Past events

A selection of some of our past events, which often have a historical flavour and are always friendly and welcoming.

Essex on the edge – the experience of a county from the Hundred Years’ War to the Dissolution

With its situation as a maritime county facing the continent and its proximity to London, Essex experienced many of the critical events and transitions at the close of the Middle Ages. This one-day conference will include entirely new research undertaken for the next volume of the Victoria County History (volume XII) on Harwich. Using rich archival documentation, two of our speakers will tell us about life and migration in this thriving port town at this time. Two further talks will assess aspects of the impact on the county of two significant military and religious changes, the Hundred Years’ War in the 14th century and the Dissolution of the monasteries in the 16th century.

This conference is jointly organised by the Victoria County History of Essex, the Friends of Historic Essex, and the Essex Record Office.

Saturday, 18 May 2019, registration from 10.00am, close at 3.00pm

Essex Record Office, Wharf Road, Chelmsford, CM2 6YT

Papers

Neil Wiffen – Supplying the army: the contribution of Essex to provisioning the forces of Edward III, c.1337

Dr Herbert Eiden – Life in 15th-century Harwich as seen through the court rolls

Dr Chris Thornton – Overseas migrants in Harwich in the 15th and 16th centuries

Ken Crowe – The dissolution in south west Essex – Barking Abbey and Stratford Langthorne Priory

Autumn Lecture 2017: The Essex Coast in the First World War

Our annual lecture as part of the Essex Great War Archive Project took place on Saturday, 25 November at Chelmsford Museum. We enjoyed two lively and informative talks, the first from David Whittle on Harwich during the First World War, the second from Andrew Emeny on juvenile crime in Southend during the First World War.