The Essex places that Charles Dickens loved and loathed
Nearly 200 years ago when Dickens paid to have his first story published, A Dinner at Poplar Walk, an insignificant sketch that did little for his career, the world did not know that a natural star had been born. Already established as a sharp-penned journalist, his early fiction works left something to be desired.
Yet Dickens was nothing if not persistent, and certainly in the years that followed, bestsellers and national treasures would abound from his pen – a fact that both facilitated and necessitated his need to travel the country. Essex was one such place that Dickens frequently visited, so much so that several of his best-loved stories have settings in the county.
To Charles Dickens, Chelmsford was cold, whereas Chigwell was to be cherished. Yes, Boz had a rather contrary approach to our county, which perhaps encapsulated the man behind the works. Writing to his friend, Thomas Beard, Dickens’ flair for lambasting became apparent when discussing Chelmsford after a spell in the town in 1835.
‘If anyone were to ask me what, in my opinion, was the dullest and most stupid spot on the face of the Earth, I should decidedly say Chelmsford. Though only 29 miles from town, there is not a single shop where they sell Sunday Papers. I can’t get an Athenæum, a Literary Gazette - no not even a penny Magazine. Here I am on a wet Sunday looking out of a damned large bow window at the rain as it falls into the puddles opposite, wondering when it will be dinner time, and cursing my folly in having put no books in my Portmanteau. There is not even anything to look at in the place, except two immense prisons, large enough to hold all the inhabitants of the county!’
At the time, Dickens was in Chelmsford in his journalistic capacity covering local elections, no doubt providing enough material to inspire the laborious court scenes for the Jarndyce and Jarndyce case in Bleak House. Despite such a harsh opinion of Chelmsford, Dickens proved himself to be open-minded as to the rest of the county. In fact, Chigwell so impressed the author that he proclaimed, ‘Chigwell is the greatest place in the world.’
Dickens’ appreciation for the village was so strong that his novel Barnaby Rudge was set there, and certain real-life locations enjoyed immortality after finding their way into the story. The tale centres around Chigwell and the Maypole Inn is mentioned. It would appear that Dickens took inspiration from two Chigwell inns, the namesake Maypole Pub and the Tudor-fronted Ye Olde King’s Head.
It was the attractive black and white fronted country inn that inspired the visual imagery for Barnaby Rudge. Dickens commented that Ye Olde King’s Head was ‘Such a delicious old inn opposite the churchyard, such a lovely ride, such beautiful forest scenery, such an out-of-the-way, rural place.’
Dickens showed his warmth for the beautiful country inn, writing in Barnaby Rudge, ‘The Maypole was an old building, with more gable ends than a lazy man would care to count on a sunny day; huge zig-zag chimneys, out of which it seemed as though even smoke could not choose but come in more than naturally fantastic shapes. With its overhanging storeys, drowsy little panes of glass, and front bulging out and projecting over the pathway, the old house looked as if it were nodding in its sleep.’
It was not just Barnaby Rudge that captured the essence of Essex. Dickens featured the county in his other important works, including a brief mention in Pickwick Papers, which featured Mr Pickwick taking his pleasure on a tour of the English countryside.
It was Canvey Island though that made a special impact on Dickens. It is believed that it was the Lobster Smack, an inn on the island with notorious speculation of smuggling, that provided the inspiration for Sluice House where poor Pip is attacked in Great Expectations.
It was Dickens himself who wrote and published (after a stay at the inn) the tale of the smugglers operating from this public house on the island and how the whole community was embroiled. It is a rare distinction to have your community’s outlawed practices being reported on by Charles Dickens himself!
Certainly, 190 years ago Charles Dickens took the first step into a creative sphere that would, in time, launch him into legendary status. In the years that followed, and with the bestsellers that were added to his name, Charles Dickens became a formidable individual, a man whose pen could destroy or elevate on the merest whim.
Perhaps if Chelmsford had a steadier supply of newspapers on a Sunday, it would never have gone down as the ‘most stupid and dull place on Earth’. Well, nearly two centuries later, Chelmsford has become a far better place than he has ever known. And Essex could never ask for anymore!
