Thundersley

Thundersley
Bread and Cheese Hill is the name of one of the roads climbing the main slope up to the heart of Thundersley.
Thundersley Location within Essex
OS grid reference	TQ800887
District	Castle Point
Shire county	Essex
Region	East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	BENFLEET
Postcode district	SS7
Dialling code	01268 & 01702
Police	Essex
Fire	Essex
Ambulance	East of England
UK Parliament	Castle Point
List of places UK England Essex 51°34′N 0°35′E / 51.57°N 0.59°E / 51.57; 0.59

Thundersley is a town in the Castle Point borough of southeast Essex, England. It sits on a clay ridge shared with Basildon and Hadleigh, 31 miles (50 km) east of Charing Cross, London. The ecclesiastical parish of Thundersley St Peter takes in Daws Heath to the east.

Thundersley is classed as part of the "Thundersley and South Benfleet" built up area by the Office for National Statistics, which also includes Hadleigh and South Benfleet.^[1] This built up area had a population of 49,885 at the 2021 census.^[2]

Toponymy

Thundersley derives from the Old English Þunres lēah = "grove or meadow [perhaps sacred] belonging to the god Thunor or Thor".^[3] It has also historically been known as Thunresleam.^[4] The place-name is first attested in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it appears as Thunreslea.^[5]

The place-name is historically significant as a survival from England's pre-Christian Anglo-Saxon paganism.

Geography

The area is relatively hilly for Essex, a typical height for the central and eastern part of (old) Thundersley is about 200 feet (60 m) above sea level. The town is partly rural, with large woods and commons; including Thundersley Common (a Site of Special Scientific Interest), Shipwrights Wood (12 hectares) and Thundersley Glen all owned and managed by the council; West Wood (22½ hectares acres) owned by the council and managed by Castle Point Wildlife Group; Tile Wood (6½ hectares) and Pound Wood (22¼ hectares) are owned by the Essex Wildlife Trust; Starvelarks Wood and Wyburns Wood are both part of Little Haven Nature Reserve (37¼ hectares) which is owned by Havens Hospice Trust and leased to Essex Wildlife Trust; Coombe Wood is under mixed ownership and much of it has Village Green status.

History

Samuel Lewis's major work, a Topographical Dictionary of England in 1848 gives this account:

THUNDERSLEY (St. Peter), a parish, in the union of Billericay [...] S.[outh] division of Essex, 2¼ miles (S. W. by W.) from Rayleigh; containing 596 inhabitants, of whom 120 are in the hamlet. This parish is about two miles in length [east-west], and a mile and a half in breadth, and comprises 2100 acres, of which 100 are common or waste; the village is on elevated ground, and the surrounding scenery is pleasingly diversified. The [parish priest] living...[was] valued in the king's books at £14. 13. 4., and in the gift [appointment of the Rev. G. Hemming: the tithes have been commuted [near-eliminated] for £570; there is a parsonage-house, and the glebe comprises 40 acres. The church is a venerable structure in the later Norman and early English styles, with a tower and spire.^[6]

Greeves motorcycles were produced in a purpose-built factory at Thundersley from 1953 to 1976. Initially the bikes were an offshoot of the Invacar company, which produced invalid cars and needed to diversify its products.

Schools and colleges

In the wards of Thundersley North, Thundersley South and St Michaels, there are two secondary schools – The King John School and Sixth Form and The Deanes. There is also USP College (Seevic Campus) for further education, and Cedar Hall School,^[7] which is a special educational needs school for those aged 4-18. There are two primary schools - Thundersley Primary School and Kingston.

Governance

There are two tiers of local government covering Thundersley, at district and non-metropolitan county level: Castle Point Borough Council, based on Kiln Road in Thundersley, and Essex County Council, based in Chelmsford.

Thundersley was an ancient parish. It was subdivided into two townships: Daws Heath covering the eastern third of the parish, which was in the Rochford Hundred, and a Thundersley township covering the remainder of the parish, which was in the Barstable Hundred.^[8]

When elected parish and district councils were established in 1894, Thundersley was given a parish council and included in the Rochford Rural District. In 1929 the parish and its neighbours Hadleigh and South Benfleet were removed from the rural district and united to become Benfleet Urban District. The three parishes were thereafter classed as urban parishes and so were no longer eligible to have parish councils, with the lowest elected tier of local government being Benfleet Urban District Council.^[9] In 1951 the parish of Thundersley had a population of 6,482.^[10]

The urban district council built itself a new headquarters on Kiln Road in Thundersley in 1962.^[11]

Benfleet Urban District was abolished in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, becoming part of the new district of Castle Point, which took over the old Benfleet Urban District Council's offices in Thundersley to serve as its headquarters.^[12] As part of the 1974 reforms the former urban district became unparished. Castle Point Borough Council is therefore the lowest elected tier of local government covering Thundersley.^[13]

Transport

Thundersley is bounded by the A127 road to the north, where it borders Rayleigh, the A130 road to the west where it borders the villages of North Benfleet and Bowers Gifford. The A13 road to the south and eastwards beyond the A129 road bordering through Daws Heath, Belfairs Park in Leigh-on-Sea and Hadleigh.

The nearest railway stations are Benfleet railway station and Rayleigh railway station. The London Tilbury and Southend LT&SR 79 Class 4-4-2T No. 80 locomotive Thundersley was named after this area, and it is on exhibition at Bressingham Steam and Gardens in Norfolk, on loan from the National Railway Museum.

Recreation

Football club Thundersley Rovers Sports Club was formed in 1963 and currently has a senior mens team along with junior teams for boys and girls. Since 1980 it has been based at Thundersley Common.

There are multiple parks in the area aimed at children under 12. There is one park located in Swans Green Recreation Ground, along Hart Road and another at Thundersley Great Common.

Other leisure opportunities include Runnymede Leisure Centre, which contains two swimming pools and a gym.

Religion

The Parish of Thundersley has three Anglican churches: St Peter's, Thundersley, St George's, New Thundersley and St Michael's, Daws Heath the original of which has been replaced by an enhanced timber church, consecrated by the Bishop of Bradwell on 1 December 2012.^{[14][needs update]})

Fully reformed Christian churches include Thundersley Congregational Church which runs as its mission The Beacon,^[15] Thundersley Gospel Hall, Daws Heath Evangelical Church and Thundersley Community Church at Cedar Hall School.

Thundersley Christian Spiritualist Church was formed in October 1933 and moved to a wooden hut on Bread and Cheese Hill in July 1947. A new building opened at the same site in 1998. ^[16]

See also

• Daws Heath, the east of the parish which has its own church.
• South Benfleet, on some modern maps, such as Google maps, appear to include the much smaller parish of New Thundersley. It is contiguous with that equally modern small town or village, separated along its main east–west street.

Notable people

• Chessplayer, journalist and author James Mason (1849–1905), who became one the world's best half-dozen chess players in the 1880s,^[17] is buried in Thundersley churchyard.
• Novelist Fergus Hume (1859–1932), author of The Mystery of a Hansom Cab, spent the last 30 years of his life in Thundersley and is buried there.
• The writer Bernard Cornwell (b.1944), author of the Sharpe novels, grew up in Thundersley.
• The rector of Thundersley, Robert Drake was burnt at the stake in 1556 for refusing to renounce his protestant faith.

Gallery

• 
  St Peter's Church Thundersley
• 
  St Michael's Church, Daws Heath, Thundersley. Pictured in 2009 before demolition in 2012
• 
  The New Church of St Michael & All Angels Daws Heath
• 
  Top of old road direction sign of Thundersley

References

References

Notes

Further reading

• Terry Babbington. (1993). Thundersley - A Pictorial History. Phillimore. ISBN 0-85033-872-7.
• John Greig. (1818). Antiquarian and Topographical Cabinet, Containing a Series of Elegant Views of the most interesting objects of curiosity in Great Britain Vol III. Thundersley, Essex. Published by J. Murray [etc.] page 202, plate 98.

External links

• Essex Wildlife Trust
• Pound Wood
• Thundersley Christian Spiritualist Church