Chelmsford was founded over 1,000 years ago and with its position in the middle of Essex, it soon became an important market and trading town, as well as a centre for local administration - a role which it retains to this day. The construction of both the canal and the railway in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, encouraged growth industries such as Marconi, Hoffmann and Cromptons to settle in the area. This book reminds us of what has been lost in Chelmsford over the years - but will also show the many improvements that have taken place recently.