Orsett Heath is a location and recently built

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

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 ...

, in the ceremonial county of

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 ...

. It is located about twenty miles away from

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. Nearby settlements include the towns of

Tilbury Tilbury is a port town in the borough of Thurrock, Essex, England. The present town was established as separate settlement in the late 19th century, on land that was mainly part of Chadwell St Mary. It contains a 16th century fort and an ancie ...

and Grays and the villages of

Orsett Orsett is a village, former civil parish and ecclesiastical parish located within Thurrock unitary district in Essex, England, situated around 5 km north-east of Grays. In 1931 the parish had a population of 1771. History It has historic ...

and Chadwell St Mary. For transport there is the A13 road (England), the

A1089 road List of A roads in zone 1 in Great Britain beginning north of the River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is ...

and the A1013 road nearby. The nearest railway station is

Tilbury Town railway station Tilbury Town railway station is on a loop line of the London, Tilbury and Southend line, serving the town of Tilbury, Essex. It is down the line from London Fenchurch Street via and it is situated between and . Its three-letter station cod ...

. At one time, Orsett Heath was probably part of a large swathe of

heath A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a cooler ...

land interspaced with woodland. This included Biggin Heath (heathland belonging to the manor of Biggin), Chadwell Heath (heathland belonging to the manor of Chadwell St Mary, not the place near Romford), Mucking Heath, Socketts Heath and

Terrel's Heath Terrel's Heath is, in spite of its name, an area of woodland in Chadwell St Mary named on the 1938 six-inch Ordnance Survey map. Location and description Terrel's Heath is adjacent to Woodside Primary School in Little Thurrock. Separating Terrel ...

all of which were on high ground compared to the nearby

marsh A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p Marshes can often be found at ...

and had poor sandy soil with underlying

gravel Gravel is a loose aggregation of rock fragments. Gravel occurs naturally throughout the world as a result of sedimentary and erosive geologic processes; it is also produced in large quantities commercially as crushed stone. Gravel is classifi ...

and

chalk Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. Chalk ...

Education

The Orsett Heath is home to the Willow Garden Day Nursery which boasts an

Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a Non-ministerial government department, non-ministerial department of Government of the United Kingdom, His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament of the U ...

rating of Outstanding. It is next to the

Treetops School Treetops School is an all-through special school with academy status in Grays, Essex, England. Students are from 5 to 19 with moderate learning difficulties and many are on the autistic spectrum, with speech and language problems. The school ...

which serves children with special needs. It also lends its name to the nearby

Orsett Heath Academy The Orsett Heath Academy is a coeducational secondary free school academy in Grays, Essex, England. It is the newest member of the South West Essex Community Education Trust and was built under the leadership of nearby William Edwards School ...

. Other schools nearby include Woodside Academy,

The Gateway Academy The Gateway Academy, formerly The Gateway Community College, is a coeducational academy secondary school in Grays, Essex, England. It became an academy in 2006 under the sponsorship of the Ormiston Trust after Thurrock Council was unable to fi ...

and

William Edwards School William Edwards School (formerly William Edwards School and Sports College), commonly referred to by locals and students as Willy Eds, is a coeducational secondary comprehensive school with academy status, in Grays, Essex, England. It is a fou ...

. Gateway and William Edwards are both just over a mile away.

Notes

{{Thurrock places Hamlets in Essex Thurrock