Chelmsford is the county town of Essex, England. It lies 30 miles (48.5 km) northeast of Charing Cross London. It is in the centre of Essex and has been the county town since 1215. During the peasants revolt Chelmsford was made capital of England. It is also the seat of the Borough of Chelmsford, which covers a wider area than the town, including the new (ca. 1970s) settlement of South Woodham Ferrers on the banks of the River Crouch. The Borough Council celebrated its centenary in 1988 (it had been incorporated as a municipal borough in 1888 under the Municipal Corporations Act 1882), and the town its 800th anniversary in 1999.

Chelmsford Cathedral is the second smallest cathedral in England (after Derby Cathedral), built in the 15th and early 16th centuries when it was the parish church of the prosperous medieval town. The Diocese (established in 1914) covers all of Essex and much of East London. John Dee — noted Elizabethan philosopher and scientist, and also responsible for the English translation of Euclid — was educated at the Chantry School (later re-founded as the Grammar School) in the sixteenth century. Chelmsford is also home to part of the Anglia Ruskin University and to the grammar schools of Chelmsford County High School and King Edward VI Grammar School founded in 1551 by charter of King Edward VI on the site on an earlier educational foundation (although evidence suggests it could have been around in as early as 1292)

Population

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The total population of the area covered by the Borough council is 157,748 (ONS 2004 estimate). Approximately 60,000 live in the town and over 42,400 in the surrounding suburban and semi-rural parishes. Around 16,600 live in South Woodham Ferrers. The remainder of the population live in the surrounding rural areas, including the villages of Galleywood, Bicknacre, East, West and South Hanningfield, Boreham, Ford End, Pleshey, Highwood, Good Easter, High Easter, Chignal St James, Chignal Smealy, Howe Green, Roxwell, Great Leighs, Little Leighs, Broomfield, Great Waltham, Little Waltham, Great Baddow, Little Baddow, Danbury, Sandon, Rettendon, Runwell, Margaretting, Stock and Writtle. (Source: population derived from 2001 census).

Transport

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It is served by Chelmsford railway station. About 10,000 commuters travel to London daily by rail, making Chelmsford the busiest through railway station in England (the busiest overall being Clapham Junction).

The A12 road from London, originally built by the Romans to connect London and Colchester, used to pass through the town, but is now diverted around the east. The £34.8m nine-mile (14 km) bypass opened in November 1986. The A414 is the main east-west route through the Borough, and the A130 and A131 run approximately north-south. The Army & Navy roundabout is notorious for its traffic hold-ups, even though the north-south road at this point is no longer the A12. The junction is unusual for its flyover, where traffic goes one way into town (westerly) until 2.30pm each day and one way (easterly) out of town after 2.30pm. A two-way flyover has been mooted but is very...