8 Brentwood Extra, October 2010


History of Brentwood C


Essex to the bustling town it is today. The main point in history,which ultimately


HAPEL ruins and ancient pubs give a glimpse of Brentwood’shistory,froman area covered by the Great Forest of


led to the development of the area of Brentwood, was the murder of Thomas à Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury. The Archbishop was murdered by knights in


1170, after King John complained of his behaviour,and he was then canonised by Pope Alexander in 1173. Pilgrims from the Midlands and East Anglia began to travel to his shrine in Canterbury and the most convenient route ran through the area of Brentwood to the ferry at Tilbury. Seven years after Becket’sdeath houses were built in aclearing in the forest following an accidental or deliberate fire. Burnt Wood (Brentwood) appeared for the first time in his- tory and was located at across roads where the Roman road met the Pilgrims Way. In the late 12th century,William of Ockendon


gave the Abbey of St Osyth his land in Brentwood and permission was granted for a chapel dedicated to St Thomas to be built to serve the passing pilgrims. The remains of the chapel, built in 1221, can still be seen in the town’sHigh Street today. The town became the centreofanagricul-


tural district and in 1227 Henry III granted a charter for amarket. Its wool trade and cloth industry grew and Brentwood became a major coaching stage as the Roman road grew busier.Many inns werebuilt in the area to offer overnight accommodation as the horses rested, and visitors today will find many pubs which date back to the 15th and 16th century. The higher than average number of pubs in


the town may also be due to the nearby Warley Barracks in the town. The military has been associated with Warley


Wilson’s Corner, early 1930s.


for morethan 200 years, from the time of the Spanish Armada when it was used as ameet- ing place for 900 horsemen on their way to Tilbury. The local common was used as amilitary


camp in 1742 as it was less than aday’s march from Tilbury,wheretroops would leave for foreign service. The camp was made per- manent in 1804 and in 1842 the East India Company moved their troops in when their barracks at Chatham became inadequate. Accommodation was built for the recruits


and sergeants, as well as homes for their fam- ilies, and men weretrained to be shipped out to India. After the Indian Mutiny in 1857 the area and


men wereabsorbed into the British Army and the WarOffice bought the barracks in 1861. The Essex Regiment, which served in the Boer Warand both World Wars, was formed in 1881 and the barracks continued to serve as atraining centreupuntil its closurein1960. During the Second World Warmorethan


1,000 bombs weredropped on Brentwood, including 19 doodlebugs, 32 long range rock- ets and many incendiary bombs and para- chute mines. Atotal of 43 people died and a further 389 people wereinjured. Although Brentwood was considered safe enough for evacuated children from London, atotal of 5,038 houses weredestroyed. The coming of the railways in 1840 also led


to the development of the town as it was just ashort journey to London Liverpool Street station. This made it easy for workers to live in Brentwood and commute to London and many new houses werebuilt around the sta- tion.


Lower end of Brentwood High Street circa 1910. Pictures courtesy of Brentwood Museum


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