Secret
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Loughton has a long history dating back to an Iron Age hill fort, Loughton Camp. The town also had an important role in the Tudor period when Loughton Hall was owned by Mary Tudor before she became Queen. The area was part of Epping Forest and was the site of a series of crimes associated with such a rural landscape. Being on the route of regular coaches from London to Cambridge, it was also an ideal place for highwaymen. The lure of easy money by robbery on the highway was too much of a temptation for a local butcher, Dick Turpin, who supposedly roasted a local widow over her own fire to find out where she had hidden her money.
The area expanded in the nineteenth century with the coming of the railway. However the refusal of the company to offer cheap workingman’s tickets led to the area remaining very middle class. During the Victorian period Loughton became popular with those of artistic and scientific interests, and some political reformers.
Join author Michael Foley as he delves beneath the surface to reveal the real Secret Loughton.
The area expanded in the nineteenth century with the coming of the railway. However the refusal of the company to offer cheap workingman’s tickets led to the area remaining very middle class. During the Victorian period Loughton became popular with those of artistic and scientific interests, and some political reformers.
Join author Michael Foley as he delves beneath the surface to reveal the real Secret Loughton.
The Essex town of Brentwood has a long and interesting history. The earliest settlement was founded in a clearing in the dense forest that stretched from the edge of London through Essex. The town grew up around the crossroads of the road to Colchester and a pilgrim route to the shrine of St Thomas a Becket in Canterbury. The town became famous for its numerous inns that catered for the travellers and it was also the site of the first disturbances of the Peasants' Revolt in 1381.
The town grew in prosperity as a major stopping place for travellers by stagecoach to and from London and welcomed royal visitors to the large houses built by the wealthy in the area. The town has continued to grow, becoming the home for several industries, including trampolining manufacturing in the 1950s, as well housing and a major army barracks at Warley. Despite being heavily bombed during the Second World War, much of the town's historical buildings survived, many of which have featured in TV programmes over the years.
Secret Brentwood explores the lesser-known episodes and characters in the history of the town through the centuries. With tales of remarkable people, unusual events and tucked-away historical buildings, Secret Brentwood will appeal to all those with an interest in the history of this Essex town.
The town grew in prosperity as a major stopping place for travellers by stagecoach to and from London and welcomed royal visitors to the large houses built by the wealthy in the area. The town has continued to grow, becoming the home for several industries, including trampolining manufacturing in the 1950s, as well housing and a major army barracks at Warley. Despite being heavily bombed during the Second World War, much of the town's historical buildings survived, many of which have featured in TV programmes over the years.
Secret Brentwood explores the lesser-known episodes and characters in the history of the town through the centuries. With tales of remarkable people, unusual events and tucked-away historical buildings, Secret Brentwood will appeal to all those with an interest in the history of this Essex town.