Billericay District Residents' Association
incorporating the Billericay Action Group
Useful Links
The lists below contain links to other websites and snippets of information that you may find of interest
Most defibrillators are housed on the outside of a building in a locked cabinet.
To obtain the unlock code, phone 999 and provide the id code displayed on the cabinet.
High street +
• Phone Box outside Connells Estate Agent (24hour)
• Side of Toni & Guys Hairdressers (24hour)
• Side of Bennetts Funeral Directors (24hour)
• Front of Police Station (24hour)
• Billericay Dental Care - Alma Link (when open)
• Chantry Centre (24hour)
Schools
• Quilters Junior School (limited access)
• Brightside Primary School (limited access)
• Buttsbury Primary School (may be limited access)
• Gooseberry Green / Sunnyside Children's Center (24hour)
• Mayflower School
• Billericay School
Other sites
• Outside Studio 360 - Radford Way (24hour)
• Lake Meadows - Side of building next to café (limited access)
• Billericay Train Station - (05:00 - 00:00)
• Billericay Town Football Club - (when in use)
• Billericay Self Storage - Radford Crescent (when open)
• Hannakins Farm Community Centre, Rosebay Avenue
• Western Road Surgery - Western Road
• Chapel Street Surgery - Chapel Street (0700 - 1830 Mon-Fri)
• Billericay Health Center - Stock Road
• Billericay Cricket Club (24hour)
• BIllericay Rugby Club (when open)
• Barleylands Farm and Farm Office
• Players Lounge
• Tesco Express in South Green
• Ground Control on Radford Way
Outside Billericay center
• Shepherd & Dog -, London Road, Crays Hill
• Little Bursted Village Hall
• Galleywood heritage centre
• Noak Bridge pub
• Noak Bridge Medical Centre, Bridge Street
There is a free App to download called Staying Alive that gives you the locations
With our capsule, we have marked a moment in time which coincides with the 90 anniversary of the Association.
Photos, maps, lists of significant features, the extent of the green belt and the draft local plan have been added to the personal hopes and fears of children, adults and members of churches and societies.
It is fitting that the capsule is kept in the Town’s museum
to be opened in 2026 on our 100 Anniversary
and thereafter its contents used as artefacts and documents for research.
John Baron MP kindly presented the capsule to Katie Wilkie, the curator of the Cater Museum on our behalf.
Thank you to all those who made a contribution, especially young people who will inherit their town, and the decisions which have gone before them.
On a positive note this is a summary of the Hopes to give you a feel for aspirations which we could all share.
The fears are in most cases the opposite.
HOPES
That Billericay remains as pleasant a place to live as it is currently - we owe it to future generations to leave them a town that we would like to live in.
HIGH STREET
The historical character is retained and improved upon with out of character 1960s buildings, being replaced Independent shops remain and there is a good range of shops, Enough car parking, Elizabeth Cottage is sympathetically restored.
GREEN BELT
The Green Belt will still be there for the people of Billericay to enjoy.
Any housing developments in the proximity of Mill Meadows or other Billericay nature reserves and wildlife sites are sympathetically developed with suitable wildlife corridors and extending habitats.
COMMUNITY
That Billericay remains a town with a good sense of community and that all the community organisations still flourish.
There is a particular emphasis on younger people. Girl Guiding hopes to have grown in Billericay, with more volunteers coming forward to give girls and young women a space where they can be themselves, have fun, build brilliant friendships, gain valuable life skills and make a positive difference to their lives and their communities. I think that we can echo this for all youth groups.
People are more considerate with less anti-social behaviour, litter, vandalism and speeding. These comments come from the Sunnymede school children.
TRANSPORT
The roads have been suitably maintained with minimal potholes.
Much improved public transport services.
SUSTAINABLE ENVIRONMENT
Renewable energy is developed and electric vehicles are more common
That my grandchildren will be able to afford to live here
Billericay was first inhabited in the Iron Age, burial mounds still exist in Norsey Woods, but it was in the Roman period, when the local Trinovante tribe assisted Queen Boadicea and were quelled, that a Roman settlement brought about the town's real birth.
During the Saxon period our traditional form of local government came into being. The area was then owned by King Harold's father, who is buried locally, who named the fortified settlement Burghstede.
The area then passed into the ownership of William the Conqueror's half brother. When he fell out of favour, William gave the lands to the Cistercian monks.
Barstable Hundred came about when the county was divided into "hundreds".
In the 12th and 13th centuries a manor house called Blunts Walls was built by Bartholomew Blunt on the north west of the town. In 1262 Reginald Blunt joined the Barons Revolt, under Simon-de-Montfort but was defeated at the Battle of Evesham.
His lands were then confiscated and passed to the Augustinian Thoby priory at Mountnessing.
In 1342 Billericay acquired a Chantry Chapel with sufficient funds to support its own priest.
The next important event was in 1381 when local men joined with those from Kent in a peasants' revolt against Richard II's poll tax.
Wat Tyler led a march on London where he was killed. His followers were driven home and 500 were massacred in Norsey Woods by Thomas of Woodstock. They are buried in Great Burstead.
In 1620, victualler Christopher Martin set sail with several fellow townsfolk for the new world in "The Mayflower". The town Billerica was set up in Massachusetts.
The town became increasingly prosperous during the Georgian period as it was an important stop en route to the Tilbury Crossing and a highly successful coaching route running between Brentwood, Billericay, Rayleigh, Hadleigh, Leigh and Rochford.
The Crown, a large coaching inn, was built to accommodate the many travellers as existing hostelries were unable to cope.
In the reform election of 1832, Billericay was one of only seven polling stations in South Essex, the county being divided into north and south for the elections.
From that date Billericay continued to hold its place as a centre of administration. This was confirmed in 1894 with the formation of the Billericay Rural District Council.
In 1937 all the Parishes within the Rural District Council were abolished and the whole area was then administered by Billericay Urban District Council.
In 1955 this Council changed its name to Basildon Urban District Council.
In 1972 the Local Government Act created Basildon District Council and abolished the Billericay Parish.
The Basildon Parishes Order 1996 resulted in the creation of the new parishes of Billericay, Great Burstead and South Green, Little Burstead, Ramsden Crays and Ramsden Bellhouse in 1997.
Thus Billericay Parish Council came into being in May 1997. At the first meeting on 2nd June 1997 the Council elected to style itself as Billericay Town Council.
The Basildon and Billericay seat was created for the 2010 general election following a review by the Boundary Commission for England, which has now recommended that a constituency named Billericay be re-established for the 2022 elections.
Close ties continue to exist between Brentwood and Billericay, borne out, not only by the coming of the railway from Shenfield, but also by the A127 major road link.
