West Thurrock

History

West Thurrock was an ancient parish in the Hundred of Chafford in Essex. When elected parish and district councils were established under the Local Government Act 1894, West Thurrock was given a parish council and included in the Orsett Rural District. In 1929, West Thurrock and the neighbouring parishes of Aveley and South Ockendon were removed from Orsett Rural District to become the short-lived Purfleet Urban District. As part of that reform, West Thurrock was reclassified as an urban parish and so lost its parish council; the lowest elected tier of local government was Purfleet Urban District Council. The Purfleet Urban District was abolished just seven years later in 1936, becoming part of Thurrock Urban District. The civil parish of West Thurrock was abolished as part of the 1936 reforms, becoming part of a single parish of Thurrock covering the same area as the urban district. At the 1931 census (the last before the abolition of the civil parish), West Thurrock had a population of 5,153.

Location

West Thurrock is part of the unitary authority of Thurrock located on the north bank of the River Thames about 17 mi from Charing Cross, London.

Nearest places:

• Aveley
• Chafford Hundred
• Grays
• South Ockendon

Nearest stations:

• Chafford Hundred railway station
• Grays railway station
• Purfleet railway station

Industry

Industry along the Thames includes a Unilever chilled distribution centre for all its chilled food products including Flora, Bertolli, I Can't Believe It's Not Butter, Stork, Peperami and AdeZ. A Procter & Gamble (originally Hedley's) plant manufactures detergents and soaps.

The large coal-burning West Thurrock Power Station closed in 1993, and was replaced by a plant making industrial chemicals, particularly the raw materials for detergent manufacture. The 190 m electricity pylons of 400 kV Thames Crossing, the tallest electricity pylons in the UK, remain. Just upstream of the pylons the tunnel of High Speed 1 passes under the Thames.

West Thurrock was formerly the site of a large chalk quarrying and cement making industry. Individual companies included Brooks (which became part of APC), Gibbs & Co., Wouldham Cement and Tunnel Cement (now part of Hanson Cement). Today, this industry is represented only by the works of Lafarge below the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge. A new plant for the production of aluminous cement was completed in 2003.

Buildings

St Clement's Church, the historic parish church, was used for the funeral in the film Four Weddings and a Funeral. A modern replacement church, also dedicated to St Clement, now stands on London Road. The old church is now managed by Procter & Gamble, who own the adjoining factory, but occasional services are still held there.

Belmont Castle, England, a neo-Gothic mansion, was built in West Thurrock in 1795 but was demolished in 1943 to make way for a chalk quarry.

Origin of the name

Thurrock is a Saxon name meaning "the bottom of a ship". West Thurrock is one of three "Thurrocks", the others being Little Thurrock and Grays Thurrock.

References

References

1. "Relationships and changes West Thurrock CP/AP through time". A Vision of Britain through Time.
2. "Population statistics West Thurrock CP/AP through time". [[A Vision of Britain through Time]].
3. "West Thurrock". Victoria County A History of the County of Essex: Volume 8 (1983), pp. 57-74..
4. "New Mill Building for Lafarge - West Thurrock". Wright Engineering.
5. [https://www.thurrockgazette.co.uk/news/13927212.down-memory-lane-hole-truth-about-lakeside/ Jonathan Catton, Down Memory Lane]
6. "St Clement's, West Thurrock".
7. "St Clement's and P&G".
8. Hughson, David, [https://books.google.com/books?id=hWouAAAAMAAJ&dq=%22Belmont+castle%22+Grays&pg=PA210-IA1 ''London; being an accurate history and description of the British metropolis and its neighbourhood: to thirty miles extent, from an actual perambulation''], Volume 6, J. Stratford, 1809, p. 210
9. Carney, T. J., [http://www.thurrock-history.org.uk/belmont1.htm "A Picturesque Object", the story of Belmont Castle, Grays], originally published in ''Panorama'', No. 28, Thurrock Local History Society, 1986
10. PH Reaney, ''The Place-Names of Essex'', (CUP, 1969)