BRENTWOOD  , a

market town in the mid or Chelmsford parliamentary division of Essex, England; 18 m . E.N.E. of London by the Great Eastern railway (Brentwood and Worley station) . Pop. of urban district (1901) 4932 . The neighbouring country is pleasantly undulating and well wooded . The church of St Thomas the Martyr, with several chapels, is modern . The old assize house, an Elizabethan structure, remains . A free grammar school was founded in 1557 . The county asylum is in the vicinity . There are breweries and brick works . To the south lies the fine upland of Worley Common, with large barracks . Adjoining Brentwood to the north-east is Shenfield, with the church of St Mary the Virgin, Early English and later . Brent-wood was formerly an important posting station on the mainroad to the eastern counties, which follows the line of the railway to Colchester .

The name (Brentwood) is supposed to

record an original settlement made in a clearing of the forest . The district is largely residential .