City in Essex, England
Chelmsford
In 1920 Dame Nellie Melba sang from a Chelmsford factory and was heard across Europe. The Essex city has been making waves ever since.
Key information
- County
- Essex
- Nation
- England
- Known for
- Marconi and the birth of radio, Essex County Cricket, and the 1566 witch trials
- Famous people
- Guglielmo Marconi (worked here), R. E. B. Crompton, Grayson Perry, Agnes Waterhouse
- Football clubs
- Chelmsford City (the Clarets)
About Chelmsford
The city where radio went to work
In 1898 Guglielmo Marconi opened the world's first wireless factory in Hall Street, Chelmsford, using former silk-factory premises. Marconi chose the town because it was close to London and had the skilled engineers and workshops he needed. The company later moved to a purpose-built factory in New Street, which opened in 1912. In June 1920 Dame Nellie Melba stood in front of a microphone there and sang. The broadcast was picked up far beyond Essex and became one of the most famous early radio performances. In 1922 the engineers at nearby Writtle went on air as 2MT. They are remembered for the first regular entertainment broadcasts in Britain, with half-hour programmes of music and comedy. The BBC was formed later that year. Hence the city's claim to be the birthplace of radio. Marconi's name is still found across the city.
A county town that made things
Chelmsford has been Essex's county town for centuries. It has a Roman past, and its present Stone Bridge over the Can was built in 1787, replacing an earlier medieval bridge. The town grew up around markets, courts and the county's business. The Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation opened in 1797 and linked the town to the sea at Maldon. Then came engineering. Colonel R. E. B. Crompton built an electrical works here, and Hoffmann began making ball bearings in 1898. Chelmsford became known for electrical, radio and precision-engineering firms. The city has long had more to do with factories and laboratories than with picture-postcard thatch. The Shire Hall in Tindal Square, topped by a statue of Justice, dates from the 1790s and still gives the centre a sense of its old county-town role.
England's first great witch trials
The darkest chapter in Chelmsford's story happened at the assizes in 1566. Agnes Waterhouse was tried here and hanged. She is generally named as the first woman executed for witchcraft in England. The case was among the first big witchcraft trials in the country and was written up in a pamphlet. Chelmsford went on to host further witch trials in the later 1500s and 1600s, as Essex became notorious for them. The county town's courts were the reason: that was where the accusations ended up.
Cricket, Clarets and a very big field
Chelmsford is home to the Essex County Cricket Ground. It has hosted Essex and its Eagles for generations, and in summer the ground fills with the sounds of county cricket. Football is played by Chelmsford City, nicknamed the Clarets. The club was founded in 1938 and was called "City" for 74 years before the place itself was one. The city's biggest party for years was the V Festival, held in Hylands Park from 1996 to 2017. Hylands House, a handsome mansion in the park, looks over the same fields where huge crowds once camped.
A cathedral that started as a parish church
Chelmsford Cathedral began as the parish church of St Mary. It was promoted to cathedral in 1914 when the Diocese of Chelmsford was created. The building has medieval origins, and it is one of England's smaller cathedrals. The city's status came more recently. After a few unsuccessful bids, Chelmsford was granted city status in 2012 as part of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations. Locals had spent decades being told that the cathedral, the county courts and the county council were not enough. Chelmsford Museum in Oaklands Park, Central Park, and the river walks along the Chelmer give the city its green spaces, a handful of minutes from the high street. The pop-culture connection is Essex-born artist Grayson Perry, who was born here in 1960 and later won the Turner Prize.