Noak Bridge is a housing estate in the

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 ...

Laindon Laindon is a commuter town in Essex, between Basildon and West Horndon. It was an ancient parish in Essex, England, that was abolished for civil purposes in 1937. It was based on the (probably smaller) manor of the same name and now lies mostly ...

Basildon Basildon ( ) is the largest town in the borough of Basildon, within the county of Essex, England. It has a population of 107,123. In 1931 the parish had a population of 1159. It lies east of Central London, south of the city of Chelmsford and ...

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 ...

. The estate takes its name from the bridge over the

River Crouch The River Crouch is a small river that flows entirely through the English county of Essex. The distance of the Navigation between Holliwell Point which is north of Foulness Island and Battlesbridge is 17.5 Miles, i.e. 15.21 Nautical Miles. Ro ...

at the foot of nearby Noak Hill. Prior to its development most of the area was secondary woodland that had developed on the site of previous plotlands known as 'Central Park'. The continued use of South African street names in part of the area reflects the street names in the previous development. When people first moved into Noak Bridge the area was often popularly referred to as 'Wash Road', or the 'Wash Road Estate' after the road on its northern boundary, which in turn took its name from the 'wash' or ford that has now been replaced by a bridge just before the road's junction with Harding Elms Road. Part of that secondary woodland survives as Noak Bridge Nature Reserve. Noak Bridge is a rare example of a post-war, social housing estate that has been designated a Conservation Are

First planned in the 1970s as part of Basildon new town, Noak Bridge was separated from the rest of the town and it was decided that it should have the traditional character of an English village. The project architects were Maurice Naunton and George Garrard. Construction began in 1979 and within 3 years almost 400 rented dwellings had been built, including bungalows and sheltered housing, as well as a school, surgery, and shops. In terms of urban design, it as an early example of successful "place-making".

School

The area's only primary school is Noak Bridge School (full name ''Noak Bridge County Primary School''). The school has approximately 250 pupils, from the pre-school on to year 6. The school opened in September 1982, but for the first half-term operated from the former Nevendon School site (now the ITEC centre) on the Burnt Mills Industrial Estate.

Parish council

Noak Bridge has a parish council and collects a tax to meet local needs.

Village Hall

The Noak Bridge Village Hall serves as a Councillor's surgery.

Medical Centre

Noak Bridge Medical Centre serves those within the Noak Bridge, Noak Mead & Noak Park, Steeple View and Crays Hill areas.

Shops

The area's two shops are a Pharmacy and a Post Office/Costcutter.

Nature Reserve

The Noak Bridge Nature Reserve lies to the south east of the settlement and consists of twenty acres of meadow, scrub and woodland. It contains several ponds which attract a variety of

amphibians Amphibians are four-limbed and ectothermic vertebrates of the class Amphibia. All living amphibians belong to the group Lissamphibia. They inhabit a wide variety of habitats, with most species living within terrestrial, fossorial, arbore ...

and

dragonflies A dragonfly is a flying insect belonging to the infraorder Anisoptera below the order Odonata. About 3,000 extant species of true dragonfly are known. Most are tropical, with fewer species in temperate regions. Loss of wetland habitat threa ...

.Noak Bridge Nature Reserve Society
/ref> The Reserve is the remains of the secondary woodland that covered much of the site before the estate was developed. This secondary woodland was notable for containing numerous garden species as well as pioneer woodland species such as

hawthorn Hawthorn or Hawthorns may refer to: Plants * '' Crataegus'' (hawthorn), a large genus of shrubs and trees in the family Rosaceae * ''Rhaphiolepis'' (hawthorn), a genus of about 15 species of evergreen shrubs and small trees in the family Rosace ...

and

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 ...

References

External links

Map of the area
{{Essex Borough of Basildon