Long before Brentwood existed, approximately along the line of the High Street ran the ancient Roman road between London and Colchester. At the time, this long road did not run through farmland and fields like Essex is today, but instead almost all of the county was covered by a great forest called the Forest of Essex. After the Romans left, sporadic Saxon settlements throughout the county led to a few areas becoming deforested.

South Weald and Shenfield were two of these Saxon settlements, founded in the centuries before 1000AD, and would have made their own small patches of fields in amongst the Essex woodlands. At this time, however, there was no known settlement in the site that would become Brentwood.

History map

See how Brentwood has changed with our interactive map.

Learn more

One of the key events that led to Brentwood's founding, somewhat surprisingly, was the murder of a bishop. Thomas Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, was murdered in 1170 and blame for ordering his murder fell on the king. As penetence for this, Thomas Becket was canonised and became one of the most important saints of medieval England, and the king himself spent three days fasting while dressed in rags. Pilgrims began travelling from across the country as miracles were reportedly occuring at his tomb in Canterbury. For many from east anglia or the midlands, the ferry at Tilbury was the easiest place for them to cross the Thames on their pilgrimages to Canterbury. And this journey took them down an old route through the Forest of Essex, passing straight through the area that would become Brentwood.

Brentwood is a little under 15 miles from Tilbury, which, considering the quality of roads that a traveler would face and what they might be carrying, is probably a reasonable day's walk. So it makes sense that pilgrims were often stopping near Brentwood to find a place to rest.

At this time, the area that would become Brentwood was owned by the manor of Costed or Coxtie - now Coxtie Green to the north of Brentwood. The lord of this manor was the abbot of St. Osyth's abbey, and in about 1180 they told the villagers to clear about 40 acres of woodland on the old Roman road and convert the land to arable use. This was probably on the south side of what is now the high street, around the area where the ruin of St Thomas' church now stands - since this was land that St Osyth's Abbey owned. The few farm houses that would have been part of this development were the first houses in Brentwood.

The name Brentwood is often cited as being a corruption of Burnt Wood, suggesting that the area of woodland had perhaps already been cleared by a natural fire, or was cleared by fire by the locals to begin building the village. The name is in fact unlikely a corruption of Burnt, since the word Brent exists in middle English and means the same as the more modern word Burnt. So it seems likely that Brentwood has always been called by the same name - meaning a burnt clearing in the woods. The clearing of woodlands to create new settlements was a common practice across the country at this time, and there are a number of other settlements in the country founded around the same time as forests were cleared. It was also translated into Norman French as Boisairs, and into Latin as Bosco Arso.

Only a few decades later, in the first few years of the 1200s, a leper hospital was founded at Brook Street dedicated to St. John the Baptist.

In November 1220 a Wednesday market was provisionally licensed to the abbot of St Osyths for the new village at Brentwood. This market was confirmed by Henry III in 1227. In 1221, the vicar of South Weald granted permission for Brentwood chapel to be built. This was under the agreement that South Weald was still the parish church and villagers would still have to go to South Weald for Sunday services as well as baptisms, marriages, and funerals. The chapel was dedicated to St Thomas Becket, who was an extremely popular saint of the time and to whose tomb so many passing pilgrims would have been going.

20 Nov. 1220. Order from King Henry III The abbot of St. Osyth gives the king a palfrey for having a weekly market on Wednesdays, until the king comes of age, at the new stead of the same abbot in Brentwood, unless the market etc. Order to the sheriff of Essex to cause him to have that market and to take security for the aforesaid palfrey. Witness H. etc.

[Undated. ~May-June 1227]. Grant from King Henry IIIGrant to the abbot and canons of St. Osithe, Chich, of a weekly market on . . . in their town of Bois Ars, and a yearly fair there on the vigil and the feast of the translation of St. Thomas the martyr.

In 1252 for unclear reasons the market was changed from Wednesdays to Thursdays, and a new grant was made by Henry III confirming this:

[1st May 1252]. Grant from King Henry IIIGrant to the abbot and convent of St. Osyth's of a weekly market on Thursday at their town of Brentwood, co. Essex, which they previously had there on Wednesday.

The chapel was built in an interesting position on the high street - half way between the market place at one end of the town and the Ingrave/Ongar road juncton at the other. The Ingrave/Ongar road route would have been the main route for pilgrims passing through the town and the market would have attracted traders from other towns coming along the London Road. By building the chapel in the middle between both, it was equally convenient for people visiting the market and passing pilgrims. Perhaps the chapel's position was also intended that pilgrims who wanted to visit the market would also pass the chapel on their way there, reminding them to pray and make a donation to the church.

At the same time as they began building the chapel, King Henry III was having St Thomas Becket's remains moved to a new and more impressive tomb in Canterbury Cathedral. This was a hugely significant religious event of the day and was celebrated with a great ceremony and celebrations at Canterbury. To celebrate this, Brentwood was authorised to hold a fair in July every year on the anniversary of the new tomb being created.

In 1234 the town began to grow further - the abbot of St Osyth had already cleared the woodland on the south side of the High Street, and now it was the turn of the landowner on the north side, Thomas de Camvill, to clear woodland and build on the north side. In 1234 the king granted that he "may have plots established within his land at Brentwood, in the manor of Shenfield, on one side of the highway, as the abbot of St. Osyth's has established on the other side of the street".

When Brentwood was founded, the main street was probably around 30 meters across. The chapel may have originally been built in the centre of the street so that traffic could pass around it, and since then other buildings from the south side have steadily encroached upon and narrowed the road.

Around the 1220s, Brentwood was an important enough spot on the road to London that the bishop of Norwich built himself a palace next to the chapel. This would have been another major building project for the town, and probably had a great hall, guest rooms, and kitchens. This palace was the scene of great drama in 1232, when Hubert de Burgh, ex-High Justicar of England, was being hunted down by the king for his part in a rebellion. Hubert had come to Brentwood because the bishop of Norwich was his brother, and, while he was hiding at the bishop's palace in Brentwood, he was discovered by soldiers sent by the king. He sought sanctuary in the chapel of St Thomas, but the soldiers refused to accept his pleas for sanctuary and arrested him. A smith from Brentwood was asked to make irons to shackle him with, but the smith refused - Hubert de Burgh had been a respected military commander and was clearly popular with the people - so the soldiers had to tie Hubert over their saddle instead.

From about 1280 we get one of the first surviving documents that mentions the names of the first few villagers that lived in Brentwood:

Grant of rent, c. 1280 (from the private collection of C. Foyle)To Ralph de la Kersevere, clerk, and his wife Agnes, for their service, a rent of 2s 6d from a messuage in the hamlet of Brentwood in the vill of South Weald , formerly William le Saltere. Between the messuage formerly of Goscelin Pake and the messuage formerly of Durant, called Dez, to hold of Robert, with the homages, reliefs and escheats by the rent of a clove at Easter for all services; freedom of alienation except to religious houses and Jews; Witnesses: Robert Reyner, Henry Page, Anselm the marshal, Alan Pollard, Geoffrey the baker, Richard of Thorndon, John the skinner, Robert Page, Stephen Rikedun.

The document mentions a few other people who lived in Brentwood at the time, including a salt merchant (le Saltere), a baker, a skinner and the marshal (a court official). The fact that the rent was "a clove" was not that it was a nominal and symbolic amount, cloves and other spices were very expensive at the time and were sometimes used as a form of currency. The document also gives "freedom of alienation except to religious houses and Jews" - this means that the owner of the property could sell it to anyone except a religious house or a Jewish person. This was a common restriction at the time - religious houses were normally founded by the lord of a manor or only with their permission, while Jews were normally banned from owning land. The increasing anti-semitism of the time would come to a head only 10 years later in 1290, when all Jews were expelled from England.

The records from the 14th century are more extensive, and we can begin to build a picture of a growing market town. On one side, it benefited from the busy road to London, on the other side it benefited from the stream of passing pilgrims heading to Canterbury.

In the mid 1300s the chapel of St Thomas was rebuilt, presumably enlarged at the same time to support the growing town. It is important to point out, however, this was still a chapel, and for regular services the townsfolk had to walk to South Weald.

In 1348 the Black Death arrived in England, and Brentwood may have lost a considerable part of its population. This led to huge economic changes and rising wages as a much smaller number of laborers were available to work the land. This, coupled with some unsuccessful military expeditions, meant that the king had to raise a poll tax on all adults to raise extra money. This meant that people were growing more and more unhappy - demanding work, high taxes, and a disorganised government.

This finally came to a head in May 1381, when a man called John Bampton came to Brentwood. He was a tax collector, and he was there to collect the poll tax. After summoning the townsfolk, he was met with refusals to pay and - in an event that echoed across the country - soon much of Kent and Essex had risen up in arms revolt against the taxes. This was the beginning of the Peasants' Revolt. There is a piece of local folklore that says the leader of the revolt, Wat Tyler, gave a great speach to the people of Brentwood in the yard of the George and Dragon. This rebellion of peasants had enough momentum to ultimately capture even the Tower of London. Richard II, the young king at the time, rode out to meet with their leaders on his horse and agreed to their demands to reduce the power of feudalism. Even though it ultimately surpressed and many of the king's promises came to nothing, that was not before it had changed the course of politics in medieval England.

It is supposed that around this time the White Hart on the High Street was named - the White Hart was the royal symbol of Richard II and it was not uncommon for inns to rename themselves to a royal symbol if a monarch visited or stayed in them. Richard II visited Brentwood at least once in 1392, and it could be that at this time the inn was named in his honour and he may have stayed there.

In 1440 the villagers of Brentwood petitioned the pope saying they were unable to walk to South Weald church on Sundays when the weather was particularly bad, and requested that they might be able to have church services in Brentwood chapel on such days. The pope consented, and for the first time Brentwood itself could hold services if necessary. It is curious to think that some of the timber framed houses on the High Street date back to these early days of Brentwood.

A 'cage' is mentioned in 1481 - this would be where criminals would be held and rather than being a cage as we think of them now, it would probably have been a timber framed building that served as a basic jail. It is recorded in 1481 as having one side against the High Street. 17th records suggest it was within the market place, but it had likely been moved into the Assize House when that was built in the 16th century. There were also stocks in Brentwood, but it isn't clear when these were built. The market may have been used regularly for selling corn at this time, as a deed of 12th April 1470 refers to a building in Brentwood as being next to the "Corn Market".

Brentwood was still continuing to grow in importance at the start of the 1500s. It was already recognised as a place to muster soldiers - and it is reported by Sir Thomas Wyndham in 1513 that soldiers from Brentwood were present at Greenwich ahead of their involvement in the War of the League of Cambrai.

One of the major events of the 16th century in England was the dissolution of the monasteries, which began in 1536 and ended in 1541 with all religious houses being closed and sold off. For Brentwood, this meant that the leper hospital in Brook Street was closed. By far the biggest change, though, was the ownership of much of the lands around Brentwood. Before the dissolution, South Weald manor had belonged to Waltham abbey, Coxtie and Brentwood had belonged to to St. Osyth abbey, and Calcott to Stratford Langthorne abbey. After the dissolution, all of these were sold off to private owners. Most of this land was bought by Sir Anthony Browne, who unified the manors under a grand new manor house - Weald Hall. This would have presumably brought a large number of tradesmen such as brickmakers and carpenters to the town for many years as this grand new building was built. The dissolution meant there were no more pilgrims bringing trade to the town, although its important position on the road to London probably still meant that plenty of business continued as normal.

As part of the dowery of Anne of Cleves, she was given "the manor of Costedhall, Essex, and the fair and markets in Brentwood" in January 1540 (Costedhall was the manor associated with Coxtie Green). She continued to own them after her divorce from Henry VIII and would later sell them to Sir Anthony Browne.

Perhaps this new shift in ownership put new financial pressures on the church, as in 1546 Edward Lamb left his own house in the High Street to South Weald church. For the rent to support the church in perpetuity - which seems to have remained the case until the house was sold and demolished in about 1893.

In 1575 the manor of South Weald came to Wistan Browne, who closed the chapel in Brentwood High Street and planned to demolish it. This sparked the Brentwood "Women's Riot" of 1577, when thirty women of Brentwood were led by Thomasine Tyler to the chapel on the High Street. There, armed with pitchforks, bills, staves, bows and arrows, and kettles of boiling water, they kicked the schoolmaster out of the chapel and locked themselves inside. The town seems to have been on their side, with several men of the town refusing to help the local justices arrest the women and one man called Henry Dalley even attempting to rescue the imprisonned ringleader after the chapel had been surrendered. The Privy Council summoned Wistan Browne before them and held him to blame for the situation. The Privy Council asked judges to be lenient on the rioters and the chapel itself was saved from destruction.

Brentwood, like the rest of England, faced more upheaval in 1554 when the Catholic Queen Mary came to the throne. Mary I's reign in the mid-16th century marked a fervent attempt to restore Catholicism in England. As the daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, she sought to reverse the Protestant reforms initiated by her predecessors. Her efforts aimed to reinstate papal authority, bring back Latin liturgy, and revoke Protestant laws. However, her pursuit of religious conformity led to severe persecution of Protestants, earning her the label "Bloody Mary." In this period, Brentwood was home to one William Hunter. He lost his job in London for refusing Catholic mass, returned to Brentwood, and was caught reading the Bible in English in defiance of Catholic doctrine. He was arrested and despite facing threats and bribes, he refused to recant his protestant beliefs. This led to him being burned at the stake in Brentwood, leaving a lasting legacy for many years marked by the Martyr's Elm, an ancient tree that used to stand on Ingrave Road on the spot where he was burned.

During this turbulant period Sir Anthony Browne of Weald Hall founded Brentwood School. A license to found the school was granted in 1558 and in 1568 the first dedicated school room was opened on the site of the current school, next to the town archery butts. This school room still survives as part of the larger Brentwood School building.

Brentwood itself was still growing considerably at this time, and in 1579 a new building was built overlooking the market - an Assize House where courts could be held and there was a small prison built within it. This would be the main place for officials to manage the town and the important market. In 1590 it was complained that "there is no common and market measure belonging to the market of Brentwood, whereby the Queen's people buying and selling in the same market are greatly deceived", presumabily this was remedied - although there is no record of it.

By the early 17th century, we see Brentwood considered as an important military location as well. After the failed Spanish Armada in 1588, many provisions had been put in place across the country to prevent invasion. Brentwood was one of three towns in Essex (the others being Chelmsford and Colchester) where powder for muskets should be stored. A "private house" in the town was chosen, and 12 barrels of gunpowder were stored there. There are records of soldiers being mustered at Brentwood many times in the 1610s and 1620s with around 150 soldiers gathering each time.

A surprising, although perhaps not historic, event of the 1500s is the first record of people from Brentwood playing football. In Easter 1562, William Alcocke, bricklayer, Thomas Tayler, bricklayer, John Smyth, publican, and Philip Alcocke, publican, were prosecuted for going to Shenfield with others from Hutton and Shenfield and playing football on easter Sunday. Playing sports on religious holidays then was a significant crime.

In 1642, after a long and drawn out struggle for power over political decisions, Charles I declared war on parliament - beginning the English Civil War. Brentwood, as mentioned before, was a key stopping point on the road to London. This means that troops would have passed through and have been stationed in the town. We hear of such an event when the Essex Militia were mustered at Brentwood in 1642.

Towards the end of the conflict, as the parliamentarian forces were gaining the upper hand, fleeing royalist forces came through and stayed in Brentwood on 8th June 1648, where they met with a royalist commander called Sir Charles Lucas. They commanded all the horses in the town be taken for the king's cause and carried on their march the next day - which would end in the ill-fated siege of Colchester where many of them would be killed.

The History and Antiquities of Colchester, in the County of Essex

The next day, being the 8th of June, we marched on towards Brentwood, whither Sir Charles Lucas was advanced with parties of horse and foot, to join with us and having intelligence how the enemy followed us with alarms in our rear, commanded all the horse that were then in the town to assist us; so we marched up, and quartered that night at Brentwood, and the next day we marched to Chelmsford, where the Lord Capell, the Lord Loughborow and divers gentlemen of quality from Hertfordshire, and other counties, joined also with which gave great encouragement to our army.

Brentwood itself seems to have favoured puritanism during this time, again aligning with the religious beliefs of parliament. In 1650, towards the end of the civil war, it was proposed that Brentwood chapel should be turned into a parish church, but ultimately this came to nothing - and it would not be until the end of the 1600s that the chapel would gain further independence from South Weald.

The restoration of the monarchy in 1662 led to many puritan vicars being removed from their positions. This included the vicar of South Weald, William Rathband, who was forced out of the church there. The same happened to William Powell, formerly the minister of Brentwood Chapel, and who had become rector of Little Warley. This did not stop these ejected ministers from preaching, and in 1669 it is recorded that two puritan ministers who had been removed from their churches - Thomas Gilson and John Willis - were preaching at a conventicle in Brentwood.

In 1678 fairs were being held twice a year, from 7 to 9 July, and from 4 to 6 October. The July fair was for livestock - with cattle being sold at a field called Weald Wood and horses being sold in the market place. The October fair was called the "Booth Fair" and was for "wares and merchandise", this one was probably held in the market place. The weekly market was recorded as still being for "provisions" - so probably food and other produce from the countryside. In 1686 it was recorded that Brentwood's inns provided 110 beds and stabling for 183 horses.

Towards the end of the 17th century more structure was given to life in the town - a town house was purchased to give accommodation to the poor.

The start of the 18th century in Britain was a time of great change. The Act of Union in 1707 joined England and Scotland into one country - Great Britain. The population of Britain was growing rapidly, and the country was becoming more urbanised. The Jacobite risings and other tensions in the country led to concerns about who was friend or foe. Sermons preached at the Brentwood assizes show these feelings - in 1712 the town heard a sermon called The Duties of Subjects to Princes and Magistrates, and in 1720 a sermon was preached called Peace and Loyalty. In 1723 the Atterbury Plot was discovered, and an act was passed by parliament that all people over the age of 18 had to swear allegiance to the crown - this occured in Brentwood at the Crown Inn. That same year the sermon chosen to be preached at the Brentwood Assizes was entitled "The Duty of Praying for Kings or Governors".

During the 18th century the church at Brentwood finally became independent of South Weald, and the last few rights were granted to it - in 1715 the bishop of London granted Brentwood chapel the right to have a font and conduct baptisms. The increasing population meant that the church building was modified, with the west window bricked up and dormer windows inserted into the roof so that galleries could be added for extra seats.

Beyond improvements at the church, the first independent churches were also being created. A Quaker meeting house was registered at Brentwood in 1699 and perhaps before that there was a baptist meeting house. On Weald Lane, Gabriel Barber built a new Presbyterian meeting house in about 1717 after worshipping for ten years previously in houses nearby. Barber's congregation split over different beliefs in the 1750s and a new meeting house was built on King's Road in about 1755. This is the reason for the small graveyard on King's Road. This congregation declined and was non existent by 1795, and a few years later a new congregation moved into the King's Road meeting house. This meeting house would be rebuilt and eventually moved, but it is the origin of the United Reformed church on New Road.

In 1736 there is record of the first fire engines (two of them) being kept at Brentwood - these would have been simple water pumps ready to be put on carts and carried to local fires. It was originally the duty of the chapelwarden to make sure these were kept in good repair. Where they were first housed is not recorded for certain, but by the early 19th century they were being kept at the Assize House building.

At the same time in the 1700s Brentwood market had already peaked - and by the end of the 18th century it would in fact vanish completely. Perhaps this was because of the rise of shops along the High Street rather than things more commonly being sold in the market place. It could also have been because Brentwood was growing as a post-town and place of retirement for wealthy people, and not so much as a town of farmers. Instead, markets such as the one at Romford grew in importance - and seem to have been the more common place for buyers and sellers from London to visit. As early as 1712, the parish resolved to lease out the ground floor of the Assize House as shops.

As more of the gentry moved to Brentwood, a new popular event began - the annual Brentwood horse race. This seems to have started around 1750, and occured in late August or September. These normally occured on Pasfield Wood Common, and sometimes on Warley Common. An inn in the town would be selected (early on it seems to have been The Crown then later The White Hart), and people could enter their horses paying a small entry fee. The races would often last a couple of days and the prize money was a considerable amount, there would also be a ball at one of the coaching inns afterwards to celebrate. These races seem to have carried on for the rest of the 18th century.

By 1777 there were two windmills built on the west side of Shenfield Common, roughly at the east end of Rosebank . Before the mid 19th century one of these was taken down and a new one built west of the common on the site of Mill Hill House. Earlier in the history of Brentwood the mills near Brentwood were a windmill in South Weald or a water mill (later a wind mill) in Brook Street, meaning that villagers would have had to go out of their way both to get flour and to bring their grain to have it ground.

The start of the 19th century saw the rapid growth of industrialisation across the country. At least two early factories were built in Brentwood. The first of these was a silk rug factory founded by a Mr Webb before 1818, it may have continued in business until as late as the 1850s. The second was an agricultural machinery factory belonging to Burgess and Key, who initially built a small factory in Queens Road before 1863. They moved to a large factory in Ongar Road called the Victoria Works in the mid 1860s. This vast building stood opposite the turning into North Road, and was not pulled down until 1978 by which time it was known as the Albert Works.

The old windmills by Shenfield Common were superseded by a steam mill in the 1840s, which stood closer to the town on Queens Road, a man called Richard Woodfine was the first miller. Both of the old windmills was still standing in 1870, but they would not last until the end of the century. One would be replaced by Mill Hill House on Shenfield Common, the other by the eastern end of Rose Bank as Rose Valley was developed.

Brewing was also industrialised - the Fielder & Co brewing company started on King's Road in 1855, where the old brewery building stood until 2023. It and other competing breweries from around Essex opened new pubs and beerhouses in Brentwood.

A major change at the very start of the 19th century was Warley Camp being made permanent in 1804, towards the end of the Napoleonic Wars. Roughly 300 soldiers were now stationed next to Brentwood and bringing more business to the town. This was the start of Warley Barracks. The barracks were bought by the East India Company in the 1840s, this increased the number of people stationed at the barracks to around 1,100 over the couse of each year. An inn called The Soldier's Hotel opened in Warley opened in about 1850, showing locals building on the business opportunities that the barracks brought.

The troops of the East India Company became a part of the British Army in 1857, and in 1861 the barracks was bought by the war office. Expansion of the barracks continued and in the 1860s we see the more records of many pubs named to attract business from soldiers. The Sir Charles Napier (named after a naval officer) first appears in records in 1861, as does The Guardsman and The Brave Nelson (then Nelson's Head) in Warley.

By far the most important change however, and something that is still a very important part of Brentwood, was the arrival of the railway. The first plans for a railway line through Brentwood were made in 1836 and were heavily criticised by Lord Petre of Thorndon Hall, whose estate would be severely disrupted by the railway running across it. Lord Petre had his own engineers propose a line that would go from Brentwood to Writtle, and not pass as close to his home at Thorndon Hall. Ultimately the railway company decided against this, but through a legal agreement made with Lord Petre they did end up having to pay him £120,000 for building on his lands at Thorndon.

In 1838 parliament passed a bill allowing the railway to go through Brentwood and there were no more legal barriers blocking it being built. Just before Christmas 1838, the Eastern Counties Railway company advertised the availability of building contracts for the railway:

December 11th 1838. Contract No. 12 - The whole of the works, excepting the permanent way from Brentwood Hill to Mountnessing, a distance of 250 chains [5,000 meters], including about 300,000 cubic yards of earth-work, five public road bridges, and several occupation bridges and culverts.

Throughout 1839 hundreds of workmen were employed on the railway, with huge amounts of earth being moved - especially around Shenfield Common. It was noted in The London Journal of Arts, Sciences, and Manufactures that the earth at Brentwood was particularly hard to work on, with it being very sandy and full of water. It often behaved more like quicksand and was very difficult to pile up away from the course of the line.

Brentwood station opened on 1st July 1840. The first station had its entrance on the Warley Hill side rather than the Brentwood side where it is now. In Whishaw's book The Railways of Great Britain and Ireland, which was published in 1840, he describes this very early form of the station as a temporary building. A brick building was finished shortly afterwards. On the north side of the line were the more functional buildings - a goods station and coal yard stood were on the west side of King's Road, and an engine shed was on the east side.

There were of course some incidents on this early railway - on 22nd September 1839, when the railway at Brentwood was still under construction - a local auctioneer called Josiah Thorrowgood stole a train that had just been brought down from London. Presumably out of curiosity, just after midnight he had broken onto the train tracks and attempted to drive the train - unfortunately leading it away from London towards unfinished tracks where he crashed it into horse and cart and a coal cart. No one was injured, but James was eventually fined and sentenced to 6 months in prison.

Another much more serious incident happened on 19th August 1840, when a train driver went at 60 miles per hour - double the maximum recommended speed - down the tracks at Brentwood and derailed the train. Four people were killed or died from their injuries.

Despite all this, the railway was a great boost to the town. Even looking at the huge number of late Victorian buildings in Brentwood today, the boom in building across the whole town can still be appreciated. Hotels for train travellers were built, including The Essex Arms and The Great Eastern Hotel. Land in Brentwood was sold of in lots to developers for housing. Several auctions took place at the Essex Arms Hotel, a place easily accessible to any buyers who themselves were coming to Brentwood by train.

This great building boom saw a huge number of builders, decorators, gardeners, and many others move to Brentwood to work. Themselves increasing the population and bringing more business to the town. It wasn't just new housing either that was built in Brentwood - a grand new town hallwas built on the High Street as well as banks and a post office.

The Brentwood Gas Light and Coke Co. opened a gas works in Crown Street in about 1836, meaning that gas lighting could be installed on the streets in Brentwood. As demand grew, a much larger works was built on the north side of Brentwood railway station in 1858.

The old coaching inns of Brentwood had to change - the railway was becoming the new way to travel and suddenly coaches and mail horses were not a common sight. Some, such as the Lion and Lamb, were completely rebuilt to target travellers looking for quality and comfort. Others did not survive the change from coaching inn to pub or hotel and were demolished as the High Street became valuable real estate for the new Victorian concept of department stores.

The first of these department stores to come to Brentwood seems to have been Bon Marche, which took over and eventually rebuilt the building at 99 High Street. But the most famous by far was Wilson's Great Eastern Store - founded in Brentwood in 1883. Wilson's saw such success that they built a vast store on Wilson's Corner in 1889 offering everything from clothes and shoes to house furnishings.

Aside from shopping, one thing the busy people of Brentwood were doing was going to church. St Thomas' Chapel on the High Street was far too small for the growing town, so in 1835 a new church was built on the site of the current St Thomas' Church. Twenty years later it was extended and in 1881 the entire building was rebuilt again on an even larger scale.

There were many other smaller churches that appeared across Brentwood - the old non-conformist meeting house on King's Road was demolished and rebuilt on New Road. The first Baptist, Methodist, and Catholic churches were built in Brentwood in the early 19th century - and by the end of the same century several had already been demolished and rebuilt on a larger scale.

On 23rd September 1853 a large new hospital was completed on the grounds of Brentwood Hall between Brentwood and Great Warley. This was then known as the "County Lunatic Asylum" (later Warley Hospital) with space for 450 patients. This soon proved inadequate and ten years later a number of other buildings were built for more space. Brentwood Hall itself was bought by the hospital in 1872 and became part of the complex of buildings. Continued extensions meant that before 1900 the hospital could house over 2,000 patients. There was also a much smaller cottage hospital built on Shenfield Common. Both these hospitals still exist and have been converted into residential buildings.

Education in Brentwood also boomed in the 19th century. The Brentwood School had been famous in the town since it was founded in the 16th century, and by the mid 19th century a few more schools had opened up - a Catholic school at St Helen's (now the cathedral) and another school was built on Queens Road. In 1880 education became compulsory for children aged 5 to 10 and by the end of the 19th century there was a further technical school and an infants school built on New Road. By far the most impressive school building built in Brentwood in the 19th century was the Shoreditch Industrial School, later purchased by the Brentwood School Boart and renamed the Hackney Industrial School. Industrial Schools were an "improvement" on the pre-existing institution of workhouses. They were aimed to aid homeless children under 14. Their goal was to take these children away from negative influences, offering vocational training. Children either attended daily or lived at the school. Boys were taught skills such as gardening, tailoring, and shoemaking, while girls learned knitting, sewing, household tasks, and laundry skills.

By 1897 Brentwood was described as a "Town on the highway to Chelmsford and Colchester, with considerable through traffic, although much less than before railway times. There are one or two old inns here which were notable in the coaching days. The town has chiefly agricultural interests, and residents who make the daily journey to London."

By the start of the 20th century some of the central residential roads of Brentwood had been laid out - Alfred Road, Moores Place, and Westbury Road at the west end of the town. In Ongar Road housing reached north up to the Robin Hood, and Kimpton Avenue had been built. Southwards, the Warley Mount estate had also been built up ultimately covering some 60 acres of land. In 1902 the first electricity came to Brentwood and slowly the old gas lights were replaced.

The High Street was still the centre of Brentwood life, with a range of shops, pubs, hotels, and cafes. The Wilson's Great Eastern Store was still the largest department store in the town. It was at Wilson's itself that Brentwood's first major event of the 20th century happened:

On the morning of September 4th 1909, a fire broke out in the paint store of the grand structure. Captain James Fair at the Hart Street fire station was immediately alerted. Despite the prompt response of the local fire brigade, the flames couldn't be subdued due to insufficient water supply.

Additional fire teams were summoned from the County Asylum at Warley, Ind Coope Brewery at Romford, and even Great Burstead were in vain. The arrival of soldiers from Warley Barracks, pulling their manual water pump all the way to Brentwood High Street, and special brigade officers from Highwood School, equipped with leather hoses and carts, also failed to halt the inferno. The devastating fire completely razed Wilson's Corner. Surprisingly, the store would be completely rebuilt and running again within two years.

In 1914 the first world war broke out and many in Brentwood joined up in the fever that swept the country when people still believed it was a war "that would be over by Christmas". A partial list of the men and women from Brentwood who served during the First World War can be found here.

The war was not over by Christmas, and in fact lasted until 1918. During this time Brentwood was home to a many troops training at Warley Barracks. Great Warley also became home to a temporary military hospital at Coombe Lodge.

The skies of Brentwood were also briefly a battlefield - during 1916 Zeppelin raids on Britain increased and at least twice there were battles above Brentwood. The first Zeppelin incident happened on the night of 31st of March 1916 when an Airship L15 was damaged raiding Essex and London. It turned back and began to make its way again over Essex, steadily losing height. Over Brentwood, a British BE2c caught up with the airship and fired at it. The airship struggled on and continued dropping bombs, finally breaking up out to sea. April 1st was a Sunday, but Brentwood and other churches reported low attendance. Rev Edward Reeve wrote in his diary where they were: "Large numbers of persons from Brentwood and the surrounding district visited the spot next day [1st April], and the large craters caused by the bombs, some 15 feet in diameter and varying from 3 to 9 feet in depth, were to the astonishment of all." This was also the first time a Zeppelin that had bombed London had been shot down.

The second incident was a similar battle over Brentwood, involving two Zeppelins. The first Zeppelin, L33, dropped bombs on Brentwood as well as other towns. The second, however, did not make it quite as far and was only visible to the people of Brentwood. This was L32, which had been hit by incendiary bullets from a British plane and was a burning mass in the night sky. It crashed at Billericay and was again a place that many locals came to visit to see the final resting place of such an incredible machine.

The war ended in 1918, and Brentwood was left to recover. The Brentwood, Great & Little Warley, Shenfield, Hutton & South Weald War Memorial was unveiled on 9 October 1921. It displays 398 names of local people who died in the First World War.

It was after the war that Brentwood really began to modernise and become the town we know today. Several of the old inns were rebuilt as modern pubs - these included pubs like The Swan and The Rising Sun. The first Sainsbury's opened in Brentwood in 1924. A permanent phone exchange was built in Queen's Road in 1932, replacing a much smaller exchange that had been kept in King's Road. Three cinemas were built - two on the High Street and one by the station. The first had opened just before the war in 1914 on the High Street in a converted shop, this was followed by the Parade Cinema by the station in about 1920, and then a much larger Odeon opened on the High Street in 1937.

The relatively small police station and police accommodaton in Coptfold Road closed in the late 1930s, since La Plata (a large house on London Road) had been bought by the force. The house and grounds at La Plata were redeveloped into a much larger police station with separate accommodation and housing.

Some very ancient buildings were also demolished during this time. The Chequers Inn, which had been a coaching inn possibly dating back to the 1500s, was demolished in 1938 to make space for a large Burtons store. Even recent buildings were demolished as Brentwood had quickly outgrown them - in 1938 demolition work began on the old Post Office so that it could be replaced with a much larger building.

The Second World War broke out in 1939, and Brentwood again became home to troops training at Warley Barracks. During this war not just British troops were more visible in the town; Dutch and Polish soldiers trained at Warley and later Americans too.

Constructed during the Being an important town on the road to London, there were several physical defences added around Brentwood. In the summer of 1940, concrete and steel road barriers were add in a ring around the town, allowing all roads into Brentwood to be closed off if necessary. In early 1942, anti-tank emplacements were built to further protect the town. These would have been manned by the local home guard in the event of a German invasion.

Enemy bombing of Brentwood was much, much more serious in the second world war than it had been in the first. A large public bomb shelter was built on the allotment gardens north of Primrose Hill. The railway was a key target for the Luftwaffe, and the area around the station suffered bombing a number of times. This is still somewhat visible if you walk around roads like Myrtle Road or Avenue Road and see the gaps in the rows of Victorian cottages now filled with modern housing.

Air Raid Damage Report, 04/10/1940 23:40 Brentwood 10 H.Es [High Explosive Bombs] at Railway Station. 1 exploded and 1 unexploded amongst houses and old wreckage at Myrtle Road. 1 house demolished and several slightly damaged and 1 partly demolished, 2 serious casualties, 1 Margaret Allen of Stratford. Myrtle Road blocked. 4 exploded near Nos. 2 and 3 platforms. (Two trains derailed, three lines blocked. Only 1 line open). 1 H.E. unexploded on North side embankment 40 yards from line opposite water filler No 4 and 3 exploded in gardens of “Greenways”, “Gatehouse” and “Withies” at Cornslands.

Probably the worst month for bombing was October 1940, when there were bombs dropped on Brentwood on 9 different nights, including 3 nights in a row. In December the same year the Ursuline School was hit by incendiary bombs and was badly damaged, only a month later a high explosive bomb would hit Crown Street and cause more major damage to the town. Towards the end of the war these bombs were replaced by the terrifying V1 and V2 rocket attacks. Several V2 rockets hit Brentwood during the war - the worst being on December 20th 1944 resulting in 5 houses completely demolished, 3 dead and 27 seriously injured.

In the build up to the Normandy landings in June 1944, trucks and soldiers bound for the coast passed through Brentwood. The woods around Brentwood seem to have been used to briefly station vehicles so that they weren't visible to any German planes that might have been flying overhead.

The war ended in 1945, and Brentwood was left to recover once again. The Brentwood, Great & Little Warley, Shenfield, Hutton & South Weald War Memorial was updated to include the names of 164 more local people who died in the Second World War.

Following the war, Brentwood, like many other towns and cities across Britain, faced a need to quickly rebuild houses and expand to support people moving out of heavily bombed areas of London.

From 1963, Brentwood Urban District Council began to push for the redevelopment of the town centre. This began in the mid 1960s with private developers being invited to create a "town centre plan". These were presented to the public in July 1965, but were met with opposition. A new draft plan was presented in 1968, and this was met with even more opposition. Even with the strong opposition, the council still approved this plan - claiming that since it was a "draft" it could be modified when they were developing it. In August 1971, without further consulting the public, the council released the brief for developers and applied for planning permission to the County Council.

This sparked an extraordinary public outcry and people from the town came together to stop the historic buildings in the town centre from being destroyed. Edward Knowles of the Brentwood Mart in New Road was central to this cause. After Christmas 1971, when plans were really in motion and buildings were being marked for demolition, he began to organise a campaign to save the town centre. He used full-page weekly press adverts to oppose the schemes, sponsored a postal vote for every household in Brentwood, and compiled a petition with 6000 signatures against redevelopment. People would come to his store just to sign the petition and read the latest press notice he had published. He even commissioned a large hand-painted sign in the form of a gravestone, which he mounted over the front of his shop:

R ‧ I ‧ PIn Loving Memory ofThe BRENTWOOD MART and the centre of this HISTORIC OLD COUNTRY TOWN FORCIBLY SEIZED by the Conservative Dominated BRENTWOOD DISTRICT COUNCIL Who, having entered into an UNHOLY ALLIANCE with PROPERTY SPECULATORS and with BRUTAL DISREGARD of the FREELY EXPRESSED WISHES of the OPRESSED TOWNSFOLK Intend to PLUNGE them into yet FURTHER DEBT By Building a CONCRETE MAZE of CHAIN STORE SHOPS, TOWER OFFICE BLOCKS and a MULTI-STOREY CAR PARK Thus creating a HIDEOUS MONUMENT To the FINANCIAL BURDEN that will be Borne by GENERATIONS of RATEPAYERS

Unsurprisingly for Brentwood council, despite the public outcry, they ignored the wants of the town. The public campaign lost momentum the following year in the face of determination from the council to redevelop the towncentre. In 1972 compulsary purchase orders were issued and by 1973 buldozers had moved in.

During the drawn out process, many old buildings in Brentwood had already been torn down. The old town hall was demolished in 1963, and moved to Ingrave Road. The mix of shops and large residential houses that lined Brentwood High Street during the 19th century were redeveloped by large retailers who moved into the town - large houses lost included Manor House and Red House. Cockayne House, which was an important house at the west end of the High Street was demolished in the 1960s to expand the junction to Kings Road. Part of the building at 63-65 High Street surprisingly survived, when after demolition work revealed the old timber frame, demolition was halted and the building partly restored.

Of the pubs, which had been so numerous in Brentwood, many were also closed and redeveloped into more profitable commercial buildings. The George and Dragon, which had been an inn since the 1400s, was demolished in about 1970 to make way for offices (now Santander). The King's Head, The Bell, and The Yorkshire Grey also vanished from Brentwood's High Street.

The major town centre development of 1974 focused around the buildings to the south and west of the ruined chapel, including the whole of New Road. On their site a large new shopping centre called Chapel High Shopping Centre was built - which is now the Bay Tree Centre.

Perhaps the most ambitious project architecturally speaking, however, was the new Brentwood Cathedral. A first attempt at extending St Helen's church into a cathedral was made in 1974, but was structurally unsound and had to be demolished within 15 years. The new cathedral was finished in 1991, and is an impressive mix of Gothic and Baroque architecture.

Warley Barracks had closed in 1958, not too long after the second world war had finished. The site was mostly demolished and redeveloped by Ford in the 1960s, who would become an important commercial presence in Brentwood for the following half a century.

A number of the old Victorian schools in central Brentwood were also relocated to modern buildings on larger sites less central to the town. The same happened with hospitals - the Cottage Hospital on Shenfield Common was converted first to a small maternity hospital and then closed completely in 1974. Also in 1974, the small fire station on Hart Street was moved to a much bigger building on the site of WW2 bombed houses on North Road.

Brentwood today is a thriving town with a population of around 80,000 people. It is a popular commuter town for people working in London, and has a large number of schools, shops, and businesses.

There is still constant development in Brentwood, with new housing estates being built on the outskirts as well as more changes on the High Street. In the last few years many new shops and restaurants have opened. Several well known buildings have also vanished, including The Sir Charles Napier and The Castle.

The opening of the Elizabeth Line (Crossrail) in 2022 has also brought a lot of new people to Brentwood, and the town is likely to continue to grow and change in the coming years.