Explore the eerie mystery behind Bread and Cheese Hill in Essex. Discover theories and its possible dark past.
Bread and Cheese Hill is in Thundersley. Its name’s origin is a mystery. Many cars travel this busy road. People have many ideas about the name.
Some think the hill looks like bread. Others have darker theories. One idea involves a Welsh battle cry. Another says a specific tree grew there.
A good guess involves resting carters. They fed their animals at the hill’s top. Some think the name is sinister. Benfleet History offers an explanation.
“Bread and cheese” tested strangers’ nationality. Rebels patrolled the hill in 1381. This was during the Peasants Revolt. They asked strangers to say “bread and cheese.” Foreign accents meant death.
Flemish weavers came to England. Edward III invited them for better cloth. Exports grew, but English laborers suffered.
The real reason for the name may never be known. It remains an important road today. A top-rated pub sits on the hill.