WALTHAM (Great), a village, a parish, and a sub-district, in Chelmsford district, Essex. The village stands on the river Chelmer, 4¼ miles N of Chelmsford r. station; and has a post-office‡ under Chelmsford. The parish contains also seven hamlets, and comprises 7,335 acres. Real property, £13,533. Pop., 2,380. Houses, 501. The property is much subdivided. W. House and Langleys are chief residences. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Rochester. Value, £400.* Patron, Trinity College, Oxford. The church was restored in 1863. The p. curacy of Black-Chapel is a separate benefice. There are chapels for Independents and Primitive Methodists, a national school, and charities £83. -The sub-district contains 7 parishes. Acres, 19,047. Pop., 5,595. Houses, 1,172.

(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))