| 13 May 2008, at 1.21 am | Sign In or become a Member to use the Guestbook, Results Exchange or Chatroom |
The County of Essex
Lying to the north-east of London, Essex sits between the capital and the North Sea, on the north bank of the Thames Estuary.
The county town and administrative centre of Essex is Chelmsford. The county cricket ground is here (important to some!), and so is the McGahan Lees Irish Dance Academy!!
Dance classes are held right across Essex, from Colchester in the north to Basildon in the south, and over the Thames into north Kent.
Colchester (Roman Camulodunem) is the oldest recorded town in England. It had the dubious honour of being burned by Queen Boadicea (aka Boudicca) during the Iceni uprising against the Romans in AD60.
Southend-on-Sea has a world-famous pier 2 km (1.5 miles) long -- you can get a train along it -- and is a favourite day-trip destination for Londoners.
Essex means "Land of the East Saxons". This harks back to the invasion and settlement of the area by people from Saxony (part of modern-day Germany) during the so-called 'dark ages' after the fall of the Roman Empire. The Saxons settled mainly in Essex, Kent, and the London area, and their influence was strongest in 600-700AD.
In ancient times, Essex was not far from other Saxon territories: Sussex (Land of the South Saxons); Middlesex (Middle Saxons) and Wessex (guess!) There doesn't appear to have been a Norsex ...
Later in history, with its proximity to London making it a convenient base for leading figures, Essex saw the rise of figures such as Thomas Cromwell, chief adviser to King Henry VIII. After a rapid rise to prominence at Henry's court, during which time the King made him Earl of Essex, Cromwell made too many enemies, was tried for treason, and was beheaded at the Tower of London.
The Thames has always been an artery for trading ships to reach the heart of the capital, London. Unfortunately, it has also been a relatively easy 'back door' for potential invaders. There are major fortifications looking over the Thames (at Tilbury, for instance), and the River Medway, on the Kent side, is home to Chatham Docks, home of the Royal Navy.
In more recent times, Essex was the home of many Second World War airfields, and Britain's wartime leader, Winston Churchill, was the Member of Parliament for the Essex constituency of Woodford.
Apart from a few jealous jokes about 'Essex Man', and less than flattering stereotypes of Essex people, the county remains what it has always been -- a thriving place near to the capital where people work hard and enjoy themselves.
Not East Anglia
Essex is often referred to as being part of East Anglia, but the description does not actually fit. East Anglia is where the 'East Angles' settled, a quite different group from our East Saxon ancestors. If you want to find East Anglian blood, look to our neighbours to the north, Suffolk and Norfolk.
Coat of arms
If you live in Essex you will see the coat of arms in all sorts of places: on official documents, outside civic buildings, and on the Essex County Cricket club badge. So where did design originate?
Although they date back to the late 1500s, the arms of Essex were only granted by the College of Arms in 1932. One thing is quite certain: since heraldry did not exist until the early twelfth century, the arms do NOT date back to the Saxon era.
The three swords are 'seaxes', thought to have evolved from the Saxon short sword, which varied from 20 to 45 cm in length and was around 5cm wide. However, experts believe that the seaxe was actually straight rather than curved. The notch was probably introduced to distinguish the seaxe from the arabic scimitar.
The official wording of the records, in the strange language of heraldry, is:
"Gules, three Seaxes fessewise in pale Argen., pomels and hilts Or, pointed to the sinister and cutting edges upwards."
This roughly translates to "Red [gules], three swords lengthwise [fessewise] in pale silver [argent], knobs [pomels] and handles [hilts] gold [or], pointed to the left [sinister] and cutting edges upwards."
