026–27 (with parish precepts in England) · data.police.uk street-level crime, 36 months to August 2026, points inside the built-up-area boundary · ONS small-area life expectancy and healthy life expectancy, 2019 to 2023 (England and Wales), OHID Fingertips small-area indicators (England) and Census 2021 health, adjusted for age · ONS small-area income estimates (financial year ending 2023) · DWP claimant count via Nomis (January to August 2026) · Historic England, National Heritage List for England (listed buildings, scheduled monuments, registered parks and gardens, battlefields, World Heritage Sites), October 2026, inside the ONS 2022 built-up-area boundary · Valuation Office Agency, Council Tax: stock of properties by build period (31 March 2025) · TownRatings grades: our own summary of the data, ranked against UK towns only. All under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.