Essex

Essex
Ceremonial county
Ceremonial Essex within England
Coordinates: 51°45′N 0°35′E / 51.750°N 0.583°E / 51.750; 0.583
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	List of MPs
Police	Essex Police
Ceremonial county
Lord Lieutenant	Jennifer Tolhurst[1]
Area	3,670 km2 (1,420 sq mi)
• Ranked	11th of 48
Population (2021)	1,832,752
• Ranked	7th of 48
Density	499/km2 (1,290/sq mi)
Ethnicity	90.8% White British 3.6% Other White 2.5% Asian 1.3% Black 1.5% Mixed 0.3% Other (2011)
Non-metropolitan county
County council	Essex County Council
Executive	Conservative
Admin HQ	Chelmsford
Area	3,458 km2 (1,335 sq mi)
• Ranked	7th of 21
Population	1,506,345
• Ranked	2nd of 21
Density	436/km2 (1,130/sq mi)
ISO 3166-2	GB-ESS
ONS code	22
GSS code	E10000012
ITL	UKH33
Website	essex.gov.uk
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 (/ˈɛsɪks/ ESS-iks) is a ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the south, Greater London to the south-west, and Hertfordshire to the west. The largest settlement is Southend-on-Sea, and the county town is Chelmsford.

The county has an area of 3,670 km² (1,420 sq mi) and a population of 1,832,751. After Southend-on-Sea (182,305), the largest settlements are Colchester (130,245), Basildon (115,955) and Chelmsford (110,625).^[2] The south of the county is very densely populated, and the remainder, besides Colchester and Chelmsford, is largely rural. For local government purposes Essex comprises a non-metropolitan county, with twelve districts, and two unitary authority areas: Thurrock and Southend-on-Sea. The districts of Chelmsford, Colchester and Southend have city status. The county historically included north-east Greater London, the River Lea forming its western border.

Essex is a low-lying county with a flat coastline. It contains pockets of ancient woodland, including Epping Forest in the south-west, and in the north-east shares Dedham Vale area of outstanding natural beauty with Suffolk. The coast is one of the longest of any English county, at 562 miles (905km). It is deeply indented by estuaries, the largest being those of the Stour, which forms the Suffolk border, the Colne, Blackwater, Crouch, and the Thames in the south. Parts of the coast are wetland and salt marsh, including a large expanse at Hamford Water, and it contains several large beaches.^[3][4]

What is now Essex was occupied by the Trinovantes tribe during the Iron Age. They established a settlement at Colchester, which is the oldest recorded town in Britain. The town was conquered by the Romans but subsequently sacked by the Trinovantes during the Boudican revolt. In the Early Middle Ages the region was invaded by the Saxons, who formed the Kingdom of Essex; they were followed by the Vikings, who after winning the Battle of Maldon were able to extract the first Danegeld from King Æthelred. After the Norman Conquest much of the county became a royal forest, and in 1381 the populace of the county were heavily involved in the Peasants' Revolt. The subsequent centuries were more settled, and the county's economy became increasingly tied to that of London; in the nineteenth century the railways allowed coastal resorts such as Clacton-on-Sea to develop and the Port of London to shift downriver to Tilbury. Subsequent development has included the new towns of Basildon and Harlow, the development of the Harwich International Port, and petroleum industry.^[3]