Editing Walthamstow (section)

===Early history===
[[File:St. Mary's Church Walthamstow.jpg|thumb|St Mary's Church, the oldest building in Walthamstow, dating as far back as the 13th century]]
The Domesday Book describes '''Wilcumestou''' as a manor owned by the Anglo-Saxon nobleman [[Waltheof, Earl of Northumbria|Earl Waltheof of Huntingdon and Northumbria]] before the Norman conquest of 1066. After the execution of Earl Waltheof, the property of the land passed to his wife, [[Judith of Lens|Countess Judith, also known as Judith of Lens]], a niece of William the Conqueror. The Domesday Book records 36 [[Serfdom#Villeins|villeins]], 25 [[Serfdom#Bordars and cottagers|bordars]] and 4 [[Serfdom#Slaves|slaves]] living in the manor in 1086.  Alice, daughter of Earl Waltheof and Countess Judith, inherited Walthamstow. She married the Norman nobleman [[Raoul IV de Conches|Ralph de Tosny or Toeni (also known as Raoul IV de Conches)]] in 1103. When her husband died, {{circa|1126}}, Alice gave the church of Walthamstow to the [[Holy Trinity Priory, Aldgate|Priors of the Holy Trinity]] based in Aldgate, London.

[[John, King of England|King John]] stayed in Walthamstow for two nights in February 1208.

In the 1660s Sir [[William Batten]], Surveyor of the Navy, and his wife Elizabeth Woodcocke had a house in Wood Street where, according to [[Samuel Pepys]], Batten lived "like a prince"<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.histparl.ac.uk/volume/1660-1690/member/batten-sir-william-1601-67|title=BATTEN, Sir William (c.1601–67), of the Navy Office, Seething Lane, London and Black House, Walthamstow, Essex. &#124; History of Parliament Online|website=www.histparl.ac.uk}}</ref> and cultivated a [[vineyard]]. The Vestry House, now the [[Vestry House Museum]], was used as the first [[town hall]].

The influential textile designer and craftsman [[William Morris]] was born in Walthamstow in 1834. The Georgian mansion where he lived as a teenager houses the [[William Morris Gallery]]. By 1870 Walthamstow had grown to the size of a small suburb and a new town hall was built in Orford Road from which affairs of the village were run. A new town hall designed by architect [[Philip Dalton Hepworth]] in the [[Nordic Classical style]] was built between 1938 and 1942.{{clear left}}