Sail due east of Essex and you reach Holland. If we see similarities between Essex's coast of creeks and saltmarshes and the Dutch coast criss-crossed with estuaries and sea defences, it's no surprise – they were once joined as a single entity by the mysterious Doggerland, flooded in about 6,200 B.C.

Small wonder then that the expertise of Dutch engineers has been much in demand through our history. Other links, including trade and religion, have left many traces of our Dutch allies through our county.

As a major town with a port, Colchester had the strongest international connections from the start, and Flemish weavers had settled in the town as early as the 14th Century. Catholic persecution in the 1560s onwards led many Flemish and Dutch Protestants to flee to England, many to the already established community in Colchester. The advanced weaving skills they brought led to a revival in the town's prosperity that lasted 150 years.

Colchester's Dutch Quarter lies just off the High Street, and has many characteristics of period houses from Flanders.

The next connection was inspired by the Dutch genius for sea defences. Engineer Cornelius Wasterdyk Vermuyden was invited to Canvey Island in 1623 to solve the problem of continued flooding.

Vermuyden supervised the construction of dykes, seawalls and drainage sluices and pipes (the latter made out of hollowed-out elm tree trunks). Dutch workers and their families settled, building distinctive octagonal thatched cottages, two of which survive. The "Dutch Cottage" nearby in Rayleigh is probably an 18th Century copy.

Relations did not remain so cordial. Tensions grew with the Dutch Republic, which was becoming a world commercial and naval power, and from 1652 to 1674 three Anglo-Dutch wars were fought, mainly at sea. These were hard-fought, with a number of British defeats, including a daring Dutch raid on the Medway which saw the British fleet burned at anchor. In 1672 the Battle of Solebay took place just off shore from Southwold. 93 British and French ships fought 75 Dutch vessels, witnessed by crowds on shore. Both sides claimed victory.

1688 saw a complete reversal of the relationship when the staunchly Protestant William of Orange (married to Mary, daughter of Charles I) was invited over to oust the unpopular King James. This set the scene for a long-lasting cordial relationship, with one brief interruption in the 1780s.

The terrible coastal floods of 1953 tested both the English and Dutch flood defences to destruction. 307 people died in Britain, many of them on Canvey Island. 1,835 people died in Holland, and this triggered massive state investment in flood defences designed to ensure nothing like this ever happened again. Indeed, since 1953, not a single person has died in flooding since.

With global warming and rising sea levels bringing fresh challenges, the world is looking increasingly to the Holland for innovative solutions to coastal flooding. Not for the first time, the cry may go up in Essex, "Bring in the Dutch!"