Rochford, Essex, England, United Kingdom

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Rochford is a town in the Rochford district of Essex in the East of England. It is about 43 miles (69 km) from Central London and approximately 21 miles (34 km) from Chelmsford, the county town of Essex. The civil parish of Rochford includes the town proper, and London Southend Airport.

The major centre of population in the Rochford district is the town of Rayleigh. Other places in the district include Hockley, Ashingdon, Great Wakering, Canewdon and Hullbridge.

The town is the main settlement in the Rochford district, and takes its name from Rochefort, Old English for ‘Ford of the Hunting Dogs’. The River Roach was originally called the Walfleet (‘Creek of the foreigners’). It was renamed the Roach in what is known as a back formation. This is where it is assumed that Rochford means ford over the River Roach so they renamed the river to fit the theory. The town runs into suburban developments in the parishes of Ashingdon and Hawkwell. Kings Hill, in Rochford, was notable for containing the Lawless Court up until the 19th century.

The town is just to the north of Southend-on-Sea, but is sufficiently separated from both Southend and Rayleigh and continues to preserve its own identity.

Landmarks Rochford Hall is partly privately owned by a family which live within the building, along with the golf course who also own a part of it as their clubhouse. In 1525, Henry VIII awarded Thomas Boleyn the title of Viscount Rochford. Rochford Hall subsequently became the home of Mary Boleyn, sometime mistress of Henry VIII and (probably elder) sister of Queen Anne Boleyn, during Mary's second marriage to Sir William Stafford.

Transport Trains run from Rochford railway station eastbound to Southend Victoria and westbound to Liverpool Street station in the business district of central London. As a consequence, Rochford has long been popular as a dormitory town for commuters. Southend Airport railway station, which is sited on the eastern boundary of the airport, opened on 18 July 2011.

Rochford has bus links to the surrounding towns; routes 7, 8 and 9 travel to Rayleigh and Southend-on-Sea.

There are over twenty scheduled flight destinations within Europe available from London Southend Airport.