TheEast of England is one of nine officialregions of England at the first level ofITL forstatistical purposes.[a] It consists of the ceremonial counties ofBedfordshire,Cambridgeshire,Essex,Hertfordshire,Norfolk andSuffolk.[5] The northern part of the region, consisting of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, is known asEast Anglia. The latter region has been considered an informal region in its own right due to its differing cultural identity.[6]
England population density and low elevation coastal zones. East of England is particularly vulnerable tosea level rise.
The East of England has the lowest elevation range in the UK. Twenty per cent of the region is below mean sea level, most of this in North Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and on the Essex Coast.[8][9] Most of the remaining area is of low elevation, with extensive glacial deposits.[10]The Fens, a large area of reclaimed marshland, are mostly in North Cambridgeshire.[11] The Fens include the lowest point in the country in the village ofHolme: 2.75 metres (9.0 ft) below mean sea level. This area formerly included the body of open water known asWhittlesey Mere. The highest point in the region is at Clipper Down at 817 ft (249 m) above mean sea level, in the far southwestern corner of the region in theIvinghoe Hills.[12][13][14]
Communities known asNew Towns, responses to urban congestion and World War II destruction, appeared inBasildon andHarlow (Essex), as well as inStevenage andHemel Hempstead (Hertfordshire), in the 1950s and 1960s.[15] In the late 1960s, theRoskill Commission considered Cublington in Buckinghamshire,Thurleigh in Bedfordshire,Nuthampstead in Hertfordshire andFoulness in Essex as locations for a possible third airport for London. A new airport was not built, but a formerRoyal Air Force base at Stansted, which had previously been converted to civilian use redeveloped and expanded in the following decades.[16]
Essex, despite meaning East-Saxons, previously formed part of theSouth East England administrative region, along with Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire, a mixture of definite and debatableHome counties. The earliest use of the term is from 1695.Charles Davenant, inAn essay upon ways and means of supplying the war, wrote, "The Eleven Home Counties, which are thought in Land Taxes to pay more than their proportion..." then cited a list including these four. The term does not appear to have been used in taxation since the 18th century.[18]
East Anglia is one of the driest parts of the United Kingdom, with average rainfall ranging from 450 to 750 mm (18 to 30 in).[19] The area receives such low rainfall amounts becauselow pressure systems andweather fronts from theAtlantic lose a lot of moisture over land (and therefore are usually much weaker) by the time they reach Eastern England.[20]
Winter (mid-November – mid-March) is mostly cool, but non-prevailing cold easterly winds can affect the area from the continent. These can bring heavy snowfall if the winds interact with alow-pressure system over the Atlantic orFrance.[20] Northerly winds also can be cold but are not usually as cold as easterly winds. Westerly winds bring milder and, typically, wetter weather. Southerly winds usually bring mild air (if from the Atlantic orNorth Africa) but chill if coming from further east than Spain.[21]
Spring (mid-March – May) is a transitional season that initially can be chilly but is usually warm by late-April/May. The weather at this time is often changeable (within each day) and occasionally showery.[22]
Summer (June – mid-September) is usually warm. Continental air from mainland Europe or theAzores High usually leads to at least a few weeks of hot, balmy weather with prolonged warm to hot temperatures. The number of summer storms from the Atlantic, such as the remnants of atropical storm, usually coincides with the location of thejet stream. The East tends to receive much less rain than the other regions.[22]
Autumn (mid-September – mid-November) is usually mild with some days being very unsettled and rainy and others warm. At least part of September and early October in the East have warm and settled weather, but only in rare years is there anIndian summer where fine weather marks the entire traditional harvest season.[22]
Dust devils were reported in Essex and Cambridgeshire on 17 August 2024, causing minor injuries and some disruption. These small whirlwinds, which form from the ground up, are less powerful than tornadoes. In Essex, they caused tents and gazebos to be lifted during a local event, resulting in minor injuries. Witnesses described the event as unexpected, noting that such phenomena are rare in the area.[23]
In the2015 general election there was an overall swing of 0.25% from the Conservatives to Labour and the Liberal Democrats lost 16% of its vote. All of Hertfordshire and Suffolk became Conservative. The region's electorate voted 49% Conservative, 22% Labour, 16% UKIP, 8% Liberal Democrat and 4% Green. Like other regions, the division of seats favours the dominant party in the region and the Conservatives had 52, Labour 4 (Cambridge,Luton South,Luton North andNorwich South), UKIP 1 (Clacton) and 1 Liberal Democrat (North Norfolk).[31]
The East of England Plan, a revision of theRegional Spatial Strategy for the East of England, was published on 12 May 2008. It was revoked on 3 January 2013.[33]
The East of England was a major force and resource for Parliament and, in particular, in the form of theEastern Association.Oliver Cromwell came from Huntingdon.[34]
Stansted Airport wasRAF Stansted Mountfitchet, home to the344th Bombardment Group. Thede Havilland Mosquito was mainly assembled at Hatfield and Leavesden, although much of the innovative wooden structure originated outside the region from the furniture industry ofHigh Wycombe; the Mosquito entered service in 1942 with105 Sqn atRAF Horsham St Faith.RAF Tempsford in Bedford is the airfield from whereSOE secret agents for Europe took off, with138 Sqn which parachuted agents and equipment and161 Sqn which landed and retrieved agents.19 Sqn at Duxford was the first to be equipped with the Spitfire on 4 August 1938.[34]
From the 1950s,RAF Wyton was an important reconnaissance base for the RAF, mainly543 Sqn. The base is now home of theDefence Intelligence Fusion Centre, previously known as JARIC, or the Joint Air Reconnaissance Intelligence Centre from 1956.[35]
The most famous university in the region is theUniversity of Cambridge.[47] The university has been officially rated as the best in the world in 2010.[48] It has the second-best medicine course in the world, and in 2010 became the only university outside of the US to raise over £1 billion in charitable donations.
The University of Cambridge receives almost three times as much funding as any other university in the region, due to its huge research grant—the largest in England (and the UK). The next largest, by funding, isUEA in Norwich. TheUniversity of Essex andCranfield University also have moderately large research grants, but no other universities in the region do. The largest university by student numbers is ARU, and the next biggest is Cambridge. The smallest is Essex.[49]
For total income to universities, Cambridge receives around £1 billion—around six times larger than any other university in the region. TheUniversity of Bedfordshire receives the least income. Cambridge has the lowest drop-out (discontinuation) rate in the region. Once graduated, over 50% of students stay in the region, with 25% going to London and 10% going to the South East. Very few go elsewhere—especially the North of England.[49]
During the nineteenth century, several formulations of the laws of football, known as theCambridge rules, were created by students at the University. One of these codes, dating from 1863, had a significant influence on the creation of the originallaws ofThe Football Association.[50]
London Mavericks, previously Hertfordshire Mavericks and Saracens Mavericks, have competed in theNetball Super League since 2005.[52] The franchise represents the East region and plays a number of home fixtures at theUniversity of Hertfordshire sports village and the Brentwood Centre.[53][54] Mavericks have appeared in the Netball Super League Grand Final seven times, winning the title in both 2008 and 2011.[55]
Turnford Netball Club, Norfolk United Netball Club and Hatfield Netball Club are all teams from the East region which play in theEngland Netball Premier League, the highest level of club/amateur netball in the country.[56]
Much of the region receives theBBC East andITV Anglia television services, both based in Norwich (the BBC moving from All Saints' Green toThe Forum in 2003, and Anglia remaining at its original base, Angia House.) These services broadcast from theSandy Heath,Sudbury andTacolneston transmitter groups. Some areas in close proximity to London, includingLuton and southEssex, may receive their service fromBBC London andITV London; in addition, theHemel Hempstead relay transmitter is a relay of the London services fromCrystal Palace, bringing London television into parts of Hertfordshire. Northwestern parts ofNorfolk includingKings Lynn receive a better TV signal from theBelmont transmitter that broadcastBBC East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire andITV Calendar. Some editions ofLook East andITV News Anglia broadcast split news programming for the West (Home Counties) and East (East Anglia/Essex) of the region, with the West subregions broadcasting from Sandy Heath; the BBC's Western opt-outs are broadcast from studios in Cambridge, also the base ofBBC Radio Cambridgeshire, whilst both versions of the ITV Anglia output have broadcast from Anglia House in Norwich since the split service was introduced in 1990.[58]
BBC Local Radio services in the region include stations forCambridgeshire,Essex,Norfolk,Suffolk andThree Counties Radio, which serves Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire. Radio Cambridgeshire previously broadcast some split programming specific to the Peterborough area - at one point broadcasting this under the BBC Radio Peterborough name - but this opt-out was withdrawn in 2012 as a cost-cutting measure.[59]
^Ltd, Copyright The mountain Guide-A.-Connect."Clipper Down | England".UK mountain Guide. Archived fromthe original on 29 October 2020. Retrieved5 August 2020.
^"Government Office Regions." The Map Centre. "The regions … are the highest tier … established in 1994. … They continue to be used for statistical … purposes."The Map Centre
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