Basildon Through Time

by Lisa Horner

From the Stone Age to the exciting era of post-war architectural experimentation, Basildon is a town brimming with exciting historical gems just waiting to be explored. Beorhtel’s Dun, as Basildon was originally called, got its name from a Saxon man who owned the hilly country to the north of Holy Cross church. While agriculture was the town’s main industry for many centuries, the invention of the railway and two world wars soon changed all that.During the post-war building boom, Basildon was earmarked for a makeover as a New Town, and the Basildon we see today came to be. From old town to new, Basildon has undergone some incredible changes over the last century. Basildon Through Time explores the town’s history and recent transformation, drawing on the Basildon Borough Heritage Group’s extensive collection of images.

96 pages, Paperback

Published November 15, 2014

About the author

I was previously a researcher for the Basildon Heritage Trail (Essex, UK) and Frances Clamp's Basildon, Our Heritage. For my degree in Art & Design Practice (BA Hons) I wrote my dissertation on how storytelling has evolved from its oral tradition through myth and ritual, theatre, ballad to the media of today.

My fascination for history began when a kind older friend provided information and pictures for a primary school history project about the village I lived in, Hockley in Essex, UK. It was hard to believe that at one time smugglers were hanged at the joining of three familiar roads or that many would travel for miles to go to the Hockley Spa pump room, although its fame was brief.

My Nan, Amelia was also a very good storyteller, how times had changed! Our family lived in comparative comfort to the early 1900's when Amelia was sent with some of her eight brothers and sisters to collect the scraps of meat from underneath the stalls at the old Spitalfields Market for a stew that Great Nan would make last a few days.