History of Essex

In the industrial era, the introduction of the railway saw the rise of several seaside resort towns throughout Essex, most notably Southend-on-Sea and Clacton-on-Sea.

The disputed succession, and the exile of Cunobelin's son Arminius, provided the Roman emperor Claudius with a pretext to invade Britain.

[4] At Camulodunon, the kings of eleven British tribes surrendered to Claudius, though not Caractacus, who would later lead the resistance against Roman rule in western Britain.

The city was home to the only Roman circus for chariot racing in Britain, a theatre opposite the Temple of Claudius, and historians have speculated an amphitheatre may also have been built there.

The legend makes her the daughter of Coel, Duke of the Britons (King Cole) and in it she gives birth to Constantine in Colchester.

This, and related legends, are at variance with biographical details as they are now known, but it is likely that Constantine, and his father, Constantius spent time in Colchester during their years in Britain.

Archaeological evidence - primarily grave goods and burial practices - shows Essex as a region influenced both by 'Saxon' and 'Anglian' material culture, rather than conforming strongly to a Saxon identity.

[24] The exact process by which Germanic, Anglo-Saxon identity, culture, and language became so widespread in England remains a subject of intense scholarly debate.

It is at this time that elite burials first appear in Essex's archaeological record, most of which feature Kentish styles of dress and jewellery.

Middlesex, at least, was likely viewed as a separate province to Essex proper, and may at times have been provided its 'own' king from the East Saxon royal family.

[29] In AD 824, Ecgberht, the King of the Wessex and grandfather of Alfred the Great, defeated the Mercians at the Battle of Ellandun in Wiltshire, fundamentally changing the balance of power in southern England.

[36] The coming of the Great Heathen Army in 865 saw Essex among the English counties which were conquered by the pagan Norse king Guthrum, and became part of the Danelaw.

With the Norman conquest came the introduction of the manorial system, by which Norman-style 'manors' replaced the Anglo-Saxon hide as the chief method by which landholding was organised.

Over a period of several decades, national government brought in legislation to reverse the situation, but it was only partially successful and led to simmering resentment.

A large force of Kentish rebels under Wat Tyler, who may himself have been from Essex, also advanced on London while revolt also spread to a number of other parts of the country.

They carried out extensive looting in the capital and executed a number of their enemies, but the revolt began to dissipate after the events at West Smithfield on 15 June, when the Mayor of London, William Walworth, killed the rebel leader Wat Tyler.

The rebels prepared to fire arrows at the royal party but the 15 year old King Richard II rode toward the crowd and spoke to them, defusing the situation, in part by making a series of promises he did not subsequently keep.

His forces defeated rebels in battle at Billericay on 28 June, and there were mass executions including hangings and disembowellings at Chelmsford and Colchester.

In 1588 Tilbury Fort was chosen as the focal point of the English defences against King Philip II's Spanish Armada, and the large veteran army he had ordered to invade England.

The English believed that the Spanish would land near the Fort,[54] so Queen Elizabeth's small and relatively poorly trained forces gathered at Tilbury, where the Queen made her famous speech to the troops.I know I have the body of a weak, feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too, and think foul scorn that Parma or Spain, or any prince of Europe, should dare to invade the borders of my realm; to which rather than any dishonour shall grow by me, I myself will take up arms, I myself will be your general, judge, and rewarder of every one of your virtues in the field.In the event, the Spanish fleet was defeated at sea and scattered, and so no stand at Tilbury was required.

[56] Following the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, Arthur Capell - who as a child had been a hostage during the Siege of Colchester - was named Earl of Essex, a title his descendants hold to this day.

Some of the railways were built primarily to transport goods but some (e.g. the Loughton branch) were to cater for commuter traffic; they unintentionally created the holiday resorts of Southend, Clacton and Frinton-on-Sea[citation needed].

[57] On land, the Essex Regiment fought on the Western Front, including at the Battle of the Somme;[58] at Gallipoli; and in the Senussi and Sinai and Palestine campaigns.

Important wartime producers included Marconi electrical systems and Hoffman ballbearings in Chelmsford, and Paxman engines in Colchester, while Southend Pier served as a mustering point for convoys.

Much of Essex is protected from development near to its boundary with Greater London and forms part of the Metropolitan Green Belt.

St. Peter's straddles the wall of a Roman seafort at Bradwell (Othona), and is one of the early Anglo-Saxon, "Kentish" series of churches made famous by its documentation by Bede.

At Greensted the walls of the nave are made of halved logs; although still the oldest church timber known in England, it is now thought to be early Norman.

Similarly, spectacular early-mediaeval timber construction is to be found in Essex, with perhaps the two Templars' barns at Cressing Temple being pre-eminent in the whole of England.

While the truncated remnant of Waltham Abbey was considered as a potential cathedral, elevation of the large parish church at Chelmsford was eventually preferred because of its location at the centre of the new diocese of Essex c.1908.

A nearby, ruined Roman villa probably served as a source for its building materials, and the age of this church was underestimated by Pevsner by about a thousand years.