WHAT WE HAVE  LOST IN THE PAST 100 YEARS

The shelves in bookshops around Essex are weighed down with various publications which focus on some part of the heritage and history of the County.  A whole range of subjects have fascinated writers, travellers and historians  so it’s sometimes difficult to know which one to recommend.

However, a copy of “Romantic Essex” by Reginald A. Beckett arrived in the post recently.  Nothing unusual there – except when I read the blurb on the back cover.   It was first published in 1901.

The second edition appeared in 1907 and that may have been the last anyone heard – or read – of Reginald Beckett.  But no.  In 2001 it was rescued from the dustbin of literature, re-printed  - and now provides a fascinating glimpse of a way-of-life that has long disappeared.

When we worry about global warming, eco-towns, expanding airports, lack of water and other resources and talk of  motorways, affordable housing, sustainability, brownfield sites and the Green Belt, it is refreshing to read a book about Essex  where none of these 21^st century words and phrases are mentioned. In fact, they weren’t even invented.

Beckett travelled through the county  on foot, meeting people, making notes and observing the way an essentially rural county was adjusting to the changes of the Victorian era.  Remember, this had been a period of enormous change with cities expanding rapidly, heavy industry  and factories  appearing on what had been open countryside and, of course, the development of a major railway network throughout the country.

The arrival of the steam locomotive had an extraordinary impact on Essex,  No longer was the county isolated and the trains brought workers into dirty and overcrowded towns and cities, especially London.   The agricultural existence and lifestyle changed forever.

Reginald Beckett’s book makes the reader aware of how much we have lost in the past 100 years.  There have been gains and benefits – but for everyone who believes in the principles of the CPRE it is a reminder that the challenges that Essex faces in the immediate future are yet another stage in the battle to retain the remaining tranquillity and landscape of the County.

It would not be possible to walk through rural Essex today and finish up with notes about “Romantic Essex”.  We can’t kid ourselves on that one.   But we can make an effort to stop the rape and plunder of the county ;  Beckett said in his book...”It is neither possible nor desirable for all of us to admire the same things.  I want my readers to go and find fresh beauties in Essex for themselves.”

Let’s keep looking, shall we?  And preserve it where we can.