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Essex

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:''This article is about the county of '''Essex''' in England. For other places named Essex, see Essex (disambiguation).'' {| class="toccolours" style="border-collapse: collapse; float: right; margin: 0 0 1em 1em" border="1" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" width="300" |+ '''Essex''' |- | colspan=2 style="text-align: center; background: white;"|Image:EnglandEssex.png |- | colspan=2 style="background: #f0f0f0; font-weight: bolder;" | Geography |- ! width="45%" | Status |Ceremonial counties of England Ceremonial & (smaller) Metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties of England Non-metropolitan county |- !Region |East of England |- ! style="font-weight: normal;" | '''Surface area Area'''
- Total
- Admin. council
- Admin. area |List of ceremonial counties of England by area Ranked 11th
1 E9 mÂ² 3,670 square kilometre kmÂ²
List of non-metropolitan counties of England by area Ranked 11th
3,465 km² |- !Admin HQ |Chelmsford |- !ISO 3166-2:GB ISO 3166-2 |GB-ESS |- !ONS coding system ONS code |22 |- !Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics NUTS 3 |UKH33 |- | colspan=2 style="background: #f0f0f0; font-weight: bolder;" | Demographics |- ! style="font-weight: normal;" | '''Population'''
- Total (2004 est.)
- Density
- Admin. council
- Admin. pop. |List of ceremonial counties of England by population Ranked 6th
1,635,600
445 / km²
List of non-metropolitan counties of England by population Ranked 2nd
1,330,300 |- !Ethnicity |96.8% White
1.2% S. Asian |- | colspan=2 style="background: #f0f0f0; font-weight: bolder;" | Politics |- |colspan=2 align=center|Image:arms-essex.jpg 200px|Arms of Essex County Council
Essex County Council
http://www.essexcc.gov.uk/ |- !Executive |Conservative Party (UK) Conservative |- !MPs elected in the UK general election, 2005 Members of Parliament | *David Amess *John Baron *Simon Burns *Douglas Carswell *James Duddridge *Mark Francois *Alan Haselhurst *Bernard Jenkin *Eleanor Laing *Andrew Mackinlay *Brooks Newmark *Eric Pickles *Bill Rammell *Bob Russell (politician) Bob Russell *Angela Smith *Bob Spink *John Whittingdale |- | colspan=2 style="background: #f0f0f0; font-weight: bolder;" | Districts |- |colspan=2|Image:Essex_Ceremonial_Numbered.png #Harlow #Epping Forest (district) Epping Forest #Brentwood (borough) Brentwood #Basildon (district) Basildon #Castle Point #Rochford (district) Rochford #Maldon (district) Maldon #Chelmsford (borough) Chelmsford #Uttlesford #Braintree (district) Braintree #Colchester (borough) Colchester #Tendring #Thurrock (Unitary) #Southend-on-Sea (Unitary) |} '''Essex''' is a Counties of England county in the East of England. It borders Greater London to the south west, Hertfordshire by the Stort Navigation River Stort to the west, Cambridgeshire and Suffolk by the River Stour, Suffolk River Stour to the north and Kent by the River Thames to the south. The county town is Chelmsford and the highest point of the county is Chrishall Common near the village of Langley, Essex Langley near the Hertfordshire border, which reaches 147m/482ft. The county flower of Essex is the Common Poppy.

History
{{main|History of Essex}} The name '''Essex''' derives from the Kingdom of Essex or ''Kingdom of the East Seaxe'' which was founded around 500 AD, occupying territory to the north of the River Thames, incorporating much of what would later become Middlesex and Hertfordshire, though its territory was later restricted to lands east of the River Lee. The boundaries of the ceremonial county cover a larger area than the present shire county, including the Unitary Authority unitary authorities of Thurrock and Southend-on-Sea; the historic county boundaries additionally include parts of East London, England East London.

Population and settlement
Because of its proximity to London and the economic magnetism which that city exerts, many of Essex's settlements function as dormitory towns or villages where London workers raise their families. Essex is known for being the origin of the political term Essex man, and of the Essex girl joke. Essex has recently overtaken Lancashire as England's most populous county. The pattern of settlement in the county is diverse. The Green Belt (UK) London Green Belt has effectively prevented of the further sprawl of the metropolis into the County, although it contains the new towns of Basildon and Harlow, originally developed to resettle Londoners following the destruction of London housing in World War II but since much expanded. Part of the south east of the county, already containing the major population centres of Southend-on-Sea Southend and Thurrock, is within the Thames Gateway and designated for further development. To the north of the Green Belt, with the exception of major towns such as Chelmsford, the county is rural, with many small towns, villages and hamlets largely built in the traditional materials of timber and brick, with clay tile or thatched roofs. Colchester in the north east of the county is Britain's oldest recorded town, dating back to Roman times, and has a rich history. A book has been recently published called '350 miles: An Essex Journey' by photographer Jason Orton and writer Ken Worpole, detailing a journey by foot and bicycle along the full length of the distinctive Essex coastline (ExDRA 2005). In 1998 the districts of Southend-on-Sea (pop. 160,300) and Thurrock (pop. 143,000) separated from the county of Essex becoming unitary authority areas.

Transport, commerce and industry
The Lakeside Shopping Centre at Thurrock was one of England's first out-of-town shopping centres; it remains popular despite congestion on the nearby M25 motorway and direct competition from Bluewater Shopping Centre. Essex also contains London Stansted Airport Stansted Airport and several smaller aerodromes that have evolved from bomber or fighter bases constructed during World War II. The port of Tilbury is one of Britain's three major ports, while the port of Harwich links the county to the Hoek van Holland Hook of Holland. Despite the Dartford Crossing road crossing to Dartford in Kent across the River Thames, a pedestrian ferry to Gravesend, Kent still operates from Tilbury during limited hours. Industry is largely limited to the south of the county, with the majority of the land elsewhere being given over to agriculture. Harlow is a centre for electronics, science and Pharmacology pharmaceutical companies, while Chelmsford is the home of Marconi and Brentwood home to the Ford Motor Company's European HQ. Chelmsford has been an important location for electronics companies since the industry was born, and is also the location for a number of insurance and financial services organisations, and is the home of the soft drinks producer Britvic. Other businesses in the county are dominated by light engineering and the service sector.

Towns and villages
''See the List of places in Essex

Economy
The gross domestic product of Essex for 2005 was estimated at Â£20,250 million

Places of interest
* Abberton Reservoir * Colchester Castle, Colne Valley Railway * East Anglian Railway Museum * Epping Forest * Harlow Harlow New Town * Hedingham Castle * Mangapps Railway Museum (Burnham-on-Crouch), Mistley towers * St Peter-on-the-Wall * University of Essex (Wivenhoe Park, Colchester) * Waltham Abbey

See also
*Earl of Essex *GHQ Line - World War II fortification

External links

- Essex County Council
- BBC Essex
- Evening Echo (for south of county)
- Evening Gazette (for north of county)
- Historyhouse - history of the towns and villages of Essex
- Thurrock Paranormal
- Thurrock Council {{England ceremonial counties}}
{{England traditional counties}} Category:Essex da:Essex de:Essex es:Essex eo:Essex fr:ComtÃ© d'Essex (Angleterre) it:Essex nl:Essex no:Essex pl:Essex pt:Essex(Inglaterra) ru:ÐÑ?Ñ?ÐµÐºÑ? simple:Essex sk:Essex (grÃ³fstvo) This :Category category contains articles related to Essex. Category:Counties of England

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