Essex

Essex is a county in the east of England. It has a population of around 1,750,000 people. It is part of the East of England region. Chelmsford is the county town of Essex, as well as being one of three cities in the county alongside Colchester, known to be Britain's first city, and Southend-on-Sea, one of the country's biggest seaside resorts.

Ceremonial county
Ceremonial Essex within England
Coordinates: 51°45′N 0°35′E
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Constituent country	England
Region	East
Established	Ancient
Time zone	UTC±00:00 (Greenwich Mean Time)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+01:00 (British Summer Time)
Members of Parliament	18 Members of Parliament Con: 10 Lab: 5 Reform: 1 Lib Dem: 1 Ind: 1
Police	Essex Police
Ceremonial county
Lord Lieutenant	Jennifer Tolhurst
Area
• Ranked	of 48
Population (2005 est.)	1,645,900
• Ranked	6th of 48
Density	448/km2 (1,160/sq mi)
Ethnicity	85.1% White British 5.2% Other White 3.7% Asian 2.5% Black 2.4% Mixed 1.1% Other (2021)
Non-metropolitan county
County council	Essex County Council
Executive	Conservative
Admin HQ	Chelmsford
Area
• Ranked	of 26
Population	1,340,000
• Ranked	2nd of 26
Density	386/km2 (1,000/sq mi)
ISO 3166-2	GB-ESS
GSS code	E10000012
ITL	UKH33
Website	essex.gov.uk
Largest settlement	Southend-on-Sea
Unitary authorities
Councils	Southend-on-Sea City Council Thurrock Council
Districts
Districts of Essex   Unitary   County council area
Districts	Uttlesford Braintree Colchester Tendring Harlow Epping Forest Chelmsford Maldon Brentwood Basildon Rochford Castle Point Southend-on-Sea Thurrock

Essex has Greater London and Hertfordshire on its western border and the whole of the east of the county is coast-line. The north of the county borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. The south of the county is on the Thames Estuary. The Dartford Tunnel can be used to drive under the River Thames between Essex and Kent.

Other large towns in Essex include Basildon, Braintree and Harwich.

There has been lots of recent debate about whether certain sections of East London should be included as parts of Essex, such as Ilford and Romford. Due to boundary changes across the years, these areas were historically in Essex but have been dissolved into the Greater London area since.

Essex Media

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  St Peters Chapel, Bradwell. Established by St Cedd, the patron saint of Essex around 662, built on the site of the abandoned Roman fort of Othona

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  Hedingham Castle and garden

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  Atlas created by cartographer Christopher Saxton in 1576 as part of his 'Atlas of the Counties of England and Wales'. Contains hand-written marginal notes.

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  Map of the historic county and its constituent hundreds

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  Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colchester claims to be Britain's first city.

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  Results of the 2024 UK general election in Essex

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  The coat of arms of Essex County Council

Related pages

• Kingdom of Essex

Other websites

Media related to Essex at Wikimedia Commons