Hockley is a large

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

and

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 ...

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 ...

in the

East of England The East of England is one of the nine official regions of England. This region was created in 1994 and was adopted for statistics purposes from 1999. It includes the ceremonial counties of Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire ...

located between

Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Southend-on-Sea and Colchester. It is located north-east of London a ...

and

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 ...

, or, more specifically, between Rayleigh and

Rochford Rochford is a town in Essex, England, north of Southend-on-Sea, from London and from Chelmsford, the county town. At the 2011 census, the Civil parishes in England, civil parish, which includes the town and London Southend Airport, had a popu ...

. It came to prominence during the coming of the railway in the 1890s and at the 2001 census had a population of 13,616 people, reducing to 9,616 at the 2011 Census, many of whom commute to London. The parish of Hockley itself has a population of 8,909 (2001 census), while the urban area runs into the neighbouring parish of

Hawkwell Hawkwell is a village and civil parish in the district of Rochford in Essex, England. It is the second largest village after Rayleigh. The 2001 census gave a population for the parish of 11,231, increasing to 11,730 at the 2011 Census. Hawkwel ...

. Hockley railway station serves the village.

History

The place-name 'Hockley' is first attested in the

Domesday Book 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 ...

of 1086, where it appears as ''Hocheleia''. The name means "Hocca's woodland clearing or glade". Today there is still a large wooded area named

Hockley Woods Hockley Woods is a large woodland in south-east Essex. It is a Local Nature Reserve, and parts are a Site of Special Scientific Interest. It is owned and managed by Rochford District Council. Hockley Woods are the largest residual area of the ...

. Notable buildings in the village include the

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chris ...

of St Peter and Paul, which has a nave which was possibly built before the twelfth century, a thirteenth-century chancel and a fourteenth-century tower, the upper half of which is octagonal and was built at a later date. The tower holds three bells, manufactured by Miles Gray in 1626, by James Bartlett in 1684 and by John Hodgson in 1657, and the building is

Grade II* listed 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 ...

. The church is situated to the north-west of the village centre, where the Grade II listed Spa Pump Room is situated. The building was built as a

spa A spa is a location where mineral-rich spring water (and sometimes seawater) is used to give medicinal baths. Spa towns or spa resorts (including hot springs resorts) typically offer various health treatments, which are also known as balneoth ...

to a design by

James Lockyer James Lockyer may refer to: * James Lockyer (activist), Canadian lawyer and social justice activist * James Lockyer (architect) James Lockyer (1796 – 23 May 1875), sometimes styled as John Lockyer, was an English architect and surveyor, based in ...

in 1842, after Robert Clay found a medicinal spring there in 1838. Hockley is also the site of the former

Bullwood Hall HM Prison Bullwood Hall is a former Category C women's prison and Young Offenders Institution, located in Hockley, Essex, England. The prison was operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service. History Bullwood Hall was built in the 1960s originally ...

prison which closed in 2013. Plumberow Mount, a Roman

burial mound Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objec ...

, was excavated in 1913 by Mr. E. B. Francis. At the time, there was a summer house on the top of the mound, and so trenches were cut on three sides. The excavation found a

Roman coin Roman currency for most of Roman history consisted of gold, silver, bronze, orichalcum and copper coinage. From its introduction to the Republic, during the third century BC, well into Imperial times, Roman currency saw many changes in form, denom ...

Domitian Domitian (; la, Domitianus; 24 October 51 – 18 September 96) was a Roman emperor who reigned from 81 to 96. The son of Vespasian and the younger brother of Titus, his two predecessors on the throne, he was the last member of the Flavi ...

, and some

Saxon The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...

pottery which may indicate a secondary burial. The oval mound is high, and in diameter, with a flattened top, where the summerhouse was located. Since 2005, the mound has been surrounded by a metal fence to protect it from erosion, and a number of trees which were growing on or near it were cut down at the same time. In 2009, the sixteenth-century

Hockley Pendant The Hockley Pendant is a diamond-shaped, gold reliquary pendant dating from the early sixteenth century. The pendant was discovered in 2009 by four-year-old James Hyatt, while metal detecting in a field in Hockley, Essex, with his father, Jason ...

was discovered in a field at Hockley.

Governance

Hockley has a parish council consisting of two wards and is part of Rochford District Council

References

External links

*
Hockley Parish Council

The Parish Church of St Peter and St Paul, Hockley

St Peter and St Paul Church, Hockley, Essex. A 360 Degree Virtual Tour

Hockley & Hawkwell Methodist Church

The Commy , Hockley Community Centre Association & Social Bar, Hockley

Hawkwell Athletic Football Club
{{authority control Villages in Essex Rochford District