Pitsea's documented history reaches back at least to the Domesday survey of 1086, where its name appears as Piceseia. Over the centuries the spelling changed many times before the modern form became established. The landscape was very different from today's built-up district: higher ground stood above marshes, creeks and agricultural land stretching towards the Thames estuary.
The low-lying land south of Pitsea strongly influenced local life. Grazing, farming and activities connected with the creeks formed part of the local economy. Around Pitsea Creek, land that later became Wat Tyler Country Park was historically associated with the Pitsea Hall estate, and surviving evidence shows that oysters were once cultivated in pits on the marshes.
Pitsea Hall, now known as Cromwell Manor, is one of the area's important historic survivals. The estate has deep roots, while the surviving house contains fabric dating from the seventeenth century. Its position near the later railway is a reminder that modern transport was laid across a landscape already shaped by centuries of settlement and farming.
For much of its history Pitsea consisted of scattered homes, farms and small clusters of development rather than one continuous urban settlement. Pitsea Mount and its church provided a historic focal point, while later development increasingly concentrated along the roads and, after 1855, around the railway.