Brentwood

Brentwood is a town in Essex, on the historic Roman road from London to Colchester. It is the first major settlement outside the M25 on the A12 corridor, as well as being a hub for several other main local roads.

History

The Roman Road from London to Colchester ran through the site of the town but there is no historical evidence that a settlement existed at the site until the 12th Century. It was established as a clearing within the great forest of Essex and wood was burnt for charcoal here: "Burntwood" being the original name. The catalist for development of routes may have been pilgrims from the north and east of England on their quest to worship at the shrine of St Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral. One of the villages outside the orignal Brentwood called Pilgrims Hatch bears testiment to these journeys.

Following the intorduction of the railway, Brentwood was able to develop as a commuter town for London and this would have also accelerated growth.

The A12 became increasingly congested with greater car use in the 1960s. This was relieved in 1966 with the opening of the Brentwood bypass. The junction to the West of the town was built near the Brook Street settlement and is known as the Brook Street Interchange. The roundabout built for the junction was much larger than would have been needed for a simple bypassed route into a town. There were various plans for London raidial and orbital routes which could arrive at this desination and the roundabout appears to have been future proofed for these various proposals. Eventually these came down to the M25 which was built over the top of the existing roundabout connection at Junction 28 and was opened in April 1983 and this relieved north to south traffic that would have used the A128 to reach the Dartford Crossing or Tilbury.

There has been very little further road building in Brentwood until the present day.

New Developments

The Brook Street Interchange has, for some years, been unable to properly cope with traffic using it. National Highways has now started work on building a freeflow link between the M25 North and the A12 East

Routes

Route	To	Notes
M25	(M11, M1), Stansted Airport, Watford	skirts the west of the town
M25	(M20, M23), Dartford Crossing	skirts the west of the town
A12	Central London, Romford
A12	Chelmsford
A128	Chipping Ongar
A128	Ingrave
A129	Billericay, Hutton
A1023	Motorway M25, London (A12)
A1023	Shenfield, Chelmsford (A12)
B185		short link in town centre
B186	Great Warley
B1002	Mountnessing, Ingatestone
E15	(M11, M1), Stansted Airport, Watford	unsigned, follows M25
E15	(M20, M23), Dartford Crossing	unsigned, follows M25
E30	(M11, M1), Stansted Airport, Watford	unsigned, follows M25
E30	Chelmsford, Harwich (A120)	unsigned, follows A12
M12	London, Romford	skirts the west and south of the town
M12	Maplin Airport, Basildon, Southend-on-Sea	skirts the west and south of the town
M12	London, Romford
M12	Chelmsford, Colchester, Harwich