BRENTWOOD’s fascinating and sometimes dramatic and even cruel past is being showcased in a new book.

Brentwood & Around Through Time, takes the reader on a photographic journey through the town’s history.

Packed with 180 old and new photographs as well as nostalgic postcards, the book features the stories behind some of the most iconic buildings, open spaces, churches, military bases and industries to grace Brentwood, Shenfield, Hutton, Mountnessing, Pilgrims Hatch and Warley.

The book has been written by historical author and blogger Kate J Cole and is the latest in publisher Amberley’s Through Time series of books.

Among the collection of photos is an old image of Hackney Industrial School which once stood where the modern office development of British Telecom in London Road is now located.

During the Victorian era, however, the school was a place where workhouse and pauper children from Hackney and Shoreditch in London were brought to train in adult trades and occupations.

However, all was not as it seemed with the school, as Kate explains in the book.

“In the mid-1890s the school was subject to considerable scandal when staff members were accused of acts of cruelty and abuse against the children,” she said.

“In 1894 female nurse Ella Gillespie was found guilty of several charges of acts of cruelty to the children and sentenced to five years in prison.”

Another school in the town was part of the High Wood children’s hospital ‘cottage home’.

It opened in 1904 specifically to look after children living with contagious diseases. The hospital closed in the 1950s. Today the site has been made into luxury homes and apartments.

Warley Barracks which has a long history of being a military base for various regiments of the British Army, is also included in the book. From 1742 and throughout the eighteenth century thousands of troops were encamped at Warley Common.

Then in 1805 the War Office built the permenant barracks which became the home of the Essex Regiment for almost a hundred years. The barracks were demolished in the early 1960s to make way for Ford Motor Company’s head office.

Another photo shows the Drill Hall in Ongar Road. Built in 1886 at a cost of £2,000, it was the HQ of the 4th Territorial Battalion of the Essex Regiment while other regiments and groups also used the building.

The hall was flattened in 1990s to make way for the North Service Road near William Hunter Way.

One of the most dramatic images in the book is an Edwardian photograph showing a blaze at Wilson’s Stores in Brentwood in September 1909. The fire resulted in most of Wilsons Great Eastern Stores – then the area’s most prestigious emporium and a huge local employer- being destroyed.

Some of the damage to the nearby William Hunter Memorial caused by the 1909 fire can still be seen today.

Although the store closed many years ago the area is still known as Wilson’s Corner today.

Shenfield Station also makes it into the book.

It opened in 1843, linking the town with Colchester and London. In the early days the rail line was not well used and so the station closed in 1850, only to reopen in 1887.

  •  The paperback book is priced at £14,99 and is available via www.amberley-books.com and also in Kindle, Kobo and ibook formats.