an urban district in the Maldon parliamentary division of Essex, England, 39 m. N.E. by E. from London by the Great Eastern railway. Pop. (1901) 3454. It lies on the River Brain, an affluent of the Blackwater, also known as the Guith, a form connected with the name Witham. The church of St Nicholas is principally Decorated, but retains earlier portions. Roman bricks appear in its fabric, and premise a Roman station in the vicinity. Surrounding the church (which stands in a highlying portion of the g own known as Chipping Hill) there are earthworks, possibly the remains of a fortification recorded as made by order of Edward the Elder in 913, but perhaps of British origin.