The only way is Essex
. . . as local MP Winston Churchill would have said!
LuCkILY most of the residents of Essex shrug and ignore the idiots who write drivel about our county. Reviews of a new book, The Invention Of Essex: The Making Of An English County, by Tim Burrows, made tongue-in-cheek remarks mocking our people.
I can assure you that not many ‘Essex girls’ conform to the generic image. Essex has a long and very proud history. The Peasants Revolt in 1381 began in Essex when Wat Tyler was aided by the distraction caused by our yeomen.
In 1588, Elizabeth I addressed the ships that sailed from Tilbury to defeat the Spanish Armada.
The Mayflower carried Pilgrim Father Christopher Martin and his family from Billericay to the New World in 1620. Henry Ford established his largest factory at Dagenham, employing 55,000 workers, until the unions destroyed car-making in the 1970s. Wartime Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill represented Woodford (originally Epping) as its MP from 1924 until his retirement in 1964. Combat in the Battle of Britain took place over the Essex coast and many airfields were based among its villages. Hurricanes and Spitfires flew from Debden, Hornchurch and North Weald.
The county has 75 sites of special scientific interest.
Rab Butler, MP for Saffron Walden and the best prime minister we never had, introduced a modern education system before a wrecking ball was taken to the changes in the 1960s.
There are many top schools in the county that have produced incredibly talented individuals in all areas of the arts, academia and medicine.
Not private schools, where success
often comes from inherited wealth, privilege and connections, but state schools that have given their pupils the foundation for successful and worthwhile careers.
Essex is a county of many contrasts, from the lovely coastline, parks and stately homes to the industrial areas that earn the Treasury so much tax and contributes to the nation’s wealth.