Essex

This article is about the county.
For the Highway Authority, see Essex Council.

Essex is a traditional county in southeast England north of the River Thames, bounded approximately by the rivers Thames, Lea and Stour. It includes much of what is now generally regarded as East London.

Geography & Economy

Stansted Airport

Although Essex is best known for its proximity to London, the majority of the county is rural; only the south and the A12 corridor is built-up. Industry is similarly distributed, with agriculture still widespread. The coastline is varied, with major ports like Harwich and Tilbury interspersed with resorts like Southend and Clacton as well as large expanses of empty coastal marshes. Essex has a number of islands, with populations ranging from nil to thousands.

The county is part of the London commuter belt with a good public transport system connecting it to the capital. London Stansted Airport (actually some distance from London) is one of the busiest airports in the UK. Tourism is also important, with attractions including Epping Forest, Audley End House and the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford.

Roads

Dartford Crossing

Transport has been shaped around the county's rivers connecting to the North Sea coastline, which explains some of the patterns of main roads. Key roads in the county maintained by National Highways include the M25 around Central London, the M11 to Stansted (and ultimately to Cambridge and Newmarket), the A12 to Chelmsford and Colchester, and the A13 to Basildon and Southend, although this is only trunk as far as Tilbury. The A120 is now an important cross country route, while the A604 has previously been a major traffic corridor through the county although this has now been detrunked and completely renumbered.

Most non-trunk roads within the traditional county are maintained by Essex County Council, whilst the Unitary Authorities of Thurrock and Southend-on-Sea cover their own areas in the urban south. Those areas covered by the Greater London Authority are maintained by the relevant London Boroughs and Transport for London; roads maintained by the latter include western extensions of the A12 and A13, and the A406 North Circular.

Route	From	To	Length
M11	Woodford, Essex	Girton, Cambridgeshire	51 miles	View
M12	Brentwood	Chelmsford	12 miles	View
M12	Woodford	Brentwood	12 miles	View
M12	Woodford	Maplin Airport	57 miles	View
M13	Blackwall	Maplin Airport	39 miles	View
M15	Woodford	Barking	1 mile	View
M16	Bushey, Hertfordshire	Purfleet, Essex	3 miles	View
M25	Fleet Downs, near Dartford	Thurrock	117 miles	View
Ringway 3	Bushey, Hertfordshire	Bushey, Hertfordshire	103 miles	View
Ringway 4	Chevening	Navestock	126 miles	View
A11(M)	Stratford	Bishops Stortford	32 miles	View
A11	London	Norwich	61.8 miles	View
A12	London	Lowestoft	129 miles	View
A13	London	Shoeburyness	41 miles	View
A104	Islington Green	High Beach, Epping	13.2 miles	View
A106	Hackney	Leytonstone	4.4 miles	View
A106	Wanstead	Gallows Corner	9.0 miles	View
A107	Whitechapel	Manor House	5.1 miles	View
A108	Winston Way	Ley Street	0.16 miles	View
A110	Woodford Wells	Barnet	10.8 miles	View
A112	Waltham Abbey	North Woolwich	15.1 miles	View
A113	Leytonstone	Marden Ash	14.4 miles	View
A114	Whipps Cross	Plaistow	4.3 miles	View
A115	Hackney Wick	Stratford	1.4 miles	View
A115	Leytonstone	Valentines	2.6 miles	View
A116	Wanstead	Manor Park	1.5 miles	View
A117	Aldersbrook	Woolwich Ferry	5.1 miles	View
A118	Gallows Corner, Romford	Bow	11.3 miles	View
A118	Canning Town	Rippleside	4.4 miles	View
A120	Puckeridge	Harwich	63.7 miles	View
A121	Waltham Cross	Woodford Wells	10.0 miles	View
A122	Epping	Chelmsford	16.1 miles	View
A123	Chigwell	Rippleside	8.9 miles	View
A124	Canning Town	Upminster	11.9 miles	View
A125	Eastern Avenue, Romford	Rainham Bypass	5.4 miles	View
A126	West Thurrock	Tilbury	8.2 miles	View
A127	Gallows Corner, Romford	Southend on Sea	23.5 miles	View
A128	Orsett	Chipping Ongar	16.9 miles	View
A129	Shenfield	Hadleigh	17.0 miles	View
A130	Chelmsford bypass	Canvey Island	15.6 miles	View
A131	Chelmsford Bypass	Sudbury	31.8 miles	View
A132	Pitsea	South Woodham Ferrers	9.2 miles	View
A132	Colchester	Godmanchester	57.3 miles	View
A133	Colchester	Clacton-on-Sea	18.9 miles	View
A134	Tottenhill	Colchester	71.3 miles	View
A135	Colchester	Harwich	20 miles	View
A136	Harwich	Parkeston Quay	0.6 miles	View
A137	Ipswich	Colchester	18.4 miles	View
A138	Chelmsford	Boreham	2.8 miles	View
A143	Great Yarmouth	Haverhill	74.9 miles	View
A176	One Tree Hill	Billericay	5.7 miles	View
A282	Thurrock	Fleet Downs, near Dartford	5.2 miles	View
A406	Chiswick	Barking	25.8 miles	View
A414	Apsley, Hemel Hempstead	Maldon	66.9 miles	View
A503	Camden Town	Waterworks Corner, Woodford	8.4 miles	View
A604	Barton Seagrave	Parkeston Quay, Harwich	85 miles	View
A1006	Blackhorse Road Station	Leyton	2.3 miles	View
A1007	Woodford New Road	Hermon Hill	1.1 miles	View
A1008	Eastern Avenue, Wanstead	Bush Road, Wanstead	0.8 miles	View
A1009	South Chingford	Woodford	4.3 miles	View
A1010	Barking Road, Canning Town	Pier Road, North Woolwich	3.2 miles	View
A1011	West Ham	Canning Town	2.2 miles	View
A1012	North Stifford	Grays	1.5 miles	View
A1013	Grays	Stanford le Hope	5.4 miles	View
A1014	Stanford-le-Hope	Coryton Oil Refineries	3.8 miles	View
A1015	Rayleigh	Eastwood	3.2 miles	View
A1016	Widford	Springfield	4.3 miles	View
A1016	Writtle Road	Moulsham Street	0.1 miles	View
A1016	North Shoeburyness	Shoeburyness	0.4 miles	View
A1017	High Garrett	Haverhill 'Spirit of Enterprise' Roundabout	18.2 miles	View
A1018	Manningtree Station	Mistley	1.3 miles	View
A1019	Edinburgh Way	Second Avenue	0.9 miles	View
A1019	Dovercourt	Parkeston Quay	1.1 miles	View
A1020	East India Dock	East Ham	4.9 miles	View
A1023	Brook Street	Mountnessing	4.5 miles	View
A1025	M11 J7a	Great Parndon	5.7 miles	View
A1037	Mansfield Hill	Hall Lane	1.2 miles	View
A1060	Bishop's Stortford	Sandon, Chelmsford	21.5 miles	View
A1063	Wendens Ambo	Saffron Walden	2.0 miles	View
A1069	Chingford	Buckhurst Hill	1.5 miles	View
A1070	Crouch Street	Greenstead Road	1.6 miles	View
A1080	Romford Road	Broadway	0.1 miles	View
A1081	Gants Hill	Walthamstow Forest	2.9 miles	View
A1082	Lea Bridge Road	Woodford New Road	0.1 miles	View
A1083	Becontree Heath	Ilford	2.9 miles	View
A1089	Orsett Heath	Tilbury Docks	4.5 miles	View
A1089	Little Thurrock	Chadwell St Mary	1.4 miles	View
A1090	Purfleet	West Thurrock	2.7 miles	View
A1090	Purfleet	West Thurrock	2.7 miles	View
A1091	Writtle	Roxwell Road	0.7 miles	View
A1092	Baythorne End	Long Melford (N)	10.5 miles	View
A1099	Bellmead	Manor Road	1.27 miles	View
A1112	Abridge	Newtons Corner, South Hornchurch	9.2 miles	View
A1113	Chelmsford	Springfield	1.1 miles	View
A1114	Howe Green	Widford	4.0 miles	View
A1124	Sible Hedingham	Colchester	15.9 miles	View
A1153	Barking	Becontree	1.7 miles	View
A1158	Westcliffe-on-Sea	Prittlewell	1.3 miles	View
A1159	Bournes Green	Southend Airport	3.5 miles	View
A1160	Southchurch Road	Eastern Esplanade	0.7 miles	View
A1161	North Weald Bassett	Epping	3.2 miles	View
A1168	Rolls Park	Loughton	1.8 miles	View
A1169	Potter Street	Burnt Mill	5.7 miles	View
A1184	Harlow	Bishop's Stortford By Pass	6.9 miles	View
A1188	Charlie Brown's Roundabout	Gants Hill	1.7 miles	View
A1199	Green Man, Cambridge Park	Woodford Green	1.3 miles	View
A1232	Colchester	Ardleigh Crown	2.3 miles	View
A1235	Upper Mayne	East Mayne	2.4 miles	View
A1240	Becontree Heath	Dagenham	1.8 miles	View
A1244	Rammey Marsh	Waltham Abbey	0.4 miles	View
A1245	Benfleet	Battlesbridge	3.6 miles	View
A1250	Stortford Park	Birchanger Green	3.0 miles	View
A1251	Waterloo Road	St Edwards Way	1.0 mile	View
A1301	Sadlers Farm	Canvey Island	4.2 miles	View
A1306	Dagenham	Grays	9.3 miles	View
A1311	Thames Gateway	New Road	0.4 miles	View
A1321	Basildon	Chalvedon	1.9 miles	View
A1341	Severalls	Mile End	0.9 miles	View
A1400	Charlie Brown's Roundabout	Gants Hill	1.7 miles	View
A2012	Beckton	Thamesmead	2.5 miles	View
B109	Forest Gate	East Ham	1.2 miles	View
B115	South Hackney	Leytonstone	4.1 miles	View
B146	Chingford Lane	King's Road	0.6 miles	View
B148	Dunton Wayletts	Pipps Hill	2.8 miles	View
B149	Little Thurrock	Chadwell St Mary	1.3 miles	View
B159	High Road Leyton	Lea Bridge Road	0.3 miles	View
B160	Whipps Cross	Chingford Green	3.5 miles	View
B161	Grove Green, Leyton	Wanstead Park	1.43 miles	View
B162	London Road	South Street	0.6 miles	View
B162	Green Man, Leytonstone	Blake Hall Road, Wanstead	0.3 miles	View
B163	Carpenters Road	Stratford Market station	0.4 miles	View
B164	Stratford	Canning Town	2.2 miles	View
B165	West Ham	Little Ilford	3.3 miles	View
B166	Barking Road	The Broadway	0.5 miles	View
B167	Romford Road	East Ham High Street	2.2 miles	View
B168	South Woodford High Road	Chigwell Road	0.7 miles	View
B169	Mansfield Hill	Chingford Green	0.6 miles	View
B169	Woodford Wells	Jack's Hill	4.4 miles	View
B170	Buckhurst Hill	Chigwell	2.1 miles	View
B171	Rolls Park	Debden Green	1.8 miles	View
B172	Abridge	Jack's Hill	3.4 miles	View
B173	Woodford Bridge	Chigwell Row	2.6 miles	View
B174	Eastern Avenue, Romford	Hog Hill	2.3 miles	View
B175	Passingford Bridge	Romford By Pass	5.6 miles	View
B176	Ilford	Beacontree Heath	3.0 miles	View
B177	Longbridge	Little Heath	2.7 miles	View
B178	Rylands Estate	Dagenham East	0.8 miles	View
B179	Blackhorse Road station	Crooked Billet	1.8 miles	View
B181	Great Amwell	North Weald Bassett	13.6 miles	View
B182	Bury Farm	Epping	1.3 miles	View
B183	Sheering	Takeley	9.8 miles	View
B184	Stump Cross	Chipping Ongar	31.7 miles	View
B185	Brentwood High Street	Queen's Road	0.2 miles	View
B186	Lakeside	Brentwood	11.6 miles	View
B187	Cranham	Upminster	2.0 miles	View
B188	Orsett Heath	Sticking Hill	2.9 miles	View
B189	Orsett Road, Grays	Grays Beach	0.5 miles	View
B191	Becontree	Goodmayes	0.8 miles	View
B192	Woodford Avenue	Cranbrook Road	0.7 miles	View
B194	Waltham Abbey	Broxbourne	6.0 miles	View
B196	Marks Gate	Chadwell Heath	1.5 miles	View
B1002	Brentwood By Pass	Chelmsford By Pass	5.0 miles	View
B1005	Bishop's Stortford	Hatfield Heath	3.9 miles	View
B1006	Tarpots	Benfleet	1.8 miles	View
B1006	Writtle	Warren Farm	0.7 miles	View
B1007	Chelmsford	Stanford le Hope	18.2 miles	View
B1008	Chelmsford	Great Dunmow (N)	13.7 miles	View
B1009	Galleywood	Moulsham	2.2 miles	View
B1010	Woodham Mortimer	Burnham-on-Crouch	12.7 miles	View
B1011	Pitsea	Wickford	4.3 miles	View
B1012	South Woodham Ferrers	near North Fambridge	4.2 miles	View
B1013	Rayleigh	Southend-on-Sea (North)	6.2 miles	View
B1014	Hadleigh	Leigh Beck, Canvey Island	5.7 miles	View
B1015	London Road	Queensway	1.9 miles	View
B1016	The Kursaal, Southend on Sea	Cambridge Town	3.0 miles	View
B1017	Great Wakering	North Shoebury	1.9 miles	View
B1018	Braintree	Southminster	25.0 miles	View
B1019	Hatfield Peverel	Langford	3.6 miles	View
B1020	Althorne	Southminster	3.1 miles	View
B1021	Bradwell Waterside	Burnham on Crouch	11.6 miles	View
B1022	Heybridge	Colchester	14.9 miles	View
B1023	Kelvedon	Tollesbury	8.7 miles	View
B1024	Kelvedon	Earls Colne	9.1 miles	View
B1025	Colchester	West Mersea	8.3 miles	View
B1026	Colchester	Heybridge, Maldon	15.9 miles	View
B1026	Crouch Street	Greenstead Road	1.7 miles	View
B1027	Wivenhoe Park	Great Clacton	12.2 miles	View
B1028	Wivenhoe Park	Wivenhoe Station	1.5 miles	View
B1029	Stratford St Mary	Brightlingsea	14.4 miles	View
B1030	Brightlingsea police station	Victoria Place	0.2 miles	View
B1031	Pier Avenue	Clacton-on-Sea Railway Station	0.4 miles	View
B1032	Clacton on Sea	Kirby Cross	5.5 miles	View
B1033	Weeley	Frinton-on-Sea	7.6 miles	View
B1034	Thorpe Cross	Walton-on-the-Naze	4.2 miles	View
B1035	Manningtree	Thorpe Green	8.1 miles	View
B1036	Southfields	Lee Chapel	2.2 miles	View
B1036	Wellington Road	The Quay	0.2 miles	View
B1038	Buntingford	Newport	11.7 miles	View
B1039	Royston	Wendens Ambo	11.2 miles	View
B1048	Old Harlow	Pinnacles	3.6 miles	View
B1051	Stansted Mountfitchet	Great Sampford	12.5 miles	View
B1052	Wendens Ambo	Burrough End	17.0 miles	View
B1053	Bocking	Saffron Walden	20.1 miles	View
B1054	Radwinter	New England	7.5 miles	View
B1055	Great Sampford (NW)	Hempstead	0.8 miles	View
B1056	Water Lane	Finchingfield Road	0.2 miles	View
B1057	Great Dunmow	Haverhill	16.7 miles	View
B1058	Sible Hedingham	Bulmer Tye	5.3 miles	View
B1059	Colchester	Sudbury	13.5 miles	View
B1061	Sturmer	Newmarket	13.9 miles	View
B1062	Baythorne End	Long Melford	10.1 miles	View
B1133	Roydon Hamlet	Katherines, Harlow	0.7 miles	View
B1137	Chelmsford	Hatfield Peverel	6.7 miles	View
B1256	Birchanger Green	Braintree Eastern Bypass	17.0 miles	View
B1335	Rainham	South Ockendon	5.4 miles	View
B1336	Frinton on Sea	Walton on the Naze	1.3 miles	View
B1351	Lower Street	Cambridge Road	0.7 miles	View
B1352	Lawford	Harwich	13.5 miles	View
B1367	London Road	Ilford Lane	0.52 miles	View
B1369	London Road, Great Clacton	Wellesley Road, Clacton-on-Sea	0.8 miles	View
B1383	Bishop's Stortford	Stump Cross	17.5 miles	View
B1389	Hatfield Road, Witham	Colchester Road, Witham	2.4 miles	View
B1393	Theydon Bois(W)	Hastingwood	6.0 miles	View
B1408	Marks Tey	Stanway	2.1 miles	View
B1414	Little Clacton	Dovercourt Station	12.5 miles	View
B1417	Ford End	Gransmore Green	5.7 miles	View
B1418	Woodham Mortimer	South Woodham Ferrers	5.2 miles	View
B1419	Vange	Barstaple	1.0 mile	View
B1420	Vange, Basildon	Corringham	2.4 miles	View
B1421	Upminster	North Ockendon	3.0 miles	View
B1422	Crouch Street	Greenstead Road	1.7 miles	View
B1423	Barking	Becontree	1.7 miles	View
B1441	Weeley	Great Clacton	4.7 miles	View
B1442	Little Clacton	Great Clacton	1.9 miles	View
B1459	Collier Row	Chase Cross	0.9 miles	View
B1464	Five Bells	Sadlers Farm	3.5 miles	View
B1508	Colchester	Sudbury	13.5 miles	View
T2	London	Norwich		View
T3	London	Great Yarmouth		View
T32	East of London	Southend		View
T33	London	Tilbury		View
T36	Chiswick	Gants Hill		View

Key

Motorway

Primary Route

Non Primary Route

Former Motorway

Defunct Route

E Road

Future Motorway

Future Primary

Future Non Primary

Historical Route

Tourist Route

Roman Road

Unbuilt Motorway

Unbuilt Primary

Unbuilt Non Primary

National Cycle Network

Cycle Route

Eurovelo Cycle Route

Turnpikes

Main Article: Essex Turnpikes

Junctions

Main Article: Junctions in Essex

Bridges, Tunnels, and other Crossings

Main Article: Crossings in Essex

Videos

Tom Scott - Amazing Places - Walking the Most Dangerous Path in Britain

The Broomway is surrounded on both sides by quicksand and deep, sucking mud. It has no markers and no guideposts. And if you mistime your walk, you won't outrun the tide. Oh, and it's in the middle of a Ministry of Defence firing range. But most of the time, if you want to visit Foulness Island, it's the only way.

Watch video > >