The village of Sible Hedingham in terms of area is the second largest in Essex covering an area of over five thousand acres.   It is situated in the north of the county and on the west bank of the River Colne.   On the east bank, opposite, is the historic but smaller village of Castle Hedingham with its splendid Norman Keep.

It is thought that the name 'Hedingham' is derived from the 'ham of Hedin's people' and 'Sible' from the family of Sibil, widow of Geoffrey de Laventon, who held land in Sible Hedingham in 1237.

The parish boundaries encompass a number of outlying Greens including:-

Almshouse Green
Birds Green
Forrey Green
High Street Green
Morris Green
Southey Green

And hamlets including:-

Cobbs Fenn
Cut Maple
Delvin End
Harrowcross
New England

The village had a number of ancient manors of which successive Lords of the principal manors were the owners of Hedingham Castle.   These manors were Prayers, Greys, Grassalls (Graves Hall) Blois, Prayours Glasscocks and Hawkwoods. Another manor or large estate in the parish was Sparrows and early farms included: Baker's, Barnard's, Bloom's, Brook, Carter's, Cresswell's, Cuckoo, Egfield (Eckfield), Finch's, Hawke's Hall, Hostage's, Kentish, Pevors, Red House, Tile Kiln, Warren's, Washling's (Washlands), Webb's and Wright's.   Deeks Farm was previously known as Hangmans Hall.   It is interesting to note that many of these ancient names have survived into the twentieth century.

Sible Hedingham has probably been occupied since at least the Bronze Age.   In 1929 some unique Bronze Age finds were unearthed near Tower House.   Roman Pottery was found nearby and some roman brick is incorporated into the construction of Sible Hedingham Church indicating a roman settlement in the village.   Mediaeval pottery and pottery kilns have been found in the village at Braintree Corner (Crows Cross) and the appropriately named Potter Street.

For many centuries, agriculture was undoubtedly the largest single employer in the village.   In May, 1816 Sible Hedingham was the scene of a riot when agricultural labourers with various weapons destroyed threshing machines and other farming implements.   Five young men were committed by Castle Hedingham Magistrates to the House of Correction at Halstead.   Upon their arrival with Constables, four of these men were rescued by a number of Halstead residents and were at large.   In the circumstances, Lewis Majendie of Hedingham Castle, ordered the Gosfield Troop of Volunteer Cavalry to assemble in Sible Hedingham until further directions from the Government.

In the Hedinghams there were once over two hundred acres of hop plantations.   This crop was grown from the Tudor era until the latter half of the nineteenth century.   In about 1640 in Depositions against Essex Clergymen whose livings were sequestrated, it was stated by the son of the Sible Hedingham parson that "his fathers hops were a bagging at the time they went to church in the afternoon....... And that the said hops were at Sturbridge Fair" (Stourbridge Fair near Cambridge).   The hops grown in the rich, fertile ground of the Hedinghams were esteemed superior to any other in the county.   These hop-yards were visited and fully described in the eighteenth century by Arthur Young.   Sible Hedingham had the distinction of being the last village in Essex where hops were cultivated.   Wild hops can still be found growing in several places in the village particularly along the river banks but the hop kilns have long since disappeared.

The cloth trade was one of the principal employers for some centuries until only one firm remained at the end of the eighteenth century.   In the seventeenth century some Sible Hedingham woolcombers even had their own tradesmans tokens.

There was once a tannery and three maltings in Alderford Street and other maltings in Queen Street and Station Road.

Tanning was carried out in Sible Hedingham from at least the fourteenth century as Gilbert Hawkwood (the father of the famous Sir John Hawkwood) who died in 1340 was a tanner at Sible Hedingham.   A tan yard was still operating in Alderford Street in the eighteenth century.

During the nineteenth century a number of residents were employed in the straw plaiting industry and there was one straw hat maker and a straw plait dealer.   There was even a straw plaiting school at High Street Green which also taught children to read.   Straw plaiting had been introduced to the area by the Marquis of Buckingham who lived at Gosfield Hall.   Some of the Hedingham straw plait was sold to merchants and taken to Luton for making straw hats.

Other occupations included iron founders, tinsmiths, coopers, basket makers, toy makers and coach builders as well as the more usual blacksmiths, wheelwrights, carpenters, thatchers, bricklayers, bakers, butchers and shoemakers.

The earliest recorded brickworks were in existence by the 1700's at Southey Green.   Following the arrival of the Colne Valley and Halstead Railway in 1861, more brickworks were established.   By 1900 the industry employed about 500 men who made some seven or eight million bricks a year.   The output was greater than the Colne Valley and Halstead Railway could manage and new Light Railways were proposed to connect the Hedinghams with other contres but they were never built.   'Hedingham reds' became well known and one brick maker even exported bricks to Ireland, Egypt and Africa.   Another Sible Hedingham brickmaker supplied bricks for building sixteen churches in North London.

As the brickmaking industry declined, the woodworks of Rippers gradually expanded and provided employment.

Until this century the main settlements of the village were Church Street, Alderford Street, Queen Street and Potter Street.   There were very few houses in Swan Street and all the present housing estates were fields.   In 1901 and 1902 over 50 building plots were advertised for sale on the "Alexandra Building Estate" and the first red brick houses were built in Alexandra Road then frequently called "New Road".   In 1920 the Council Houses were built further along Alexandra Road but the actual road was not made up until 1921 after much debate.

In 1927 Cambridge Avenue was built by Frank Gibson and this was followed in 1933 by ten bungalows in Recreation Road and twenty in Gibson Road.   In October, 1927, Frank Gibson handed over to Sible Hedingham Parish Council the Recreation Ground then known as Cross Path Field. From 1924 Rippers Limited built one hundred houses in Swan Street, Brook Terrace, Station Road and Yeldham Road.   Numerous dwellings were built in Swan Street and other locations and the village steadily expanded to the village we know and love today.