Hutton is an area of Brentwood and former

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

, now in the unparished area of Brentwood, in south

Essex Essex () is a Ceremonial counties of England, county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the Riv ...

, England. It has good links to Central London (around to the south west) via Shenfield train station which is just from Hutton. Brentwood town centre lies 3 miles to the west. The area can be split between modest housing estates and the largely affluent Hutton Mount. There are two wards named "Hutton" both in the Borough of Brentwood. In 1931 the parish had a population of 2142.

History

The first

police officer A police officer (also called a policeman and, less commonly, a policewoman) is a warranted law employee of a police force. In most countries, "police officer" is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. In some, the use of the ...

of the

Essex Constabulary Essex Police is a territorial police force responsible for policing the county of Essex, in the East of England. Essex Police is responsible for a population of over 1.8 million people and an area of . The chief constable is Ben-Julian Harri ...

to be killed whilst on active duty was Robert Bambrough, who was drowned in a pond in Hutton by the criminal whom he was escorting from Billericay Magistrates' Court on 21 November 1850. On 1 April 1934 the parish was abolished and merged with Brentwood.

Hutton Poplars

Opened in 1905. The name given to the Training School or Residential Home situated near the village of Hutton for destitute children from the district of Poplar in the East End of London. Capable of housing anything from 400-700 children at any one time. Like much of

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

during the

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwa ...

the Borough of Poplar faced high poverty levels. As the 19th century drew to a close the

workhouse In Britain, a workhouse () was an institution where those unable to support themselves financially were offered accommodation and employment. (In Scotland, they were usually known as poorhouses.) The earliest known use of the term ''workhouse' ...

s and

orphanage An orphanage is a residential institution, total institution or group home, devoted to the care of orphans and children who, for various reasons, cannot be cared for by their biological families. The parents may be deceased, absent, or a ...

s in the borough were trying to cope with significant overcrowding. The chairman of the

Board of Guardians Boards of guardians were ''ad hoc'' authorities that administered Poor Law in the United Kingdom from 1835 to 1930. England and Wales Boards of guardians were created by the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834, replacing the parish overseers of the po ...

for the region,

George Lansbury George Lansbury (22 February 1859 – 7 May 1940) was a British politician and social reformer who led the Labour Party from 1932 to 1935. Apart from a brief period of ministerial office during the Labour government of 1929–31, he spe ...

, saw an opportunity to expand their operations into the Essex countryside, and convinced the Board to acquire of land situated between Hutton and Shenfield on the Rayleigh Road. In 1906 the Board completed work on a self-contained community with its own stores, school, indoor swimming pool and an array of ancillary buildings alongside the accommodation for the staff and a significant number of orphans living in small groups. The cost of the project caused uproar in the

Houses of Parliament The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parliament, the Palace lies on the north ban ...

when it first opened. Some MPs complained that with their

parquet flooring Parquet (; French for "a small compartment") is a geometric mosaic of wood pieces used for decorative effect in flooring. Parquet patterns are often entirely geometrical and angular—squares, triangles, lozenges—but may contain curves. ...

and

central heating A central heating system provides warmth to a number of spaces within a building from one main source of heat. It is a component of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (short: HVAC) systems, which can both cool and warm interior spaces. ...

the buildings were more of the comfort levels of a public school like Eton than an orphans' training school. However once operational the project received recognition for its good work, with a Governmental inspection in early 1914 rating the facilities as ''"among the best in Britain"'' with the children ''"well cared for by an efficient staff of specially selected teachers."'' A Royal visit followed in 1918. The placement of such an establishment was controversial with the local residents. The hostility dragged out some time, with the children referred to as "outsiders" and thought best avoided by the local residents. Towards the end of the 20th century this attitude is regarded as having mellowed. The administration of Hutton Poplars passed to the

London County Council London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today kn ...

in the 1920s, with the home subsequently opening its doors to children from all parts of East and North London. Several thousand children passed through its gates over the next six decades. Inevitably the cost of running such an establishment came under scrutiny and an eventual policy shift saw the responsibility for child care passing to the individual borough councils, with smaller care homes springing up to replace these Victorian monoliths. The creation of the

Greater London Council The Greater London Council (GLC) was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater London from 1965 to 1986. It replaced the earlier London County Council (LCC) which had covered a much smaller area. The GLC was dissolved in 198 ...

in 1966 replacing the

resulted in the

London Borough of Hackney London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major se ...

taking administrative control of the residential home. Charged with emptying it of non Hackney residents and ultimately selling it off to property developers, children began leaving for smaller establishments in and around London. Hackney continued to house its children there until 1982. Hutton Poplar remained open until 1982. The buildings then witnessed various fates under Essex County Council. The swimming pool was demolished despite local residents' pleas for it to become a facility for the wider community. The school hall, known as Bishops Hill, has been maintained as an Adult Community Learning centre for the Mid Essex Adult Community College. Hutton Poplar Hall was restored in 1991 and may now be hired from

Brentwood Borough Council Brentwood may refer to: Cities, towns and other places Australia * Brentwood, Western Australia * Brentwood, South Australia Canada * Brentwood, Calgary, a neighbourhood in Calgary, Alberta * Brentwood, Nova Scotia * Brentwood, Ontario, a communi ...

. The new housing development on the old site was modelled largely on the original layout, with houses forming an oval around central open spaces. The Essex Dining Hall remains as a traditional village hall.

Whit Monday Whit Monday or Pentecost Monday, also known as Monday of the Holy Spirit, is the holiday celebrated the day after Pentecost, a moveable feast in the Christian liturgical calendar. It is moveable because it is determined by the date of Easter. I ...

was traditionally a reunion day when former residents were encouraged to visit for the annual open fete day. A reunion still takes place in the Essex dining hall on the Spring Bank Holiday Monday every year. Centenary celebrations took place in 2006. Former residents or anyone with connections to Hutton Poplars are most welcome at the annual event.

Hutton Country Park

Hutton Country Park is a local nature reserve based on former farmland. The park is owned by Brentwood Borough Council having been acquired from

Tarmac Tarmac may refer to: Engineered surfaces * Tarmacadam, a mainly historical tar-based material for macadamising road surfaces, patented in 1902 * Asphalt concrete, a macadamising material using asphalt instead of tar which has largely superseded tar ...

in 1997 to protect it from development. The park is in two sectors divided by the

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a p ...

, the northern boundary is formed by the River Wid, the western boundary by Wash Road, the southern boundary by housing development off the Rayleigh Road and the eastern boundary remains contiguous with farmland. Access to the park is from Wash Road.

Church

Hutton All Saints' Church is a small Grade II* listed ancient structure, with a wooden

steeple In architecture, a steeple is a tall tower on a building, topped by a spire and often incorporating a belfry and other components. Steeples are very common on Christian churches and cathedrals and the use of the term generally connotes a religi ...

, containing five bells. It has a more modern subsidiary church,

St. Peter ) (Simeon, Simon) , birth_date = , birth_place = Bethsaida, Gaulanitis, Syria, Roman Empire , death_date = Between AD 64–68 , death_place = probably Vatican Hill, Rome, Italia, Roman Empire , parents = John (or Jonah; Jona) , occupation ...

's, built in the 1950s as a dual-purpose church and hall – a daughter church of All Saints', to serve the newly-developing

housing estates A housing estate (or sometimes housing complex or housing development) is a group of homes and other buildings built together as a single development. The exact form may vary from country to country. Popular throughout the United States ...

in the centre of Hutton. In 1990, it was possible to extend the building to provide separate worship and community areas. In 2001, generous grant funding enabled a complete refurbishment of the whole building to improve the facilities available to church and community organisations.

Schools

Hutton has four

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

s: St Joseph the Worker (

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

), All Saints (

C of E The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

), Long Ridings County Primary and Willowbrook (previously known as Hutton County Primary School, and before that as Brookfield Infants and Junior) The original Village School on Church Lane closed and became a nursing home in the 1970s. The town also has two preparatory schools: Herrington House School and Woodlands School Hutton Manor. The area also contains a secondary school and sixth form college, St Martin's School, originally built as a segregated Secondary Modern, then run as a co-educational comprehensive and now an Academ
1

References

{{Essex Populated places in Essex Former civil parishes in Essex Brentwood (Essex town)