I am adding this as a very quick page as a welcome to the site. I have returned to my roots in Billericay and loving the space, the huge garden and the people. As my early days often ended driving through Billericay, and having very little idea of where I was going, I also forgot to mention, I am honing in on any good or bad accessibility in the Billericay area, particularly the High street. This is not politics, just plain manners allowing everybody to feel inclusive. Please remove barriers.
I have been researching the road layouts, the history of the town and the local area. I have updated the pub history pages, and there are a major number of Inns listed in the High street for what was a small hamlet in its early days.
I have been reading a major number of early articles by a Wynford Grant in around 1962. He really knew the area, and much more of his thoughts to come, but you can read all his works at the Billericay History site.
What is intriguing is the origins of the name Billericay, and no one has confirmed or denied where the name originates. Billericay is not of any importance in the Normans time, as it is not mentioned in the Domesday book, but Great Burstead is, and is in fact the name that all early records for Billericay are linked under.
We do think that it was a Roman town at some stage, and a major crossing point for the roads leading between Tilbury and Chelmsford / Colchester; and also a main staging post for traffic from London towards Southend.
There are many Roman remains that have been found in the vicinity of Billericay town at Blunts, or Blunds, Wall and also in Norsey Wood. These have been the focus of all early archeological digs, and never in the actual township itself. But, Wynford Grant thinks that maybe Billericay was originally the site of a Roman fort, which being at a high eminence would have incredible views over the entirety of the area all the way to the Thames. And then when they left, the Anglo Saxons left the town to decay and moved in Burstead Magna (Great Burstead), and in many cases the Roman towns were completely destroyed.
I have later been reading a rather excellemt document about Little Baddow, and its History. Again, a small reference to Saxons suggests they prefer low level strata close to a stream.
Then along come the monks and nuns from Stratford Langthorne, or West Ham Abbey for the lay reader, who were Cistercian monks and this was where the early inn traveller would reside along the way towards Canterbury on their pilgrimage. They left after the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry the Eight, but Inns can then replace this service.
These are my thoughts anyway. I have loads more to say on this subject, of which i still know very little.
Mre recently, I have been researching archeological data and Liddar.
I found a this.
Enjoy.
Kevan Wilding