Aveley is a town and former

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

in the unitary authority of

Thurrock Thurrock () is a unitary authority area with borough status and unparished area in the ceremonial county of Essex, England. It is part of the London commuter belt and an area of regeneration within the Thames Gateway redevelopment zone. The l ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

, England, and forms one of the traditional Church of England parishes. Aveley is 16 miles (26.2 km) east of

Charing Cross Charing Cross ( ) is a junction in Westminster, London, England, where six routes meet. Clockwise from north these are: the east side of Trafalgar Square leading to St Martin's Place and then Charing Cross Road; the Strand leading to the City; ...

. In the

2021 United Kingdom census The decennial 2021 censuses of England and Wales and of Northern Ireland took place on 21 March 2021, and the census of Scotland took place on 20 March 2022. The censuses were administered by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in England an ...

it had a population of 9,801. In 1931 the parish had a population of 2,003.

Position

Aveley is located on the very edge of Greater London and is roughly bounded to the north and west by the

London Borough of Havering The London Borough of Havering () in East London, England, forms part of Outer London. It has a population of 259,552 inhabitants; the principal town is Romford, while other communities are Hornchurch, Upminster, Collier Row and Rainham. The ...

, to the south by the

A13 road This is a list of roads designated A13. Roads entries are sorted in the countries alphabetical order. * ''A13 highway (Australia)'' may refer to: ** South Australian route A13, including Main South Road and Victor Harbor Road * A13 motorway (Aust ...

and to the east by the M25 motorway. The nearest places are

Purfleet Purfleet-on-Thames is a town in the Thurrock unitary authority, Essex, England. It is bordered by the A13 road to the north and the River Thames to the south and is within the easternmost part of the M25 motorway but just outside the Greater Lond ...

South Ockendon South Ockendon is a town, former civil parish and Church of England parish within the Thurrock borough in Essex in the East of England, United Kingdom. It is located on the border with Greater London, just outside the M25 motorway. The area to th ...

, Wennington and Rainham.

Prehistory and history

Aveley has given its name to the Aveley

Interglacial An interglacial period (or alternatively interglacial, interglaciation) is a geological interval of warmer global average temperature lasting thousands of years that separates consecutive glacial periods within an ice age. The current Holocene in ...

period around 200,000 years ago. Important evidence of the local flora and fauna of the period and some signs of occupation by

Neanderthal Neanderthals (, also ''Homo neanderthalensis'' and erroneously ''Homo sapiens neanderthalensis''), also written as Neandertals, are an extinct species or subspecies of archaic humans who lived in Eurasia until about 40,000 years ago. While th ...

humans have been found there. In

Domesday Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

the name has various spellings – Alvithelea, Alvileia and Alvilea. The name means Aelfgyth's wood clearing. A variation, in 1418, is Alvythele. After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

the population grew rapidly as the area absorbed

London overspill London overspill communities are the communities created as a result of the government policy of moving residents out of Greater London into other areas in the South East of England between the 1930s and the 1970s. These largely consisted of counc ...

. On 1 April 1936 the parish was abolished to form Thurrock.

Notable people

Martina Cole Eilidh Martina Cole is a British crime writer. she has released twenty-six novels about crime, most of which examine London's gangster underworld. Four of her novels, ''Dangerous Lady'', '' The Jump'', '' The Take'' and '' The Runaway'' have bee ...

, the crime writer, was brought up in Aveley *

Alice Diehl Alice Diehl (25 February 1844 – 13 June 1912) was an English musician and novelist. She changed in 1872 from being a concert pianist into being a writer – of music reviews, some 50 novels and several other books. Family and career Alice Dieh ...

(née Mangold), the novelist and concert pianist, was born in Aveley. *

Robert W. Gibson Robert W. Gibson, AIA, (1854 in England – 1927 in New York City) was an English-born American ecclesiastical architect active in late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century New York state. He designed several large Manhattan churches and a ...

, English-American architect, born in Aveley in 1854. *

Kate Evelyn Luard Kate Evelyn Luard, (29 June 1872 – 16 August 1962), was a British nurse in the Second Boer War and First World War who was awarded the Royal Red Cross and Medal bar, Bar. She was the author of two books describing her experiences. Early life L ...

, Royal Red Cross and bar was born in Aveley vicarage. *

John Newton John Newton (; – 21 December 1807) was an English evangelical Anglican cleric and slavery abolitionist. He had previously been a captain of slave ships and an investor in the slave trade. He served as a sailor in the Royal Navy (after forc ...

, the author of ''

Amazing Grace "Amazing Grace" is a Christian hymn published in 1779 with words written in 1772 by English Anglican clergyman and poet John Newton (1725–1807). It is an immensely popular hymn, particularly in the United States, where it is used for both ...

'', lived in Aveley, which was the home of his father's second wife.

Historic buildings

St Michael's Church

The parish church of St Michael is a Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

dating from the 12th century. It contains a 14th-century

memorial brass A monumental brass is a type of engraved sepulchral memorial, which in the 13th century began to partially take the place of three-dimensional monuments and effigies carved in stone or wood. Made of hard latten or sheet brass, let into the paveme ...

to Radulphus de Knevynton, which is echoed in the arms of the Thurrock unitary authority. The church was declared unsafe in the 19th century, with the recommendation that it should be pulled down. However, this was averted by its parishioners, who raised £1,000 to save it.

Other listed buildings

Grade II* *Brett's Farmhouse *''Sir Henry Gurnett'' public house Grade II *79, High Street *''Crown and Anchor'' public house *Park Corner House *54 and 56 High Street *Courts Farm, Park Lane. The core is half of a 13th century timber framed Manor house. *Court's Farmhouse barn - demolished within last 15 yrs to make way for a modern housing estate. *Brett's Farmhouse barn *Aveley Hall 'The Old Ship' public house in Aveley - geograph

The Old Ship

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

at 58 High Street is on the

Campaign for Real Ale The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) is an independent voluntary consumer organisation headquartered in St Albans, England, which promotes real ale, cider and perry and traditional British pubs and clubs. With just under 155,000 members, it is th ...

National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors The National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors is a register of public houses in the United Kingdom with interiors which have been noted as being of significant historic interest, having remained largely unchanged for at least 30 years, but usu ...

Demographics

According to

Council, the ward of Aveley and Uplands had a population of 8,381 people in 2001. In 2019 it had an estimated population of 9,461.

Sport

Aveley is the home of

non-League football Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to de ...

club

Aveley Aveley is a town and former civil parish in the unitary authority of Thurrock in Essex, England, and forms one of the traditional Church of England parishes. Aveley is 16 miles (26.2 km) east of Charing Cross. In the 2021 United Kingdom ...

, which plays at Parkside. It was also home of now defunct

, who played at Ship Lane. Belhus golf course is located in Aveley near the site of the former Belhus Mansion. Much of the remaining land from Belhus forms the Belhus Woods Country Park.

Transport

The nearest railway stations are: *

Chafford Hundred railway station Chafford Hundred Lakeside railway station, also known simply as Chafford Hundred station, is located on a single-track branch line of the London, Tilbury and Southend line, serving the town of Chafford Hundred as well as Lakeside Shopping Centr ...

* Ockendon railway station *

Purfleet railway station Purfleet railway station is on the London, Tilbury and Southend line serving the town of Purfleet, Essex. It is down the line from London Fenchurch Street and it is situated between to the west and to the east. Its three-letter station code ...

It is also within reach of the

M25 Motorway The M25 or London Orbital Motorway is a major road encircling most of Greater London. The motorway is one of the most important roads in the UK and one of the busiest. Margaret Thatcher opened the final section in 1986, making the M25 the lon ...

Notes

External links

History of Aveley in 1863 Whites DirectoryHistoric photos of Aveley
* {{authority control Towns in Essex Former civil parishes in Essex Thurrock