North-east of London, nestled in the southerly quarter of the county of Essex, sits the city of Chelmsford - the historic county town of Essex. With a rich storied history, Chelmsford remains one of the most sought after locales in the Essex county. The wider Chelmsford housing stock is varied and broad; however the central portion based around the Chelmsford Rail station is predominantly occupied by apartments and townhouses. Apartments here range from £100,000 to £250,000, however a block of apartments are currently being sold in Chelmsford Central for around £2.8 million!

The town itself lies in the valley of the River Chelmer and archaeological evidence suggests human settlement in the area dating back as far as 2,500 BC! Chelmsford was also an important minor market town in Roman Britain, where it was known as ‘Caesaromagus’, or translated ‘Caesar’s Marketplace’. It’s believed it was developed around 60-65 AD, and it probably developed alongside the Roman Road that ran from Colchester to London. After the decline of the Roman Empire and the evacuation of the Romans from Britain, Chelmsford fell into abandonment, disappearing for many years. By the 1086 Domesday Book survey, Chelmsford represented a tiny settlement, with only 4 households in the area. However, the modern conception of the town begins in 1199, when the Bishop of London William de Sainte-Mère-Eglise petitioned to the King John for a market charter in the Chelmsford locale. It was granted, and Chelmsford’s status as a market town has only but thrived over the centuries.

Whilst home to affluent market-trading, Chelmsford was once also home to a much darker past. Chelmsford was the seat of the East Anglian witch trials of the 1640s, helmed by the ‘witch-finder general’ Matthew Hopkins. Many individuals from the wider East Anglia locale were tried and executed for being witches, as many as over 200, and many spent their jail sentences in Chelmsford’s prison!

Nowadays, however, Chelmsford is regarded as being an affluent county-town, and is the juridicial seat of Essex. Due to this affluence, the housing market is often expensive, and property development tends towards luxury apartment complexes and new-builds. However, the Chelmsford Local Plan put forward in 2020 has major restructuring plans for the centre of Chelmsford. In the central urban area, the Chelmsford authority is aiming to provide new pedestrianised access and cycle lanes, as well as implementing the construction of 3,600 new homes!