Wickford, United Kingdom

Before the 20th century, Wickford was an agricultural village. Its original core was centred around the church; the manor house of Wickford Hall formerly stood immediately to its east. Over time, the commercial centre of Wickford has migrated westwards towards the modern High Street on the western side of the river Crouch.

Wickford railway station opened to passengers in 1889 on the Shenfield–Southend line of the Great Eastern Railway; later that year, it became a junction station when the Crouch Valley line to Southminster was opened. The arrival of the railway encouraged the growth of the town.

During the Second World War, the edge of the town was hit by a German doodlebug and, on 6 December 1944, a V-2 rocket fell in Branksome Avenue, about 1 mile (1.6 km) west of the town centre. Around the town, in amongst the hedgerows and fields, there are numerous pillboxes which were constructed as a part of British anti-invasion preparations.

In 1958, Wickford town centre was hit by a flood that made the national news headlines. The most striking image of the flood was that of a double-decker bus, left stranded at Halls Corner overnight, partly submerged by the floodwater. A second flood, in 1960, meant that changes were made to the course of the river Crouch; this included running it in a concrete channel through the centre of the town.

There have been a number of proposals to regenerate the town centre in recent years. A town centre masterplan was adopted by Basildon Council in 2006, followed by a town centre regeneration strategy in 2013. Some of the proposals in these plans have been delivered and further plans for the regeneration of the town centre continue to be considered.

Wickford became the birthplace of Naturism in the United Kingdom; in 1924, the English Gymnosophist Society was formed and had its home in the town.