Chelmsford,
County Town of Essex England

Chelmsford stands at the confluence of two rivers, the Chelmer and the Can. Its High Street widens toward the Shire Hall and leads left to Tindall Square. The picture, taken from a watercolour, shows a view of the town in 1882, but Chelmsford's history goes much further back than that.Richard the Lionheart died in 1199, and King John was crowned on the 27th May that year. One of his early acts was to grant a charter to William de Sainte Mère-Eglise to allow a market to be held in Chelmersford, as the place was originally known. William, newly created bishop and trusted servant of Richard the Lionheart, had a manor on the Chelmersford side of the River Can, and he used his influence with King John, and no doubt a fair sum of money, to obtain further grants which allowed him to sell freehold plots and hold a fair annually in May. The site of the early market was at the head of the High Street where the Shire Hall stands today. The market opened on 7th September 1199 and its successor continues today, only a long stone's throw from the original site of 1199, and therefore Chelmsford Market has a continuous 807 year history! Well placed in the centre of Essex, Chelmersford developed rapidly and by 1218 it was Chelmsford, County Town of Essex, a centre for business and trading, and the place where travelling judges held their courts. The Assize Courts sit in Chelmsford today.

Caesaromagus

In about AD60, Caesaromagus, 'the market place of Caesar', was established as a staging point for Romans on their journey from London to Colchester. Unfortunately, nothing can be seen above ground, but excavations in the Moulsham Street area, in the region of Grove Road, Chelmsford and the appropriately named Roman Road, have revealed that there was a fine 'Mansio' built by the Romans to serve the needs of travellers - the ancient equivalent of the motorway service station and lodge. The name Caesaromagus signifies a place of importance, for Caesar would surely not have lent his name to a one-horse town.

Writtle

After the Romans left the area, the centre of the Saxon community moved to Writtle, just outside Chelmsford. Writtle was the larger community for some time, for poll tax records show it had two and a half times the population of Chelmsford in 1376. (At about 600 persons!) Now it is a charming village community on the outskirts of Chelmsford.

Chelmsford Cathedral

The original St Mary's was a Norman church, built by a bishop of London, and standing on the site of the present day Chelmsford Cathedral. Building probably starting in the 12th Century, and its first incumbent took the living in 1242, when Chelmersford was just starting its expansion. It stood on a slight hill, overlooking the confluence of two rivers, the Chelmer and the Can. In the early 16th Century St Mary's was rebuilt in the perpendicular style, but this work could not have been done to a very high standard, or maintenance was neglected, because by the middle of the 16th Century it was in a ruinous state. Records show that by 1591 it had been restored and that it survived intact until 1800 when the nave and the roof fell in. The structure we see today is the result of restoration by John Johnson, County Surveyor in 1800 and further works in the 19th and 20th Centuries. In 1914 St Mary's Church became the Cathedral for the Diocese of Chelmsford which covers the whole of Essex and parts of London.
For much more detail on the Cathedral click here

Industry and Chelmsford

Three big firms prospered in Chelmsford in the latter part of the 19th and the early 20th century; Hoffman (Ball Bearing factory), Crompton Parkison (Electrical Engineering Works) and Marconi (Radio and Electronics). Of these only Marconi remains in Chelmsford today but even in this case only as traces in other industrial groupings and not under its original internationally famous name. In this period Chelmsford was to Great Britain as Silicon Valley is to modern America - a centre of development of high technology. Guglielmo Marconi chose Chelmsford to site the first radio factory in the world, and he founded a firm which became a world leader. The first ever radio broadcast was from New Street, Chelmsford on the 15th June 1920 when Dame Nellie Melba sang "Home Sweet Home". Regular broadcasts were made from a hut in nearby Writtle, starting in 1922, which led into the creation of the British Broadcasting Company.

Heritage Lost

Chelmsford has a very interesting history, but unfortunately many of the buildings associated with that history have been destroyed or have fallen into ruin. Among these were:

Mansio built by the Romans in the Moulsham Street Area. Nothing above ground.
Site of Roman Temple at the King's Head roundabout. Nothing to see.
Norman Castle at Pleshey, 4 miles NW of Chelmsford. The castle saw its finest days in the 14th Century, but by 16th Century it was in ruins. The earthworks and moat remain.
King John's hunting lodge, built in about 1211, and sited within the present day Writtle Agricultural College. Nothing of the lodge remains above ground today, except a barn and earthworks.
New Hall, north of Chelmsford, dating from 1301 which was a favourite residence of Henry VIII. Most of the building was demolished in 1737. The remaining buildings are in use today as a school.
A Dominican Friary in the region of Moulsham Street which was demolished in 1538 by Henry VIII during the dissolution of the monasteries.
Moulsham Hall, residence of the Mildmays, a family which dominated Chelmsford's history. A fine mansion, demolished in 1809.
The County Gaol of the 1770's, situated next to Moulsham Bridge. This imposing building was pulled down in 1848.
The Corn Exchange, Tindal Square, built in 1857 and demolished in the 1960s to make way for a shopping precinct of questionable architectural quality.
Three adjoining inns in Tindal Street - The Spotted Dog, the White Hart and the Bell. The White Hart was a splendid example of a coaching Inn. All three inns were demolished in the 1960s to make way for the same shopping precinct.
Skreens, a stately mansion in the Roxwell area near Chelmsford which was demolished.

A much happier story is the splendid restoration of Hylands House by Chelmsford Borough Council. The house was built in 1730 and was significantly extended in the 19th Century. Once a year the Chelmsford Spectacular is held in the extensive grounds, which are open to the public.

Essex Symphony Orchestra Home

To Essex Symphony Orchestra History