• The ultimate insider's guide to Essex
• Features interesting and unusual places not found in traditional travel guides
• Part of the international 111 Places/111 Shops series with over 650 titles and 3.8 million copies in print worldwide
• Appeals to both the local market (more than 1.8 million people call Essex home) and the tourist market (more than 54 million people visit Essex every year!)
• Fully illustrated with 111 full-page color photographs
“Good evening. I’m from Essex, in case you couldn’t tell.” Thus spoke the inimitable punk poet of the flat lands, Ian Dury, in 1977. Few other parts of England have so distinctive an identity, sent up by a hundred comedians since the 1990 birth of Essex Man, epitomized by the rise of the ‘Mockney’ radio celeb, and incarcerated through their hideous offspring in TV’s The Only Way is Essex. It’s not just an accent, it’s a way of life, a culture shaped by the Diaspora from London generation after generation, the lure of the sea and powerful Thames estuary, the encroaching of the waters from innumerable creeks and inlets, the dream seaside resort of Southend, the longing for the most succulent of seafood indulgences, the delicious countryside of copses and boughs painted by Constable, but also the threat of invasion by hostile forces repelled by Britain’s most formidable forts. It’s Essex. You can tell.
Basildon Birthplace of Essex Man | Basildon
Welcome to Bas Vegas | 10
Depeche Who? | Basildon
Leave in Silence | 12
Weirdness at Wat Tyler | Basildon
Pleasant, and not too revolting | 14
Essexs Noisiest Church | Bowers Gifford
Stop the service, theres a train! | 16
Gant Around Braintree | Braintree
A mess of pottage | 18
Silver End Model Village | Braintree
When Im making windows | 20
Kelvedon Hatch Bunker | Brentwood
Your air is beautiful tonight atomic | 22
TOWIEs Sugar Hut | Brentwood
Surely there must be another way for Essex? | 24
Tiles of the Shipwrecked | Brightlingsea
Tributes to the sank of cinque | 26
The Hostage Windows | Broxted
Stained glass celebrates freedom from captivity | 28
Le Corbusier-Styled Yacht Club | Burnham-on-Crouch
Towards a new architecture | 30
Art Deco Island Icon | Canvey Island
Mighty modernist masterpiece | 32
The Chassidim of Canvey | Canvey Island
Be fruitful and multiply | 34
Dr Feelgoods Surgery | Canvey Island
They did it right | 36
Dutch Cottages of 1618 | Canvey Island
Nether nether land | 38
Last Degaussing Station | Canvey Island
Still in the loop | 40
Lobster Smack | Canvey Island
Smuggle yourself inside | 42
Graham Gooch to Bat | Chelmsford
Still not out | 44
Oldest Wireless Factory | Chelmsford
Radio, Live Transmission | 46
Dickens Maypole Pub | Chigwell
Sheesh, its now a kebab joint! | 48
House on Legs | Clacton
On our block, all of the guys call her flamingo | 50
Jaywick Shanty Town | Clacton
Forlorn and forgotten | 52
Martello Tower Art Centre | Clacton
Art attack is the best form of defence | 54
Balkerne Gate | Colchester
Entrance to Englands longest Roman town wall | 56
Uni of the Hard Left | Colchester
Say you want a revolution | 58
The Witchfinders Castle | Colchester
Heads, you lose. Tales, he wins | 60
Constable Country
Most arresting views | 62
Crashed Plane Memorial | Dengie Peninsula
Its got its nose to the ground | 64
Lonely Church by the Sea | Dengie Peninsula
On this wall I will build my church | 66
Petrified Forest at Furze | Dengie Peninsula
Its coming, its in the trees! | 68
Crass Country Commune | Epping Forest
How does it feel? | 70
Cricket on Top of the M25 | Epping Forest
Just dont hit a six | 72
The Gilwell Oak | Epping Forest
Be prepared for this scouts honour of a tree | 74
Pole Hill Meridian Marker | Epping Forest
It divides the country, not just the forest | 76
Woody Den for the Famous | Epping Forest
And its good old country comfort | 78
Billy Braggs A 13 | Essex
Route 666 | 80
Peasants Revolt Memorial | Fobbing
Wat a time to march on London | 82
The Broomway | Foulness Island
Britains deadliest path | 84
Fancy Frinton Beach Huts | Frinton-on-Sea
So posh even the dog poo smells sweet | 86
Sunshine Homes by the Sea | Frinton-on-Sea
Utopia nearly realised | 88
The Council House Palace | Great Dunmow
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan a stately pleasure dome | 90
Royaltys Abandoned Fort | Hadleigh
Castle near the sand | 92
The Salvation Army Farm | Hadleigh
Salvation à la mode and a cup of tea | 94
Harlow Sculpture Town | Harlow
Where the whole town is a museum of stone | 96
The Lawn | Harlow
Britains first residential tower block | 98
Anti-Invasion Fort | Harwich
They fought long to save the fortress and the port | 100
Mayflower Captains House | Harwich
Pilgrims, strangers sailing from a wearisome land | 102
The Curiosity Cabinet | Leigh-on-Sea
Readers of a squeamish disposition look away now | 104
Lee Brilleaux Bench | Leigh-on-Sea
You got me on milk and alcohol | 106
Old Leigh Fish Stalls | Leigh-on-Sea
Whats your poisson? | 108
Two Tree Island | Leigh-on-Sea
First there is a tree then another, yes there is | 110
The Bible Murals Church | Little Braxted
Overlay the walls with gold and graved cherubims | 112
The PitStop | Little Hallingbury
Oi! Who do you think you are, Stirling Moss? | 114
Zeppelin Village | Little Wigborough
What was and should never have been | 116
Simon Becks Slag Heap | London Essex, Beckton
Après ski, le déluge | 118
Biggest UK Council Estate | London Essex, Becontree
Ennui east of the East End | 120
Fords | London Essex, Dagenham
Any color so long as it is black | 122
Itchycoo Park | London Essex, Gants Hill
Its all too beautiful | 124
Tube Tunnel Plane Factory | London Essex, Gants Hill
Airtight manufactory | 126
The IRA Mans Church | London Essex, Leytonstone
We Ourselves | 128
No Motorway Protest Road | London Essex, Leytonstone
Just a slip of a road | 130
The Station to Nowhere | London Essex, North Woolwich
A bit of Essex in Kent, or the other way round? | 132
The Thames Barrier | London Essex, Silvertown
Before the Flood | 134
Boleyn Tavern | London Essex, Upton Park
Not Anne Boleyns local | 136
The Doctor Who Shop | London Essex, Upton Park
Its like the Tardis in there | 138
World Champions | London Essex, Upton Park
Fake Jules Rimet still gleaming | 140
The Ruined Village Green | London Essex, Wanstead
Going back to its roots | 142
Anti-Air War Memorial | London Essex, Woodford
Air war, what is it good for? Absolutely nothing | 144
Churchill Usually Defaced | London Essex, Woodford
We will wipe the graffiti. We will never surrender | 146
The Gypsy Stone | London Essex, Woodford
Gypsies, champs and leaves | 148
Magnificent Maldon | Maldon
Worth its salt | 150
Oldest UK Battlefield | Maldon
Byrhtnoth the Vanquished | 152
A House for Essex | Manningtree
Fairy eccentric | 154
The Manningtree Tree | Manningtree
Old Knobbley | 156
Twin Towers of Mistley | Manningtree
Didnt there used to be a church here? | 158
Shakespeare Tempest Isle | Mersea Island
Such stuff as dreams are not made on | 160
Greensted-juxta-Ongar | Ongar
UKs oldest wooden church | 162
Most Obscure Tube Station | Ongar
Theydon Bois on guitar | 164
Bulls Folly | Pentlow
Mum and dad: is this right? | 166
Keith Flints Pub | Pleshey
Mines a firestarter! | 168
The Pink Toothbrush | Rayleigh
Im a pink toothbrush, youre a blue toothbrush | 170
Osea Island | River Blackwater
Exclusively yours | 172
Georgia Founders Grave | Romford, Cranham
An old stone vault that keeps Georgia on our minds | 174
Air Control Tower Des Res | Saffron Walden
Not such a plane property | 176
Temple of Concord | Saffron Walden
Arrive before you leave | 178
Town of Mazes | Saffron Walden
No need for a labyrinth when the universe is one | 180
Ministry of Defence Beach | Shoeburyness
Danger of death really! | 182
Port of London Marker | Southend-on-Sea
Thats your limit! | 184
Surviving Mulberry Harbour | Southend-on-Sea
Beware World War II hardware in the sea | 186
Three Clocks oClock | Southend-on-Sea
Maybe better to ask a policeman | 188
Town to City at last! | Southend-on-Sea
It took a tragedy | 190
Worlds Longest Pier | Southend-on-Sea
Peerless | 192
Ancient Aerodrome | Stow Maries
We have clearance, Clarence | 194
The Cathedral of Essex | Thaxted
For St John the Baptist, St Mary and St Laurence | 196
Thaxted Guildhall | Thaxted
Medieval masterpiece and Morris Men | 198
Grave of Jack the Ripper? | Thorpe-le-Soken
The sceptre shant depart from Judah until Shiloh | 200
Amazons Depot | Tilbury
Deliver yourself to their door | 202
Bata-Ville Shoe City | Tilbury
The sole of Tilbury | 204
Empire Windrush Landing Point | Tilbury
This is my country | 206
Tilbury Docks | Tilbury
By Thames to All People of the World | 208
Tilbury Fort | Tilbury
Redoubtable repellent | 210
Wells Coates Sunspan Home | Tilbury
Pick it up and take it away with you | 212
Layer Marney Tower | Tiptree
Tallest Tudor turrets | 214
Tiptree Jam Museum | Tiptree
Jam today and tomorrow | 216
Remains of the Old Abbey | Waltham Abbey
Bring in the body | 218
Ring Out Wild Bells | Waltham Abbey
In Memoriam | 220
Royal Gunpowder Mills | Waltham Abbey
A most explosive entity | 222
Naze Tower | Walton-on-the-Naze
On the naze | 224
Secret Water | Walton-on-the-Naze
Arthur Ransomes childrens classic | 226
The Chapel in the Mall | West Thurrock
Shop til you drop on your knees | 228
Church of Gareths Burial | West Thurrock
No weddings but a funeral | 230
Ed Glinert was born in Dalston, just outside Londons East End. He trained as a journalist and founded City Life, Manchesters whats-on and hard news magazine in 1983. In the 1990s he worked for Private Eye magazine, writing the Rotten Boroughs column about council corruption. He has also contributed to the Sunday Times, Independent and the New Statesman. He was launch production editor for Mojo, the rock n roll magazine. Glinert has written a number of books for major publishers including The London Compendium (2003) and East End Chronicles (2005). Since 2009 he has run the highly successful New Manchester Walks tour company. He also guides in London and Liverpool.
