Writtle is a village and civil parish in the Chelmsford district of Essex, England. It lies 2 miles (3.2 km) west of the centre of Chelmsford. It has a traditional village green complete with duck pond and a Norman church, and was once described as "one of the loveliest villages in England, with a ravishing variety of ancient cottages". The village is now home to Writtle University College, one of the UK's oldest and largest land-based colleges and a partner institution of the University of Essex, the grounds of which once housed a Royal hunting lodge, later the possession of the De Brus and De Bohun families. At the 2021 census the parish had a population of 5,328.