Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 4,703 in Essex, East of England.
Schools do well: primary results beat 65% of towns in England; secondary results beat 99% of towns in England. Writtle’s overall A puts it #14 of 81 in Essex. That leaves it better than 88% of UK towns. Health is another plus (A−): men here can expect to live to 81.6, women to 86. The median home sold for £457,500, 6.7 times what households in the Chelmsford council area earn in a year. Its remaining grades are unremarkable: B for safety and B− for hazard risk.
Figures: life expectancy and incomes, ONS · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · crime, police.uk, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026 · flood risk, Environment Agency.
The 3 things Writtle 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 Writtle is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic England lists 44 buildings inside Writtle’s built-up area, 1 of them Grade I.
16% 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 Writtle.
Some 416 pupils attend Writtle’s two primaries. Of its 2 schools, one is shown below, with the reason. Attainment 8 at the 5 secondary schools within 3 km averages 62.2, and 70% of pupils get grade 5 or above in English and maths.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Writtle Junior SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 238 | B+ |
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 37% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Writtle counts 0.5 jobs per working resident. At the census, 20% went to work on foot, by bike or by public transport, below Essex’s towns (23%) and England’s towns (27%) alike; what’s more, for 37% of commuters, work was under 5 km away. 7% of commuters who live in Writtle also work there.
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
One GP practice serves the town; 66% of patients rate theirs good in the GP Patient Survey. At the census, 18% of people here had a disability, above Essex’s towns (17%) and England’s towns (17%) alike. The nearest A&E to Writtle is Broomfield Hospital, 3.6 miles away.
| Census 2021 | Writtle | Essex | England |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 82% | 83% | 82% |
| Bad or very bad health | 4.7% | 4.8% | 5.2% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 18% | 17% | 17% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · OHID Fingertips, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL · Read these answers with age in mind: they aren’t adjusted, so younger places do better. The Health Grade uses age-adjusted measures, life expectancy and early deaths among them.
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Writtle’s listed buildings include Aubyns, Grade I. Per 10,000 residents, Writtle counts 94 listed buildings. Grade II* covers 2 of them, Grade I 1. Homes from before 1919 make up 16% of the total, about level with England’s towns (16%) and above Essex’s towns (11%).
Historic England list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Writtle logged 231 reported offences in a year (to August 2026), plus 30 complaints of anti-social conduct. Violence and sexual offences were just over a third of the crimes. Per 1,000 residents, 11.5 burglaries and acts of damage are recorded a year.
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.
72% of households own their home, above both Essex’s towns (67%) and England’s towns (61%). From September 2023 to August 2026, 161 homes sold inside Writtle’s built-up area at standard prices; the middle one went for £457,500. Private rents average £1,439 a month across the Chelmsford council area.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £625,000 | 40 |
| Semi-detached | £458,750 | 62 |
| Terraced | £405,000 | 37 |
| Flat or maisonette | £257,500 | 22 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
14% of residents are children under 15. Half the people of Writtle are older than 48.6. Young adults of 15 to 24 are 12% of residents, above Essex’s towns (11%) and close to England’s towns (12%). Degrees are held by 32% of adults.
54% women, 46% men
About 84 men for every 100 women. Across England, 51% of residents are women. Women live longer than men, so towns with many older residents have more women.
| Writtle | Essex | England | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 14% | 18% | 18% |
| 15–24 | 12% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 19% | 26% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 27% | 26% | 25% |
| 65+ | 28% | 20% | 18% |
| No qualifications | 18% | 19% | 18% |
| Apprenticeship | 4.9% | 5.5% | 5.3% |
| A levels or similar | 19% | 17% | 17% |
| Degree level | 32% | 27% | 34% |
ONS Census 2021 · Essex and England: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Writtle. Best known first.
CathedralChelmsford Cathedral2.5 km outside town, to the east
Historic houseHylands House1.3 km outside town, to the southeast
MuseumChelmsford Museum2 km outside town, to the eastMuseumMuseumEssex Police Museum3.8 km outside town, to the eastAttractionAttractionMarconi New Street Factory2.7 km outside town, to the eastMuseumMuseumPeter Edwards Library & Museum2.2 km outside town, to the eastPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
44 listed buildings in Writtle, 1 of them Grade I.
Church of All Saints: Photo: Paul Farmer · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Rose and Crown Public House: Photo: JThomas · CC BY-SA 2.0
6 notable people were born in Writtle.
Chris Childs: kry, CC0
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Writtle | 4,703 | — | A | C+ | B | A− |
| Chelmsford | 110,612 | 2.4 | B+ | B | D | B− |
| Galleywood | 6,410 | 3.1 | A− | B | C+ | B+ |
| Broomfield | 3,491 | 3.5 | A− | B− | D− | B+ |
| Little Waltham | 1,038 | 4.6 | — | C | B− | A− |
| Stock | 1,573 | 4.6 | — | C | C+ | A− |
| Ingatestone | 5,411 | 5 | A | C | B− | A |
| Blackmore | 1,167 | 5.1 | — | C | A− | A |
Little Waltham, Stock and Blackmore have fewer than 2,500 residents, so they get subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
That is 3.8 times the typical UK town for its size. Its Grade I building is Aubyns.
Secondary schools stand out: GCSE results beat 99% of towns in England. Primary results are closer to the middle, beating 65%. Writtle has 2 state schools; places are handled by Essex council.
Homes cost more than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £457,500, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: flats £257,500, terraced houses £405,000, semi-detached houses £458,750 and detached houses £625,000.
Town in Essex, England
Writtle is a built-up area of 4,703 people, in the Chelmsford 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.
