About

Unlike its better-known neighbour, Finchingfield, Wethersfield is not a tourist trap. It is, however, a pleasant village with a long history and probably gets its name from a Viking invader named Wuthha or Wotha, whose 'field' or clearing it was.

Particularly it may interest visitors from the United States with which the village has close associations. People from Wethersfield were among those immigrating to New England at the time of the Pilgrim Fathers and other Wethersfield's are found in Connecticut and western New York State. From 1941 to 1946 the traffic was in the other direction as USAF personnel arrived at RAF Wethersfield the airbase on the northern edge of the village in the Second World War. In 1952 the airfield was opened again with the forming of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and became home to the 20th Tactical Fighter Wing USAF.
The last Americans, of the Red Horse Brigade, a heavy engineering unit, left in 1990 and the base is now occupied by the British Ministry of Defence police whose main job is to guard military establishments throughout the UK.