Thurrock Borough of Thurrock | |
|---|---|
 Grays town skyline | |
 Coat of arms | |
 Shown withinEssex | |
| Coordinates:51°30′00″N0°25′00″E / 51.50000°N 0.41667°E /51.50000; 0.41667 | |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Constituent country | England |
| Region | East |
| Ceremonial county | Essex |
| Admin HQ | Grays |
| Government | |
| • Body | Thurrock Council (Labour) |
| • MPs | Jen Craft(Labour) James McMurdock (Independent) |
| Area | |
• Total | 63.08 sq mi (163.38 km2) |
| Population | |
• Total | Ranked 119th 180,989 |
| • Density | 2,860/sq mi (1,105/km2) |
| Ethnicity(2021) | |
| • Ethnic groups | |
| Religion(2021) | |
| • Religion | List
|
| Time zone | GMT |
| • Summer (DST) | British Summer Time |
| ISO 3166 code | GB-THR |
| ONS code | 00KG (ONS) E06000034 (GSS) |
| Website | thurrock |
Thurrock (/ˈθʌrək/) is aunitary authority area withborough status in theceremonial county ofEssex, England. It lies on the north bank of theRiver Thames immediately east ofLondon and has over 18 miles (29 km) of riverfront including thePort of Tilbury, the principal port for London. Thurrock is within theLondon commuter belt and is an area of regeneration within theThames Gateway redevelopment zone. The borough includes the northern ends of theDartford Crossing.
The local authority isThurrock Council, based inGrays. The borough also includesPurfleet-on-Thames,South Ockendon,Stanford-le-Hope andTilbury, as well as other villages and surrounding areas. More than half of the borough is designated asGreen Belt.
The neighbouring districts are theLondon Borough of Havering,Brentwood,Basildon andCastle Point. On the opposite side of the Thames areGravesham andDartford inKent.
Mammoths once grazed in the Thurrock area[2] and archaeologists unearthed the remains of a jungle cat. Humans have lived in the area sinceprehistoric times[2] and the land has been farmed by theRomans[2] andAnglo-Saxons.[2] Thurrock has numerousarchaeological sites including the major excavation atMucking. The name "Thurrock" is a Saxon name meaning "the bottom of a ship".[3]
Horndon-on-the-Hill was the site of an11th century mint as well as the 15th century woolmarket which gives an indication of the area's wealth in the 15th century. The narrowing of the river where Tilbury now stands meant it was important in the defence ofLondon, andHenry VIII built three blockhouses, two on the Tilbury side and another on the Gravesend side of the river, following the end of his marriage toCatherine of Aragon.
In 1381, villagers fromFobbing,Mucking andStanford-le-Hope instigated thePeasants' Revolt when they were called toBrentwood to pay thepoll tax. When they refused to pay, a riot ensued which was the catalyst for a mass protest acrossEssex andKent.
Later, in 1588Elizabeth I addressed her troops not far from the Tilbury blockhouse as theSpanish Armada sailed up theEnglish Channel. Between 1670 and 1682, the Tilbury blockhouse was substantially rebuilt into a much larger fortification (Tilbury Fort) and Coalhouse Fort was built further down river, close to the second blockhouse. The importance of the forts in defending the country continued throughNapoleonic times and into the two world wars. The land where Tilbury Town now stands was farmland and marsh grazing until the building of the docks in the 1890s. Thurrock includes theBata village, built for workers of the shoe company in 1933. Eight homes and the factory are listed.
Historically, the area was renowned for mineral extraction, including clay, aggregates and notably the digging of huge amounts of chalk from the West Thurrock area for use in the now defunct cement industries. When chalk extraction ceased one of the disused pits was redeveloped as Lakeside Shopping Centre. A number of former pits have been used to form the Chafford Gorges Nature Reserve, managed by the Essex Wildlife Trust.[4]
The body ofCaptain Kidd was displayed in Thurrock. He had been convicted of piracy and hanged on 23 May 1701, at 'Execution Dock',Wapping. His body wasgibbeted — left to hang in an iron cage over the Thames at Tilbury Point[5] — as a warning to future would-be pirates for twenty years. Some sources give the location where his body was exhibited as Tilbury Ness, but this may be an alternative name for the same place. There is some uncertainty as to whether his body was displayed at what is now called Coalhouse Point or at a site a few hundred yards up stream, close to the present Tilbury Docks.[6]
On 31 January 1953, the low-lying areas of Thurrock were inundated by theNorth Sea flood of 1953. The Van den Berghs and Jurgens margarine factory, which manufacturedStork margarine, was forced to stop production for many months. Since the output of this factory constituted one third of the country's ration allocation, this led to a severe strain on the supply of margarine in the UK.[7] Most schools in Thurrock were closed, either as a direct result of the flooding or in order to use them to help the relief effort. More than 1300 people inTilbury and other low-lying areas were evacuated to schools on the higher ground.[8] Chadwell St Mary Primary school was used as the main welfare centre for the homeless.[9] By 15 February, most schools had returned to normal. The last to resume were the Landsdowne school in Tilbury and the newly opened Woodside Primary School – then called Tyrell Heath School.[10] On Friday 13 February, the flooded areas were visited by the youngQueen Elizabeth II[8] Despite severe loss of life in nearbyCanvey Island, only one person in Thurrock died as a result of the floods.[11]
In 2002, a partnership between Thurrock Council, Thurrock Heritage Forum and the Thurrock Local History Society began an initiative to place heritage plaques marking the famous people, events and organisations associated with Thurrock.[12] By September 2021 plaques included:
The borough has its origins in theOrsettPoor Law Union, which had been created in 1835 covering a group of 18 parishes in southern Essex.[15][16] Poor Law Unions subsequently formed the basis for later local government structures, with the OrsettRural Sanitary District created in 1872 covering the same area. The parish ofGrays Thurrock was made its ownurban sanitary district in 1886.[17]
Urban and rural sanitary districts were converted intourban districts andrural districts in 1894.[18] Two further urban districts were later created from parts of theOrsett Rural District: theTilbury Urban District in 1912 covering the parish ofChadwell St Mary, and thePurfleet Urban District in 1929 covering the three parishes ofAveley,South Ockendon andWest Thurrock.[19]
After 1929 the area therefore comprised four district-level authorities: one rural district, containing 13 civil parishes, and three urban districts:[20][a]
In 1936 the four districts were all abolished to create theThurrock Urban District (subject to some minor boundary changes with surrounding areas, notably at North Ockendon). All the civil parishes within the area were merged at the same time to become a single parish called Thurrock.[21][22][23]
The present-day borough of Thurrock was created in on 1 April 1974 under theLocal Government Act 1972, covering almost the same area as the former Thurrock Urban District, which was abolished, with just a minor change on the border withBasildon to place the whole designated area for Basildonnew town in that district.[24] The civil parish of Thurrock was also abolished as part of the reforms and the area became anunparished area.[25] The reformed Thurrock district was givenborough status at the same time, allowing the chair of the council to take the title of mayor.[26]
Until 1998 Thurrock was a lower-tierdistrict authority, withEssex County Council providingcounty-level services. Thurrock was made aunitary authority on 1 April 1998, taking over the county-level services.[27] Thurrock remains part of theceremonial county of Essex for the purposes oflieutenancy.[28]
There is only one tier of local government in Thurrock, being the unitary authority ofThurrock Council. There are nocivil parishes in the borough, with the whole borough being anunparished area.[29]The local authority isThurrock Council.Elections are held in three years out of every four.
Thurrock is covered by two parliamentary constituencies.Thurrock includes most of the borough whileSouth Basildon and East Thurrock includes some wards in the east of the borough.
Thurrock has a population of 175,500[30] people living in 90,500 homes. TheMetropolitan Green Belt covers 70% of the borough. There are 494 acres (200 ha) of land available for industrial use.[31] There are sevenconservation areas, 19scheduled monuments, including thedovecote atHigh House Purfleet, and 239listed buildings.
The borough contains tenSites of Special Scientific Interest:
Despite much of the borough being protected Green Belt land, Thurrock provides localised opportunities for further industrial and commercial development. The borough forms part of theThames Gateway regeneration area, a corridor of opportunity that has been identified by central government as the area with greatest development and commercial potential in the country.Thurrock Development Corporation took over much of the borough's planning functions from its creation in 2005 until its demise in March 2011.
Much of the population and commercial activity is centred along the riverfront. This includes many large and important industrial sites, including two large oil refineries, manufacturing industries, a container port, cruise liner terminal, distribution warehousing and one of Britain's largest refuse disposal sites at the appropriately named settlement of Mucking. Thurrock is also home to theLakeside Shopping Centre.
Climate in this area has mild differences between highs and lows, and there is adequate rainfall year-round. TheKöppen Climate Classification subtype for this climate is "Cfb" (Marine West Coast Climate/Oceanic climate).[32]
| Climate data for Thurrock | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 8 (46) | 8 (46) | 11 (52) | 12 (54) | 16 (61) | 18 (64) | 21 (70) | 22 (72) | 18 (64) | 14 (57) | 10 (50) | 8 (46) | 14 (57) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 5 (41) | 4 (39) | 6 (43) | 6 (43) | 10 (50) | 12 (54) | 15 (59) | 15 (59) | 12 (54) | 10 (50) | 6 (43) | 5 (41) | 9 (48) |
| Average precipitation days | 13 | 11 | 10 | 11 | 8 | 10 | 9 | 5 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 117 |
| Source: Weatherbase[33] | |||||||||||||
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
|---|---|---|
| 1911 | 2,500 | — |
| 1951 | 82,100 | +3184.0% |
| 1961 | 114,300 | +39.2% |
| 1971 | 125,000 | +9.4% |
| 1981 | 127,400 | +1.9% |
| 1985 | 124,600 | −2.2% |
| 1991 | 128,700 | +3.3% |
| 1995 | 133,400 | +3.7% |
| 2001 | 143,300 | +7.4% |
| 2005 | 148,900 | +3.9% |
| 2007 | 152,200 | +2.2% |
| 2011 | 158,300 | +4.0% |
| All totals rounded to nearest hundred Source:Populstat &NOMIS | ||
At thecensus of 2011, there were 157,705 people, 62,353 households and 45,985 families residing in the borough. The population density was 9.7 people per hectare. There were 63,869 housing units. The racial makeup of the borough was 86% White, 3.8% Asian, 7.8% Black, 2% Mixed Race, 0.6% other.
There were 62,353 households, out of which 30.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 72.7% weremarried couples living together, 52.5% of all households were made up of individuals, 10.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.[34]
The median age in the borough was 42. 25.5% of residents were under the age of 18; 7.3% of residents were between the ages of 19 and 24; 30.3% were from 25 to 44; 24.2% were from 45 to 64; and 38.2% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 49.3% male and 50.6% female.[34]
This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Thurrock at current basic prices published[35] (pp. 240–253) by the Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of BritishPounds Sterling.
| Year | Regional gross value added[36] | Agriculture[37] | Industry[38] | Services[39] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | 1,406 | 8 | 657 | 741 |
| 2000 | 1,737 | 4 | 677 | 1,056 |
| 2003 | 1,995 | 5 | 664 | 1,327 |
Thurrock has been the scene of several major films.[40] St Clement's Church and street scenes atWest Thurrock were used in the making of the filmFour Weddings and a Funeral. Thurrock can also be seen in28 Days Later. Scenes from the filmsAlfie (2004), andIndiana Jones and the Last Crusade were shot at Tilbury docks. The opening scenes fromBatman Begins (2005) were shot at Coalhouse Fort in East Tilbury. Some filming also took place for the filmEssex Boys in and around the Bata estate at East Tilbury. TheState Cinema, where Eddie met Roger in the classicWho Framed Roger Rabbit, can be found in Grays.
There are a number of examples ofArt Deco architecture in Thurrock. The baggage hall at Tilbury was opened in 1930. It has an art deco interior, designed bySir Edwin Cooper and is a grade II listed building.[41] The State cinema is also a listed building and dates from 1938. It is one of the few surviving examples of 1930s cinema architecture. It has the original cinema organ which can still be played. However, in the early 21st century the building became disused and faced dereliction. In September 2015 it was announced thatJ D Wetherspoon had bought the property for conversion to a public house.([42] Building of theBata Shoes estate in East Tilbury was begun in 1933, and this is now a conservation area.JD Wetherspoon have since put the State Cinema building up for sale after announcing they would no longer be converting it to a public house January 2023
Chadwell St Mary has one of the few examples of a "Sunspan" house designed by the architectWells Coates. Although built in the 1950s, Woodside Primary School's architecture has been described as the slightly earlier "ocean liner" style of Art Deco. The building features a number of bricked curves and circular windows, while the wrought-iron banisters on the stairs are deliberately set to lean out at an angle.
There is one multiplex cinema attached to the Lakeside Shopping Centre, and the Thameside Theatre inGrays. Live shows are held at the Circus Tavern inPurfleet. Open space includesChafford Gorges Nature Park,Langdon Hills Country Park andGrove House Wood, managed byEssex Wildlife Trust. Museums and historic buildings includeCoalhouse Fort atEast Tilbury,Tilbury Fort inTilbury, Purfleet Heritage and Military Centre,High House, Purfleet with its historic farm buildings, the Royal Opera House's Bob and Tamar Manoukian Production Workshop, The Backstage Centre and ACME artists' studios, Thurrock Museum and Walton Hall Farm Museum.
Next toLakeside Shopping Centre isArena Essex, a former motor sports complex, where speedway, banger and stock car racing took place. This site is now to be redeveloped for housing.
National Rail in Thurrock | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Being on the river and close to London, Thurrock is served with good communication links. TheM25 London Orbital Motorway, the railway line between Southend and London Fenchurch Street which provides direct access to Central London, the Port of Tilbury, and the nearbyLondon City Airport make Thurrock an important international trade centre. There is a grass airstrip south of Bulphan village. A ferry for passengers on foot connects Tilbury with Gravesend on the southern bank of the River Thames.
Rail transport in the borough is provided byc2c with stations at:
Bus services within the Thurrock urban area are mostly provided byEnsignbus.
Other operators are First Essex, Stagecoach London and NIBS Buses.
Thurrock has 55 schools; 39 of them areprimary schools, 13 aresecondary, two arespecial and one isalternative. All but one havefree school oracademy status, withGrays Convent High School instead havingvoluntary aided status. Five schools, including Grays Convent High School and four primary schools, areCatholicfaith schools while two primary schools areAnglican faith schools. 44 schools in Thurrock are operated by one of 13multi-academy trusts, which include major chains such as theHarris Federation andOrmiston Trust and the country's firstcooperative academy trust.[43][44][45] Since 2007, all secondary schools in Thurrock have hadspecialist school status.[46] Some schools, such asWilliam Edwards School andOrsett Heath Academy, utilise their right as specialist schools toselect 10% of their pupils in specialist subject aptitude every year.[47]
Thurrock has nogrammar schools, although Thurrock Council has tried to introduce them.[48][49] Historically Thurrock had three grammar schools, Grays Thurrock School,[50] Palmer's School for Boys and Palmer's School for Girls. In 1931, the Palmer's schools becamepublic schools withboarding, reverting back to grammar school status in 1944 undervoluntary control.[51] Grays Convent High School was anindependentday school from its formation until 1969. There were also two selectivesecondary technical schools,Grays County Technical High School which is now an academy statuscomprehensive[52] andAveley County Technical High School, which merged with the Palmer's schools in 1971 to formPalmer's College.[53]
Palmer's College, now one half ofUSP College,[54] is Thurrock's localsixth form college for generalisedfurther education, whilst the Thurrock Campus ofSouth Essex College is the local sixth form college forvocational education.[53] Palmer's also offers courses athigher education.[55] Otherinstitutions of further education in Thurrock include theThurrock Adult Community College,[56]Osborne Sixth Form andOrtu Sixth Form Centre Stanford & Corringham.
TheTilbury and Chadwell St Mary Excellence Cluster brought together Chadwell St Mary Primary School, ORTU Corringham Primary School, Grays Convent High School,Hassenbrook Academy, Herringham Primary School, Landsdowne Primary School, Manor Infant School, Manor Junior School, St Mary's RC Primary School, Woodside Primary School andThe Gateway Academy. Senior members of the schools' councils also sat on the cluster's student council before its dissolution.[57]
ORTU Gable Hall School has had a long partnership withPro Arte Alphen Park School in Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa for almost 10 years – the two schools have held exchange programmes with each other and the students sampling life in each other's respective countries.[citation needed]
Woodside Primary is linked with a school inNepal, through the charity Gorkha Learning for Life, which was founded by a member of school staff.[58]
Thurrock is served byBBC London andITV London with television signals are received fromCrystal Palace TV transmitter,[59]BBC South East andITV Meridian can also be received fromBluebell Hill TV transmitter.[60]
Radio stations that broadcast to the area are:
The area is served by these local newspapers:
Thurrock has severalNon-League football clubs in the area:
Thurrock Yacht Club is based in the centre of Grays on the Thames foreshore. It offers a range of competitive and recreational boating opportunities.[63]
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The following people and military units have received theFreedom of the Borough of Thurrock.
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The borough of Thurrock is twinned with the following places:[70]
51°30′N0°25′E / 51.500°N 0.417°E /51.500; 0.417
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