![Aerial view of Daws Heath estate and the woods beyond - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/Aerial_view_of_Daws_Heath_estate_and_the_woods_beyond_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1580031.jpg)
Daws Heath contains a large area of woodland in eastern
Thundersley
Thundersley is a town and former civil parish, now in the unparished area of Benfleet, in the Castle Point borough, in southeast Essex, England. It sits on a clay ridge shared with Basildon and Hadleigh, east of Charing Cross, London. In 1951 ...
, part of
Castle Point
Castle Point is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in south Essex, east of central London. The borough comprises the towns and villages of Canvey Island, Hadleigh, Ess ...
near
Southend-on-Sea
Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authority area with borough status in southeastern Essex, England. It lies on the north side of the Thames Estuary, east of central London. It is bordered ...
in
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.
It is traversed by the Daws Heath Road and St Michael's Road. Daws Heath provides a semi-rural escape for local towns and villages and their residents as they walk, cycle or drive out of Castle Point, as Daws Heath Road has fields and woodland on both sides of the road with a small scattering of houses. Going down Daws Heath Road it is not uncommon to see rare-breed cattle, sheep and horses. Daws Heath is surrounded by Greenbelt and Woodland which are a buffer to stop the local villages merging by development.
West Woods, nearly of mixed woodland, was purchased from the Church of England in 2009, securing continued public access to these woods; public support in the Daws Heath area is very strong especially on green belt and woodland preservation.
The area has established neighbourhood watch schemes, Church Groups and Greenbelt Protection Groups.
Daws Heath contains
The Deanes, (a secondary School), and is linked to a local Sixth Form College in Thundersley (
SEEVIC
USP College (Unified Seevic Palmer's College, previously known as Seevic and Palmer's Colleges Group) is a large general further education college in Essex, England. It was established in August 2017 from the merger of Palmer's College in Gra ...
), now part of
USP College
USP College (Unified Seevic Palmer's College, previously known as Seevic and Palmer's Colleges Group) is a large general further education college in Essex, England. It was established in August 2017 from the merger of Palmer's College in Gra ...
.
Daws Heath extends from the north side of
Hadleigh towards the
A127
The A127, also known as the Southend Arterial Road, is a major road in Essex, England. It was constructed as a new arterial road project in the 1920s, linking Romford with Southend-on-Sea, replacing the older A13. Formerly classified as a tr ...
London-Southend arterial road, and from where it adjoins Thundersley proper at the west end of Daws Heath Road eastwards to Belfairs Park,
Leigh-on-Sea
Leigh-on-Sea (), commonly referred to simply as Leigh, is a town and civil parish in the City of Southend-on-Sea, in the ceremonial county of Essex, England. In 2011, it had a population of 22,509.
Geography
Leigh-on-Sea is on the northern ...
in
Southend
Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authority area with borough status in southeastern Essex, England. It lies on the north side of the Thames Estuary, east of central London. It is bordered ...
borough.
Ann's Mini Market is the heart of Daws Heath which brings the local community together. The Glazebrook Family is well known in Daws Heath and they are viewed as key members of the community. Although new to Daws Heath, the Merrison's have also played a large role within the community. In fact the two eldest sons from each family could be seen horse riding along Fairmead, Morfcroft and Daws Heath Road. Some even called them the four musketeers.
Daws Heath was described in books as a "wild and lawless place: both travellers and local inhabitants had to endure thieves and highwaymen," (''Thundersley - A Pictorial History'' by Terry Babbington) and "a hotbed of lawlessness right down to living memory." (''Southend-on-Sea & District'' by J.W.Burrows, dated 1909). Burrows continued......"The settlement of this...district is attributed to some discharged soldiers who served in the Peninsular War. Upon the heath land they built themselves small huts, and by some means or another managed to obtain a precarious livelihood. Here possibly smuggled goods were concealed until a favourable opportunity enabled the owners to dispatch them to London or through the bye roads into the centre of England." Charcoal burning was an important industry here in the 16th century, supplying gunpowder factories. This probably included the
Waltham Abbey Royal Gunpowder Mills
The Royal Gunpowder Mills are a former industrial site in Waltham Abbey, England.
It was one of three Royal Gunpowder Mills in the United Kingdom (the others being at Ballincollig and Faversham). Waltham Abbey is the only site to have survive ...
which produced gunpowder from 1660. More recently the
Essex Wildlife Trust
The Essex Wildlife Trust (EWT) is one of 46 wildlife trusts which cover the United Kingdom. The EWT was founded in 1959, and it describes itself as Essex's leading conservation charity, which aims to protect wildlife for the future and the people ...
has revived charcoal burning in Pound Wood. The Wildlife Trust has done much work in Pound Wood and Tile Wood/Starvelarks Wood (next to Little Haven Children's Hospice), making them more accessible to visitors.
The nearest
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 ...
is The Woodman's Arms on the Rayleigh Road (A129) junction with Daws Heath Road.
The artist
Alan Sorrell
Alan Ernest Sorrell (11 February 1904 – 21 December 1974) was an English artist and writer best remembered for his archaeological illustrations, particularly his detailed reconstructions of Roman Britain. He was a Senior Assistant Instructo ...
was a resident of Daws Heath.
Woods of Daws Heath
The woodlands of Daws Heath include the following named woods.
Pound Wood (
OS Grid Reference TQ820887) lies to the north of Bramble Road and spans the parishes of Thundersley and Hadleigh. It is a 54.0 acre (21.85 hectare) coppice wood with standard
Oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...
s, mainly Sessile but some Pedunculate.
Coppice trees include
Willow
Willows, also called sallows and osiers, from the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 400 speciesMabberley, D.J. 1997. The Plant Book, Cambridge University Press #2: Cambridge. of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist s ...
,
Hornbeam
Hornbeams are hardwood trees in the flowering plant genus ''Carpinus'' in the birch family Betulaceae. The 30–40 species occur across much of the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere.
Origin of names
The common English name ''hornbeam' ...
and
Chestnut
The chestnuts are the deciduous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Castanea'', in the beech family Fagaceae. They are native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere.
The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce.
The unrelat ...
. Other species include
Holly
''Ilex'' (), or holly, is a genus of over 570 species of flowering plants in the family Aquifoliaceae, and the only living genus in that family. ''Ilex'' has the most species of any woody dioecious angiosperm genus. The species are evergreen o ...
,
Birch
A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech-oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains 30 ...
,
Wild Service, Woodrushes, Wood spurge and
Bluebells. Two small streams run in a south-west to north-east direction.
The wood was purchased by Essex Wildlife Trust in 1993.
Rag Wood (TQ806887) is a small, 3.7 acre (1.50 hectare), privately owned wood located to the north-east of West Wood and south-west of Valerie Wells Wood. It comprises mainly Oak with some Chestnut and Hornbeam. It is a secondary wood, perhaps of the early 19th century.
Starvelarks Wood is divided into two contiguous woods by a track running north to south. Starvelarks Wood East (TQ810892) is an 8.03 acres (3.25 hectare) wood, and Starvelarks Wood West (TQ811891) is 10.6 acres (4.29 hectare). Both woods are mainly Chestnut
coppice
Coppicing is a traditional method of woodland management which exploits the capacity of many species of trees to put out new shoots from their stump or roots if cut down. In a coppiced wood, which is called a copse, young tree stems are repeated ...
with some Ash and Birch, unusually for woods in the area there is very little Hornbeam. Both woods are thought to be 19th century plantations.
Starvelarks wood is part of the Essex Wildlife Trust's Little Havens Nature Reserve.
Tile Wood is divided into two woods: Tile Wood East (TQ816890) is a 17.4 acres (7.04 hectare) wood and was formerly known from Anglo-Saxon records as Tilhurst. St Michaels Road forms the eastern boundary of the East wood. The wood is mainly Hornbeam coppice with standard Oaks. Tile Wood West (TQ815892) is 17.6 acres (7.12 hectare) and is also known as Wyburns Wood,
Lower Wyburns Farm is located to the north of the wood but now separated from it by the A127 road. Tile Wood West comprises principally
Ash
Ash or ashes are the solid remnants of fires. Specifically, ''ash'' refers to all non-aqueous, non- gaseous residues that remain after something burns. In analytical chemistry, to analyse the mineral and metal content of chemical samples, ash ...
with some
Alder
Alders are trees comprising the genus ''Alnus'' in the birch family Betulaceae. The genus comprises about 35 species of monoecious trees and shrubs, a few reaching a large size, distributed throughout the north temperate zone with a few sp ...
, Chestnut and
Hazel
The hazel (''Corylus'') is a genus of deciduous trees and large shrubs native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. The genus is usually placed in the birch family Betulaceae,Germplasmgobills Information Network''Corylus''Rushforth, K. (1999). ...
.
Both woods are owned by the Church Commissioners.
Valerie Wells Wood (TQ808887), formerly known as Cottage Plantation, is located to the north-east of West Wood, Daws Heath Road forms the wood's northern boundary. It is 14.1 acre (5.71 hectare) wood of predominately Chestnut coppice. There are some Pines,
Poplar and
Beech
Beech (''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia, and North America. Recent classifications recognize 10 to 13 species in two distinct subgenera, ''Engleriana'' and ''Fagus''. The ''Engle ...
es, these are uncommon species in south-east Essex, and indicate that the wood originated as a plantation.
The wood was purchased from a private owner by the Essex Wildlife Trust in 2013.
West Wood (TQ805881) is a 79.4 acre (32.13 hectare) wood that straddles the parishes of Thundersley and Hadleigh. The wood abuts Rayleigh Road (A129) on its south-west corner. The wood can be accessed from Rayleigh Road, Hedge Lane, Westborough Close, and Daws Heath Road. The Prittle Brook runs west to east through the wood. To the south of the brook, trees are mainly Hornbeam and Oak. To the north, Chestnut predominates with some Hornbeam, Oak and Birch. A Luftwaffe photograph of 1940 shows the whole of the wood north of the brook had been clear-felled and was in different stages of re-growth.
West Wood is owned by Castle Point District Council and is currently managed by Castle Point Wildlife Group. The wood was formerly owned by the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's Cathedral. The Prittle brook was partly culverted to the east of the wood, and contained within concrete embankments following flooding of the brook and Daws Heath Road in 1969.
The 5.5 mile (8.9 km) Seven Woods Walk includes the woods of Daws Heath plus Hadleigh Great Wood and Belfairs Wood.
References
{{Coord, 51.565, 0.612, type:city_region:GB-ESS, display=title
Geography of Essex
Castle Point