Essex
| Essex | |
|---|---|
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| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Country | England |
| Borders | Cambridgeshire Hertfordshire Kent Middlesex Suffolk |
| Population | 2,996,209 |
| Area (sq mi) | 1,591 sq mi |
Essex is one of the Home Counties, bound by East Anglia to the north and the River Thames to the south. The south-west of the county contains the north-east part of the London conurbation. The south-east of the county, lying on the north side of the estuary of the Thames, is also largely suburban and industrial, and much of the planned future growth of London will occur in this district; the north of the county is more rural and agricultural, similar to parts of neighbouring East Anglia. Major towns include Colchester, a pre-Roman and Roman centre which is the oldest town in the United Kingdom, Chelmsford, the county town, and Southend-on-Sea, a major coastal resort.
Essex has a population of around 3 million, which much of this living within the London built-up area.
Etymology
In c. 730 AD, Bede described three main Germanic-speaking groups - the Angles, Saxons and Jutes - as colonising England. The region colonised by the Saxons was divided into three areas: South (Sussex), West and East; the name Essex was inherited from the Old English name of the eastern Saxon kingdom Ēastseaxe ("(kingdom of the) East Saxons"), which was established in c. 527 AD.
Geography
Subdivisions
The traditional county Essex is divided into 19 hundreds:
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The most populous hundred in the county is Becontree which, with a population of around 1.2 million (as of 2024), has been absorbed into the London built-up area in its entirety. As with the traditional county itself, the hundreds no longer have any administrative function, though the districts into which Essex County Council's area is divided, in some cases, have similar names to the hundreds (most, however, cover substantially different areas). The districts in question are Chelmsford, Harlow, Tendring and Rochford.
History
Camulodunon (now Colchester) was among the first cities in Britain to be taken by the Romans, following the unopposed landing of four legions in Cantia (Kent) in 43 AD. At the time of Geography (150 AD) by Claudius Ptolemy (100-170 AD), much of modern-day Essex was in the territory of the Celtic British tribe the Trinovantes.
Following the arrival in Britain of the Germanic-speaking Angles, Saxons and Jutes in the early 5th century AD, the kingdom of the East Saxons (from which Essex ultimately gets its name) began to emerge in the area of the present-day county in around 527 AD. The earliest known King of Essex was, according to some records, Æscwine (or Erkenwine), who reputedly died in 587 AD, although Æscwine's existence is questionable. Sledd, of whom Æscwine was said to be the father, is the first certain King of Essex. Although he is said to have reigned from 584-604 AD, details about his life are extremely elusive.
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, a political entity that existed in mainly northern and eastern England between the early 10th and mid-11th centuries in which Danish laws applied. Although Norse settlement is not as obvious in the place-names of Essex as it is in those of Yorkshire and the North Midlands, a few Norse toponymic relics can be found scattered throughout the county; Kirkby-le-Soken (Tendring) in the far north-east of Essex is ultimately from Old Norse kirkju-býr ("church village") and Arkesden (Uttlesford) in the north-west of the county contains the Norse given-name Arnkel.
Administration
As of 2024, geographically-large and primarily rural area of the county Essex is covered by Essex County Council (ECC) and the councils of the various districts into which that council's area is divided. The council is run from Chelmsford. However, ECC excludes many of the county's most urbanised areas, and indeed around half of the county's population. The parts of the county within Greater London are administered by Barking and Dagenham London Borough Council, Havering London Borough Council, Newham London Borough Council, Redbridge London Borough Council and Waltham Forest London Borough Council. Some mainly urbanised parts of southern Essex, immediately north of the Thames, are under the control of Southend-on-Sea Borough Council and Thurrock Council.
