As a historian, I take every opportunity I can to visit and find out more about local places of historic interest, and I am now compiling them on my website in ‘Dr Burghart’s History Notes’ (https://www.alexburghart.org.uk/campaigns/dr-burgharts-history-notes)
Brentwood is known as being the site of the start of the 14th century Peasants’ Revolt – an event no commemorated in the name of the newest pub and micro brewery on Kings Road near Brentwood Station. I know the brewery/pub has just expanded and is on my list for a visit and a pint one Friday.
Some two hundred years later, William Hunter became a martyr as he was burnt at the stake, and is commemorated with a stone memorial off Wilson’s Corner roundabout and in the naming of William Hunter Way running parallel to the High Street.
In times to come, Brentwood’s former White Hart Inn – now the Sugar Hut – may be remembered less for its history as a coaching inn for travellers heading to and from London, and more for its part in the TOWIE TV series.
The local churches are always a great source of less well-known historic information, and my Friday constituency days are always made better by a quick visit to a village church. I have described them previously as ‘a stone and mortar history book’ with memorial plaques to the local great and good, and stained glass windows dedicated to the memory of the brave and fallen.
Sometimes a building catches my eye, or a blue plaque like the one on Lloyds Bank on Brentwood High Street declaring it to be the site of the world’s first ATM cashpoint. If you know if any small but significant historic places in Brentwood and the surrounding villages, do let me know and I will add them to my constituency visits for further investigation.
