111 Places in Essex That You Shouldn't Miss

Ed Glinert was born in Dalston, just outside London’s East End. He trained as a journalist and founded City Life, Manchester’s what’s-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.

• Basildon – Birthplace of Essex Man | BasildonWelcome to Bas Vegas | 10Depeche Who? | Basildon‘Leave in Silence’ | 12Weirdness at Wat Tyler | BasildonPleasant, and not too revolting | 14Essex’s Noisiest Church | Bowers GiffordStop the service, there’s a train! | 16Gant Around Braintree | BraintreeA mess of pottage | 18Silver End Model Village | BraintreeWhen I’m making windows | 20Kelvedon Hatch Bunker | BrentwoodYour air is beautiful tonight – atomic | 22TOWIE’s Sugar Hut | BrentwoodSurely there must be another way for Essex? | 24Tiles of the Shipwrecked | BrightlingseaTributes to the sank of cinque | 26The Hostage Windows | BroxtedStained glass celebrates freedom from captivity | 28Le Corbusier-Styled Yacht Club | Burnham-on-CrouchTowards a new architecture | 30Art Deco Island Icon | Canvey IslandMighty modernist masterpiece | 32The Chassidim of Canvey | Canvey IslandBe fruitful and multiply | 34Dr Feelgood’s Surgery | Canvey IslandThey did it right | 36Dutch Cottages of 1618 | Canvey IslandNether nether land | 38Last Degaussing Station | Canvey IslandStill in the loop | 40Lobster Smack | Canvey IslandSmuggle yourself inside | 42Graham Gooch to Bat | ChelmsfordStill not out | 44Oldest Wireless Factory | ChelmsfordRadio, Live Transmission | 46Dickens’ Maypole Pub | ChigwellSheesh, it’s now a kebab joint! | 48House on Legs | ClactonOn our block, all of the guys call her flamingo | 50Jaywick Shanty Town | ClactonForlorn and forgotten | 52Martello Tower Art Centre | ClactonArt attack is the best form of defence | 54Balkerne Gate | ColchesterEntrance to England’s longest Roman town wall | 56Uni of the Hard Left | ColchesterSay you want a revolution | 58The Witchfinder’s Castle | ColchesterHeads, you lose. Tales, he wins | 60Constable CountryMost arresting views | 62Crashed Plane Memorial | Dengie PeninsulaIt’s got its nose to the ground | 64Lonely Church by the Sea | Dengie PeninsulaOn this wall I will build my church | 66Petrified Forest at Furze | Dengie PeninsulaIt’s coming, it’s in the trees! | 68Crass’ Country Commune | Epping ForestHow does it feel…? | 70Cricket on Top of the M25 | Epping ForestJust don’t hit a six | 72The Gilwell Oak | Epping ForestBe prepared for this scouts’ honour of a tree | 74Pole Hill Meridian Marker | Epping ForestIt divides the country, not just the forest | 76Woody Den for the Famous | Epping ForestAnd it’s good old country comfort | 78Billy Bragg’s A 13 | EssexRoute 666 | 80Peasants’ Revolt Memorial | FobbingWat a time to march on London | 82The Broomway | Foulness IslandBritain’s deadliest path | 84Fancy Frinton Beach Huts | Frinton-on-SeaSo posh even the dog poo smells sweet | 86Sunshine Homes by the Sea | Frinton-on-SeaUtopia nearly realised | 88The Council House Palace | Great DunmowIn Xanadu did Kubla Khan a stately pleasure dome… | 90Royalty’s Abandoned Fort | HadleighCastle near the sand | 92The Salvation Army Farm | Hadleigh‘Salvation à la mode and a cup of tea’ | 94Harlow – Sculpture Town | HarlowWhere the whole town is a museum of stone | 96The Lawn | HarlowBritain’s first residential tower block | 98Anti-Invasion Fort | HarwichThey fought long to save the fortress and the port | 100Mayflower Captain’s House | HarwichPilgrims, strangers sailing from a wearisome land | 102The Curiosity Cabinet | Leigh-on-SeaReaders of a squeamish disposition look away now | 104Lee Brilleaux Bench | Leigh-on-SeaYou got me on milk and alcohol | 106Old Leigh Fish Stalls | Leigh-on-SeaWhat’s your poisson? | 108Two Tree Island | Leigh-on-SeaFirst there is a tree then another, yes there is | 110The Bible Murals Church | Little Braxted‘Overlay the walls with gold and graved cherubims’ | 112The PitStop | Little HallingburyOi! Who do you think you are, Stirling Moss? | 114Zeppelin Village | Little WigboroughWhat was and should never have been | 116Simon Beck’s Slag Heap | London Essex, BecktonAprès ski, le déluge | 118Biggest UK Council Estate | London Essex, BecontreeEnnui east of the East End | 120Ford’s | London Essex, Dagenham‘Any color so long as it is black’ | 122Itchycoo Park | London Essex, Gants HillIt’s all too beautiful | 124Tube Tunnel Plane Factory | London Essex, Gants HillAirtight manufactory | 126The IRA Man’s Church | London Essex, Leytonstone‘We Ourselves’ | 128No Motorway Protest Road | London Essex, LeytonstoneJust a slip of a road | 130The Station to Nowhere | London Essex, North WoolwichA bit of Essex in Kent, or the other way round? | 132The Thames Barrier | London Essex, SilvertownBefore the Flood | 134Boleyn Tavern | London Essex, Upton ParkNot Anne Boleyn’s local | 136The Doctor Who Shop | London Essex, Upton ParkIt’s like the Tardis in there | 138World Champions | London Essex, Upton ParkFake Jules Rimet still gleaming | 140The Ruined Village Green | London Essex, WansteadGoing back to its roots | 142Anti-Air War Memorial | London Essex, WoodfordAir war, what is it good for? Absolutely nothing | 144Churchill Usually Defaced | London Essex, WoodfordWe will wipe the graffiti. We will never surrender | 146The Gypsy Stone | London Essex, WoodfordGypsies, champs and leaves | 148Magnificent Maldon | MaldonWorth its salt | 150Oldest UK Battlefield | MaldonByrhtnoth the Vanquished | 152A House for Essex | ManningtreeFairy eccentric | 154The Manningtree Tree | ManningtreeOld Knobbley | 156Twin Towers of Mistley | ManningtreeDidn’t there used to be a church here? | 158Shakespeare Tempest Isle | Mersea IslandSuch stuff as dreams are not made on | 160Greensted-juxta-Ongar | OngarUK’s oldest wooden church | 162Most Obscure Tube Station | Ongar‘Theydon Bois on guitar’ | 164Bull’s Folly | PentlowMum and dad: is this right? | 166Keith Flint’s Pub | PlesheyMine’s a firestarter! | 168The Pink Toothbrush | Rayleigh‘I’m a pink toothbrush, you’re a blue toothbrush’ | 170Osea Island | River BlackwaterExclusively yours | 172Georgia Founder’s Grave | Romford, CranhamAn old stone vault that keeps Georgia on our minds | 174Air Control Tower Des Res | Saffron WaldenNot such a plane property | 176Temple of Concord | Saffron WaldenArrive before you leave | 178Town of Mazes | Saffron WaldenNo need for a labyrinth when the universe is one | 180Ministry of Defence Beach | ShoeburynessDanger of death – really! | 182Port of London Marker | Southend-on-SeaThat’s your limit! | 184Surviving Mulberry Harbour | Southend-on-SeaBeware – World War II hardware in the sea | 186Three Clocks o’Clock | Southend-on-SeaMaybe better to ask a policeman | 188Town to City – at last! | Southend-on-SeaIt took a tragedy | 190World’s Longest Pier | Southend-on-SeaPeerless | 192Ancient Aerodrome | Stow MariesWe have clearance, Clarence | 194The Cathedral of Essex | ThaxtedFor St John the Baptist, St Mary and St Laurence | 196Thaxted Guildhall | ThaxtedMedieval masterpiece and Morris Men | 198Grave of Jack the Ripper? | Thorpe-le-SokenThe sceptre shan’t depart from Judah until Shiloh | 200Amazon’s Depot | TilburyDeliver yourself to their door | 202Bata-Ville Shoe City | TilburyThe sole of Tilbury | 204Empire Windrush Landing Point | TilburyThis is my country | 206Tilbury Docks | Tilbury‘By Thames to All People of the World’ | 208Tilbury Fort | TilburyRedoubtable repellent | 210Wells Coates Sunspan Home | TilburyPick it up and take it away with you | 212Layer Marney Tower | TiptreeTallest Tudor turrets | 214Tiptree Jam Museum | TiptreeJam today – and tomorrow | 216Remains of the Old Abbey | Waltham AbbeyBring in the body | 218Ring Out Wild Bells | Waltham AbbeyIn Memoriam | 220Royal Gunpowder Mills | Waltham AbbeyA most explosive entity | 222Naze Tower | Walton-on-the-NazeOn the naze | 224Secret Water | Walton-on-the-NazeArthur Ransome’s children’s classic | 226The Chapel in the Mall | West ThurrockShop ’til you drop on your knees | 228Church of Gareth’s Burial | West ThurrockNo weddings but a funeral | 230

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