Editing Thurrock (section)

==History==
[[Mammoths]] once grazed in the Thurrock area<ref name=catton>{{cite book|last=Catton|first=Jonathan|chapter=A Short History of Thurrock|title=Exploring Thurrock|publisher=Thurrock Local History Society|year=2008|editor=Christopher Harrold}}</ref> and archaeologists unearthed the remains of a jungle cat. Humans have lived in the area since [[prehistoric times]]<ref name=catton/> and the land has been farmed by the [[Roman Empire|Romans]]<ref name=catton/> and [[Anglo-Saxons]].<ref name=catton/> Thurrock has numerous [[List of archaeological sites in Thurrock|archaeological sites]] including the major excavation at [[Mucking excavation|Mucking]]. The name "Thurrock" is a Saxon name meaning "the bottom of a ship".<ref>{{cite book|author=PH Reaney|title=The Place-Names of Essex|publisher=CUP|year=1969}}</ref>

[[File:Wool-market.jpg|thumb|left|The Woolmarket, Horndon-on-the-Hill]] [[Horndon-on-the-Hill]] was the site of an [[Horndon mint|11th 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 of [[London]], and [[Henry VIII of England|Henry VIII]] built three blockhouses, two on the Tilbury side and another on the Gravesend side of the river, following the end of his marriage to [[Catherine of Aragon]].

In 1381, villagers from [[Fobbing]], [[Mucking]] and [[Stanford-le-Hope]] instigated the [[Peasants' Revolt]] when they were called to [[Brentwood, Essex|Brentwood]] to pay the [[poll tax]]. When they refused to pay, a riot ensued which was the catalyst for a mass protest across [[Essex]] and [[Kent]].

Later, in 1588 [[Elizabeth I of England|Elizabeth I]] addressed her troops not far from the Tilbury blockhouse as the [[Spanish Armada]] sailed up the [[English 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 through [[Napoleon]]ic 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 the [[East Tilbury#History|Bata 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.essexfieldclub.org.uk/resource/Introduction%20to%20the%20geology%20of%20Essex|title=The Geology of Essex}}</ref>

===Captain Kidd===
The body of [[William Kidd|Captain Kidd]] was displayed in Thurrock. He had been convicted of piracy and hanged on 23 May 1701, at '[[Execution Dock]]', [[Wapping]]. His body was ''[[gibbet]]ed'' — left to hang in an iron cage over the Thames at Tilbury Point<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.royalnavalmuseum.org/info_sheets_piracy.htm |title=A Brief History of Piracy &#124; Online Information Bank &#124; Research Collections &#124; Royal Naval Museum at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard |access-date=21 April 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110612082349/http://www.royalnavalmuseum.org/info_sheets_piracy.htm |archive-date=12 June 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> — 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thurrock.gov.uk/heritage/content.php?page=factfiles_details&id=8|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110608211536/http://www.thurrock.gov.uk/heritage/content.php?page=factfiles_details&id=8|url-status=dead|title=Captain Kidd – the Tilbury connection|archive-date=8 June 2011}}</ref>

===1953 Floods===
On 31 January 1953, the low-lying areas of Thurrock were inundated by the [[North Sea flood of 1953]]. The Van den Berghs and Jurgens margarine factory, which manufactured [[Stork 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.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Great Tide|first=Hilda|last=Grieve|year=1959|publisher=Essex County Council|page=466}}</ref> 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 in [[Tilbury]] and other low-lying areas were evacuated to schools on the higher ground.<ref name="1953 Floods">{{cite web|url=http://www.thurrock.gov.uk/safety/floods/content.php?page=1953_aftermath|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100305154939/http://www.thurrock.gov.uk/safety/floods/content.php?page=1953_aftermath|url-status=dead|title=1953 Floods|archive-date=5 March 2010}}</ref> Chadwell St Mary Primary school was used as the main welfare centre for the homeless.<ref>Grieve, 1959, page 600</ref> 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.<ref>Grieve, 1959, page 616</ref> On Friday 13 February, the flooded areas were visited by the young [[Queen Elizabeth II]]<ref name="1953 Floods"/> Despite severe loss of life in nearby [[Canvey Island]], only one person in Thurrock died as a result of the floods.<ref>Grieve, 1959, page 568</ref>

===Heritage plaques===
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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thurrock-community.org.uk/historysoc/plaques.html|title=Thurrock Council}}</ref> By September 2021 plaques included:
*[[Joseph Conrad]]
*Alice Mangold Diehl (Musician and Novelist, born in [[Aveley]]) 
*[[Dracula]]'s connection to Purfleet
*The arrival of the [[Empire Windrush]] at Tilbury on 21 June 1948
*The training ship Exmouth
*The [[Kynoch]] factory in the [[Corringham, Essex|Corringham]] marshes
*The shooting down of [[Zeppelin]] L15 at [[Purfleet]] in 1916
*[[Vincent Motorcycles#Phil Vincent|Philip Vincent]]
*[[Alfred Russel Wallace]] and his house at [[the Dell (Thurrock)|the Dell]]
*[[Arthur Young (writer)|Arthur Young]]
*The establishment of the town of [[Tilbury]] in 1912
*[[John Newton]]'s connection with [[Aveley]] and [[Purfleet]]
*[[Benjamin Franklin]]'s connection with the design of a lightning conductor for the Purfleet gunpowder magazine<ref>Thurrock Yellow Advertiser, 26 April 2012</ref>
*[[Henry de Grey]], who gave his name to [[Grays, Essex|Grays]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.yourthurrock.com/2013/06/14/commemorating-the-norman-knight-henry-de-grey/|title=Commemorating the Norman knight, Henry de Grey|date=14 June 2013}}</ref>
*[[Kate Luard]], the much decorated Boer War and First World War nurse

===Administrative history===
The borough has its origins in the [[Orsett]] [[Poor Law Union]], which had been created in 1835 covering a group of 18 parishes in southern Essex.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Higginbotham |first1=Peter |title=Orsett Workhouse |url=https://www.workhouses.org.uk/Orsett/ |website=The Workhouse |access-date=9 June 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Borough and council history: From Turroc to modern Thurrock |url=https://www.thurrock.gov.uk/borough-and-council-history/from-turroc-to-modern-thurrock |access-date=2022-11-08 |website=Thurrock Council}}</ref> Poor Law Unions subsequently formed the basis for later local government structures, with the Orsett [[sanitary district|Rural Sanitary District]] created in 1872 covering the same area. The parish of [[Grays Thurrock]] was made its own [[local board of health|urban sanitary district]] in 1886.<ref name=Essex1914>{{cite book|title=Kelly's Directory of Essex, 1914|publisher=Kelly's Directories Ltd|url=http://specialcollections.le.ac.uk/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p16445coll4/id/8909/rec/1|accessdate=13 November 2014}}</ref>

Urban and rural sanitary districts were converted into [[Urban district (England and Wales)|urban districts]] and [[rural districts]] in 1894.<ref>[[Local Government Act 1894]] (56 & 57 Vict. c. 73)</ref> Two further urban districts were later created from parts of the [[Orsett Rural District]]: the [[Tilbury Urban District]] in 1912 covering the parish of [[Chadwell St Mary]], and the [[Purfleet Urban District]] in 1929 covering the three parishes of [[Aveley]], [[South Ockendon]] and [[West Thurrock]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Orsett Rural District |url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10025941 |website=A Vision of Britain through Time |publisher=GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth |access-date=9 June 2023}}</ref>

After 1929 the area therefore comprised four district-level authorities: one rural district, containing 13 civil parishes, and three urban districts:<ref>{{cite web |title=Ordnance Survey Diagram of Essex showing administrative boundaries, 1934 |url=https://maps.nls.uk/view/241242514 |website=National Library of Scotland |access-date=9 June 2023}}</ref>{{efn|Whilst the urban districts still contained civil parishes, as [[urban parish]]es they had no administrative functions.}}
*[[Grays Thurrock Urban District]]
*[[Purfleet Urban District]]
*[[Tilbury Urban District]]
*[[Orsett Rural District]], with its parishes being:
**[[Bulphan]]
**[[Corringham, Essex|Corringham]]
**[[East Tilbury]]
**[[Fobbing]]
**[[Horndon on the Hill]]
**[[Langdon Hills]]
**[[Little Thurrock]]
**[[Mucking]]
**[[North Ockendon]]
**[[Orsett]]
**[[Stanford-le-Hope]]
**[[Stifford]]
**[[West Tilbury]]

In 1936 the four districts were all abolished to create the [[Thurrock 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.<ref>{{cite web |title=Thurrock Urban District |url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10074186# |website=A Vision of Britain through Time |publisher=GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth |access-date=9 June 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10247603|title=Relationships and changes Thurrock CP through time|publisher=A Vision of Britain through Time|accessdate=26 December 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=A History of the County of Essex: Volume 8 |date=1983 |publisher=Victoria County History |location=London |pages=35–56 |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/essex/vol8/pp35-56#anchorn282 |access-date=9 June 2023}}</ref>

The present-day borough of Thurrock was created in on 1 April 1974 under the [[Local 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 with [[Borough of Basildon|Basildon]] to place the whole designated area for Basildon [[New Towns in the United Kingdom|new town]] in that district.<ref>{{cite legislation UK|type=si|si=The English Non-metropolitan Districts (Definition) Order 1972|year=1972|number=2039|access-date=31 May 2023}}</ref> The civil parish of Thurrock was also abolished as part of the reforms and the area became an [[unparished area]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ukbmd.org.uk/reg/districts/thurrock.html|title=Thurrock Registration District|publisher=UKBMD|accessdate=26 December 2021}}</ref> The reformed Thurrock district was given [[Borough status in the United Kingdom|borough status]] at the same time, allowing the chair of the council to take the title of mayor.<ref name="hans74">{{cite web|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/written-answers/1974/mar/28/district-councils-and-boroughs#S5CV0871P0_19740328_CWA_145|title=District Councils and Boroughs|date=28 March 1974|work=[[Hansard|Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)]]|access-date=9 June 2023}}</ref>

Until 1998 Thurrock was a lower-tier [[non-metropolitan district|district]] authority, with [[Essex County Council]] providing [[non-metropolitan county|county-level]] services. Thurrock was made a [[unitary authorities in England|unitary authority]] on 1 April 1998, taking over the county-level services.<ref>{{cite legislation UK|type=si|si=The Essex (Boroughs of Colchester, Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock and District of Tendring) (Structural, Boundary and Electoral Changes) Order 1996|year=1996|number=1875|access-date=9 June 2023}}</ref> Thurrock remains part of the [[ceremonial county]] of Essex for the purposes of [[Lieutenancy area|lieutenancy]].<ref>{{cite legislation UK|type=act|act=Lieutenancies Act 1997|year=1997|chapter=23|accessdate=26 April 2023}}</ref>