WE CELEBRATE TWO ENGLISH QUEENS AND NOW PREPARING FOR ESSEX ROYAL PLATINUM CELEBRATIONS

Currently, some of our members of the Society of Women Writers and Journalists are gathering material to write articles on our Queen Elizabeth's upcoming platinum jubilee. 

To celebrate this unprecedented anniversary, events and initiatives will take place throughout the year, culminating in a four day UK bank holiday weekend from Thursday 2nd to Sunday 5th June. The bank holiday will provide an opportunity for communities and people throughout the United Kingdom to come together to celebrate the historic milestone. The four days of celebrations will include public events and community activities, as well as national moments of reflection on The Queen’s 70 years of service.

In addition, initiatives including The Queen’s Green Canopy and the Platinum PuddinBecause of its close proximity to London – Essex was once co-joined to the capital at Bow - the people living within the county were used to seeing their monarchs pass by their towns and villages on the major routes to the coast and onward to Colchester.

First of Elizabeth's Progresses in the Summer of 1561

Just a little over 460 years ago, Queen Elizabeth 1 was preparing to set out on her first 'Long Progress' of her reign. She travelled through Essex, crossed the border to Ipswich (Suffolk) and returned to London via north and west Essex. On 19 July 1561, the Queen arrived at Ingatestone Hall - the majestic, newly completed mansion of Sir William Petre  - her clever minister who was close to the end of his long career of devoted service to Her Majesty and three previous Tudor monarchs.

Havering-atte-Bower, the Starting Point for Elizabeth's Journeys
It would be unusual to find a literate person, young or old, who has never been attracted by the stirring events and colourful figures of Elizabethan times and by a magnificent Queen who could extract admiration even from her deadliest foes. The Queen knew the county of Essex better than most parts of her realm, largely because the starting point for at least seven of her Progresses was the palace of Havering-atte-Bowe. High about Romford and the great Essex road, with uninterrupted views southwards, this palace had been a quiet retreat from the cares of court for English monarchs since Edward the Confessor.

When Elizabeth and her retinue were ready – and there were hundreds of courtiers and servants - the cavalcade journeyed slowly through Essex. The Queen recorded her appreciation of the commons, heath and the patchwork quilt of countryside and fields which had been enclosed from forest mainly before the time of the earliest manorial records.

Coastal Marshlands of Essex

Even the coastal marshlands of Essex were not unknown to Elizabeth; on her famous journey to Tilbury in 1588, she saw this area of marsh pasture around the recently formed Gulf in the manor Hornchurch. The fascinating survey of Great Wakering manor, 1598, gives a detailed picture of local marshland topography; all the 'laines' (oyster-layings) in the 'fleets', the 'kedells' (fish-weirs) are all mentioned items that interested the monarch.

The Great Forest of Essex

Elizabeth prided herself on her own Royal Forest of Waltham, the hunting ground of English monarchs from William the Conqueror to Queen Anne. At least three times, Elizabeth visited the Earl of Leicester at Wanstead House on the fringe of the Forest.  During a rather short Progress in July 1568, she was entertained at Copped Hall, Epping, by Sir Thomas Heneage.   Queen Elizabeth's Hunting Lodge at Chingford in the Forest was built as a 'standing' for spectators of the chase; it is shown here as it probably appeared in the 16th century.

Favourite Places for a Queen

Colchester, Maldon, Harwich, Saffron Walden, were all favourite places beloved by Elizabeth, but perhaps New Hall, Boreham, a beautiful manor house, built by her father, King Henry VIII  in 1517.  Although these places were associated with pleasure, her famously recorded visit to Tilbury waters was quite different.  The year was 1588 with the threat from the Spanish Armada handing over England and for this reason she travelled by horse to Tilbury where she reviewed her troops and delivered her noblest speech.

Queen Elizabeth Slept Here

Throughout England, there are many historical plaques declaring that “Queen Elizabeth Slept Here”.  Historians have written that she did, indeed, sleep in 240 different places during her forty-four-year reign, an honour indeed!