Ian Yearsley

Ian Yearsley is a local historian and author of books on the history of Essex.

History Ian Yearsley was born in Ingatestone, Essex in 1965, moving to Southend-on-Sea, Essex in 1972. He started out as a journalist with the Leigh Times in 1988 before producing historical books on Essex, as well as poetry and fiction titles based on the county's history.

His first book, "Islands of Essex" , was published in 1994. He has since written numerous books on the history of Essex, four works of fiction, three poetry books and the introductions to four historic maps, all based on Essex, as well as a book on language. His maps were published by Alan Godfrey in 2019.

In the 1990s Yearsley wrote for various magazines, including Essex Countryside and This Month in Essex, and he has been a regular commentator for local newspapers.

Yearsley was involved in the 1,000th anniversary commemorations of the Battle of Assandun at Ashingdon in Essex, following the publication of various editions of an epic poem he wrote about it between 2006 and 2016.

In 2011 he achieved an MA in history from the University of Essex, where he won an award for his dissertation on population migration in the Rochford Hundred in the late 19th century.

Yearsley has created historic tours of Essex and Suffolk for iPhone and has worked on a project to uncover the history of a lost Jacobean manor at Marks Hall near Coggeshall. He has also worked at Tilbury Fort for English Heritage.

He has associations with the Hadleigh & Thundersley Community Archive and has attended their events. He also recorded the demolition of St Erkenwald's Church in Southend-on-Sea in 1995.