IF you have been following the many arms of the colossal Radical Essex project, which has brought to light fascinating and pioneering historical facts about our county from the first nudist colonies to radical politics and architecture throughout the twentieth century, you may be stoked to know a book is now out which sums up the project so far.

The Radical Essex project was launched back in 2016 by Southend's Focal Point gallery, in partnership with FirstSite and Visit Essex, and had funding so it could last through until the end of 2017.

However, director of Focal Point gallery Hayley Dixon, has said the project has been such a mammoth success, it is hoped the book will be just the "culmination of phase one of the project".

"The project was funded by the Arts Council from 2016 through to 2017, but because it has been such a success and there has been so much interest in it because of the local historical aspect and the narrative, that we hope we can continue to work with partners" said Hayley. "The launch was a great success, we had a really good turn out. It was great that Joe Hill, [former Focal Point director] came along as of course he was so much to do with the project. We had lots of people come who were involved in it. The book is a great culmination of phase one of the project".

Joe Hill was director of Focal Point from 2013 to 2018, presenting major solo projects by artists including Elizabeth Price, Bridget Smith, Paul Johnson, Ian Kier, Hannah Sawtell and Hilary Lloyd, high-profile group exhibitions such as Duh? Art and Stupidity and The Peculiar People, as well as leading the Radical Essex project from its inception in 2015.

Since March 2018 he has been director at Towner Gallery, Eastbourne, and is a trustee of The Tetley, Leeds.

He explained: "Essex is a complex county, judged solely by more misguided stereotypes than perhaps any other. The Radical Essex project set out to re-examine this perception and celebrate the extremes of this innovative and experimental county. From early modernist architectural experiments to worker colonies and pacifist communities, the county has always demonstrated its ability to be self-guided in its desires – to seek, experiment and redefine."

The book includes new writing from locally based and nationally renowned authors Tim Burrows, Gillian Darley, Charles Holland, Rachel Lichtenstein, Jules Lubbock, Jess Twyman and Ken Worpole, as well as photography from award-winning Catherine Hyland. It includes archive material which documents the wide range of the project's activities, including a weekend celebrating modernist architecture in Essex, and an exhibition charting the history of the county’s experimental communities.

In their respective essays, Burrows and Worpole reveal how Essex, trapped between the city and the longest coastline in England, became a form of an escape, a testing ground for experimental ways of living, and a place where new artistic practices could develop and thrive. Examples include include Tolstoyan communes, the anarchist-pacifist open house Dial House, founded by members of the punk band Crass, and the religious retreat of Othona Community.

The county also lays claim to being the birthplace of British Modernism, with the country’s earliest building of this style built on the outskirts of Braintree, laying the path for gems built by Ove Arup, Joseph Emberton and Richard and Su Rogers.

This is celebrated by the architect Charles Holland, who, with Grayson Perry, created the celebrated A House for Essex.

Essex has played a significant role in architectural experiments as the home to two socialist working communities in Silver End and East Tilbury, as well as two New Towns: Harlow and Basildon. Gillian Darley describes their development, from do-it-yourself plotlands to meticulously planned civic settlements, their creation forming a new relationship for the county to the capital.

The University of Essex has long since been known as a site of radical politics. Jules Lubbock discusses the formation of the Colchester campus, the thinking behind the innovative, interconnected architecture that would encourage cross learning and new thinking, with Jess Twyman taking over to examine how the students took this on, by challenging their authority through sit-ins and protests, living up to the University motto of being ‘rebels with a cause’.

Finally, Rachel Lichtenstein examines the current physical landscape of the county, through that which still connects us to London, the Thames Estuary, recalling a walk recently taken with Iain Sinclair out to Essex, describing the views, history, industry and society of the waterway, ending at the looming, and now desolate, Bata shoe factory.

Radical Essex is illustrated with photography Hyland, who worked in residence for the Radical Essex project, documenting the architecture and landscape of the county in her unique style. It also includes a new series of her works, People of Othona.

The book costs £20 and is available from the Focal Point gallery, in Elmer Square, Southend.

The publication - which has a first run of 1,000 - was produced using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England as part of the country-wide Cultural Destinations programme, a partnership with VisitEngland. It has also received support from Essex Heritage Trust, a charity whose funds support the preservation or restoration of any aspect of Essex Heritage.