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Billericay ( ) is a historic market town and civil parish in the Borough of Basildon in Essex, England. It is located east of the City of London. The town was founded in the 13th century by the Abbot of West Ham, in his Great Burstead.
During the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381, the Essex rebels were defeated in a battle with Richard II's forces in the Battle of Billericay. In 1620 four local people were on board the Mayflower as it sailed to Massachusetts, to establish the first English settlement in what would become the north of the United States. The town has long taken a pride in this connection, and many businesses and other organisations use the name Mayflower, with the Town Council and other local organisations using it as their emblem.
Although the precise etymology of the name is not known, England has other places named Billerica:
The Tudor antiquarian John Leland believed the already-abandoned Billerica in Kent was a variant of Bellocastrum, ‘fair castle’ in Latin. In Billericay there is a Roman fort at Blunt's Wall Farm; likewise ‘Burh’ gives its name to Great Burstead. This suggests that a Romano-British place name was reused by the Anglo-Saxons following the end of Roman rule in Britain.
/ref> There may also have been a small cavalry fort at Blunts Wall Farm.
The town of Billericay, first recorded as "Byllyrica" in 1291, is understood to have been founded in the 13th century by the Abbot of West Ham, head of the Cistercians community of Stratford Langthorne Abbey, twenty miles away on the River Lea, in what is now inner London. The Abbey held the Manor of Great Burstead at the time.The Essex landscape, A study in its form and history, John Hunter, Essex Record Office, Chapter 8.
The town was established at the High Street. Like the abandoned Roman settlement just to the south, it benefitted from a prominent position on the high ground forming the watershed of the River Crouch and River Wid catchment areas. It was also on the crossroads (at Sun Corner) of the road from the River Thames to Chelmsford (the modern B1007) and the road linking Hutton to
/ref>The Story of Billericay, Charles Phillips, The History Press, 2013
At this time, the parish church for Billericay was at St Mary Magdalene, Great Burstead. By the 14th century a chantry chapel had been built on the High Street in Billericay, which became a chapel of ease to Great Burstead following the Reformation, eventually becoming a parish church in 1844, also dedicated to St Mary Magdalen.
In the 13th and 14th centuries, some pilgrims to Canterbury journeyed via Billericay. Some of them may have spent the night in Billericay before crossing the River Thames at Tilbury. This may account for the large number of inns in the town.
Billericay's most notable historical episode was the Battle of Billericay during the Peasants' Revolt of 1381.
Christopher Martin, who was born in Great Burstead and later became a Billericay goods merchant and property owner, travelled on the Mayflower in 1620 as the official Ship's Governor and purchasing agent, procuring ships supplies for the voyage.
The Mayflower ship set sail once the Pilgrim Fathers had all boarded and set to meet the Speedwell in the English Channel; the Speedwell was sailing from the Netherlands. Unfortunately the Speedwell developed leaks and so the ships headed for the Devon coast to repair her, but this proved impossible; the Mayflower eventually sailed from Plymouth without her.
Four people from Billericay were on board, including Christopher Martin, his wife Mary Prowe, along with Solomon Prowe - her son from her first marriage - and John Langemore - the Martins' servant. All four pilgrims perished after their arrival at Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Christopher Martin died of fever on 8 January 1621. His wife perished in Plymouth in 1621. Both Christopher and Mary are buried in the Cole Hill Burial ground in Plymouth. The unfortunate fate of the would-be pioneers did not deter other inhabitants of Billericay from setting sail for the New World. The town of Billerica, Massachusetts, was established in 1655 by colonists from Billericay and named after their hometown in England.
The Billericay Poor Law Union was created in 1835 to serve the town and several surrounding parishes. It built a workhouse in 1840 on Norsey Road. Parts of this building were later incorporated into St Andrew's Hospital.
The railway arrived in Billericay in 1889; the station is situated on a branch line from the Great Eastern Main Line between Shenfield and Southend-on-Sea. In 1899, Billericay's market, the reason for the town's establishment is recorded for the last time, though there were short-lived revivals.p120 The Story of Billericay, Charles Phillips
The former workhouse became St Andrew's Hospital, which housed the internationally renowned Regional Plastic Surgery and Burns unit from 1973 until this was relocated to Broomfield Hospital, Chelmsford in April 1998. After the relocation, most of the hospital was redeveloped into housing, with the listed old workhouse buildings being converted to residential use.
There are several open spaces on the urban edge; the mixed use park at Hannakins Farm to the north-west includes a number of playing fields, Queens Park Country Park, also to the north-west, is managed as a nature reserve, as is Norsey Wood and Mill Meadows on the eastern side of the town. Norsey Wood and Mill Meadows act as 'Green belt' in that they extend from the open countryside to the centre of town.
Both Mill Meadows and Norsey Wood are environmentally valuable and sensitive, and have, in part or whole, been designated as Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) as a result. Mill Meadows is a local nature reserve near the centre of Billericay. Centuries of grazing have created the ideal conditions for a wonderful diversity of wild flowers, fungi, insects and invertebrates, many of which are very rare. It contains an area of 16.63 acres (6.73 ha) that has been declared as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) for its unimproved neutral grassland.
The urban district, but not the parish, was renamed Basildon in 1955, although the council continued to be based at the Town Hall and adjoining offices in Billericay until the early 1960s when it moved into new premises in Basildon itself. In 1974 the Basildon Urban District was reconstituted as the modern Basildon district and the civil parish of Billericay was abolished, becoming an unparished area.Local Government Act 1972 A new civil parish of Billericay was established in 1996, this time just covering the town itself rather than the whole Basildon district.
The town is served by Billericay railway station, which is on the Shenfield to Southend Line. Services between London Liverpool Street, Shenfield and Southend Victoria are operated by Greater Anglia; some trains in peak hours run to Southminster.
Local bus services are operated by First Essex, which connect Billericay with Chelmsford, Basildon, Brentwood and Wickford. The railway station bus stop connects to many routes, including service 300 which operates regularly between Basildon and Chelmsford. School services are provided by First Essex and NIBS Buses.
The town was established at the crossroads (at Sun Corner) of the roads now known as the B1007 (higher grade parts of which are designated the A176) and A129.
The B1007 provides a road link to Basildon to the south of Billericay, as well as to the A127. The road passes from just south of the town centre as Laindon Road, then the A129 junction at Sun Corner, continues northwards as Billericay's High Street and then Stock Road. It continues north to Chelmsford. Along its route is the village of Stock and an interchange to the A12.
The A129 links the town to nearby areas such as Brentwood to the west and Wickford to the east.
The nearest primary routes are the A12 to the north and the A127 in the south.
Local TV coverage is provided by BBC London and ITV London which is received from the Crystal Palace TV transmitter. Some areas of town can also receive BBC East and ITV Anglia from the Sudbury TV transmitter.
The town is served by the local newspaper, Southend Echo.
The town was mentioned in the Ian Dury song "Billericay Dickie".
Billericay is the setting of the BBC sitcom Gavin & Stacey as the home of Gavin Shipman (Mathew Horne) and his parents; however, the actual filming took place in Wales.
The Cater Museum, a charity, is a local history museum containing artefacts recording the lives of people in the area. It is housed in an 18th and 19th-century Grade II listed building on the High Street.
The Billericay Community Archive strives to record photos, memories and history relating to the town and surrounding areas on their website.
Billericay's commercial cinema "The Ritz" closed its doors in 1971. However, in 2015, the Billericay Community Cinema was established. Less than a year after it started, the not-for-profit, volunteer-based group won a national award: the "Best New Film Society" at the Cinema for All Community Cinema Awards.
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