Invaders and settlers have came to this country from the continent since earliest times.

Little is known or remains of the pre-Roman inhabitants of the area.  Early invaders were the Gauls or Celts, a fierce, savage, race. They probably came by the rivers as the easiest means of travelling and found the creeks and marshes good places from which to raid and pillage and which made good strongholds. It is possible that this area saw Druid ceremonials performed.

Great dense woodland covered a huge part of England at that time. Inhabitants settled the land along the Thames because there were clearings on the slightly rising ground between the woodland and the Thames-side marshes. There was plenty of timber for building shelter, making tools and for firewood and the marshes to the south provided grazing for cattle. There were crossing places over the river Lea in the west and the Roding in the east. Also, there were ways out of the dense wood into the eastern part of the country.

Tribes named by the Romans Trinovantes and Catuvellauni, largely inhabited this part of modern-day Essex.

A canoe of Ramano-British origin was found in the river mud when the Albert Dock was being excavated in 1878.