East Tilbury is a village 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 authorit ...

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 ...

borough,

Essex Essex () is a Ceremonial counties of England, 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 Riv ...

, England, and one of the traditional Church of England parishes in Thurrock. In 1931 the parish had a population of 353.

History

In Saxon times, the location on which the church now stands was surrounded by tidal marshland. This is the probable location for the minster church established by St Cedd at ''Tilaburg'' which is mentioned in

Bede Bede ( ; ang, Bǣda , ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, The Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable ( la, Beda Venerabilis), was an English monk at the monastery of St Peter and its companion monastery of St Paul in the Kingdom ...

's ''History of the English Church''. In the 1860s,

Coalhouse Fort Coalhouse Fort is an artillery fort in the eastern English county of Essex. It was built in the 1860s to guard the lower Thames from seaborne attack. It stands at Coalhouse Point on the north bank of the river, at a location near East Tilbury ...

was constructed on the bank of the Thames, close to the parish church. This fort was an active part of the defences of London up to and including

World War II 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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, having originally been developed as a precaution against French

ironclads An ironclad is a steam-propelled warship protected by iron or steel armor plates, constructed from 1859 to the early 1890s. The ironclad was developed as a result of the vulnerability of wooden warships to explosive or incendiary shells. Th ...

approaching London up the Thames it was refortified with new armaments as threats changed over the years. From 1894 to 1936 East Tilbury was part of the

Orsett Rural District Orsett Rural District was the local government district centred on Orsett in south Essex, England from 1894 to 1936; a little of its far west is in modern Greater London. Likewise in modern terms the area is mostly east of the M25 motorway and no ...

. The East Tilbury civil parish was abolished on 1 April 1936 when the area became part of Thurrock Urban District. Bata Factory, Bata Estate, East Tilbury

The construction of a Bata Shoes factory in the 1930s resulted in substantial development in East Tilbury. The factory has since closed down. The Bata company developed not only a factory, but also a town for workers, built in the

modernist Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

style, and a sizeable estate of

listed Listed may refer to: * Listed, Bornholm, a fishing village on the Danish island of Bornholm * Listed (MMM program), a television show on MuchMoreMusic * Endangered species in biology * Listed building, in architecture, designation of a historicall ...

buildings remains. A sizeable

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...

workforce was relocated here, and has merged into the local community after connections were lost with

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

after

. The father of arts administrator

John Tusa Sir John Tusa (born 2 March 1936) is a British arts administrator, and radio and television journalist. He is co-chairman of the European Union Youth Orchestra from 2014. chairman, British Architecture Trust Board, RIBA, from 2014. From 1980 to ...

, also called John (Jan), was managing director of the factory in the late 30s.

Education

East Tilbury is served by modern infants and junior schools sharing a site opposite the old Bata factory and adjacent to parkland. The junior school recently acquired foundation statu

Politics

East Tilbury ward consists the areas of East Tilbury, East Tilbury Village, Linford and West Tilbury. East Tilbury ward has two Thurrock Councillors, Councillor Sue Sammons elected 2016 (Conservative) and Councillor Fraser Massey elected 2019 (Independent).

Communications and facilities

The town is served by

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

on the Tilbury branch of the

c2c Trenitalia c2c Limited,Companies House extract company no 789726 ...

service from London Fenchurch Street to Southend Central via Ockendon. East Tilbury is also served by the Nibs Buses route 374 which operates between Grays bus station and

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 ...

on Mondays to Saturdays. It is located about 2 miles south of the A13 road from London to

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 ...

. East Tilbury does not have a developed shopping centre; its nearest major retail centres are located at

and Lakeside.

Developments

The area forms part of the

Thames Gateway Thames Gateway is a term applied to an area around the Thames Estuary in the context of discourse around regeneration and further urbanisation. The term was first coined by the UK government and applies to an area of land stretching east from ...

redevelopment zone and responsibility for delivery in this area is with the

Thurrock Development Corporation Thurrock Thames Gateway Development Corporation was a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Communities and Local Government. It was an Urban Development Corporation set up by the Government of the United Kingdom covering t ...

. Large sections of

Metropolitan Green Belt The Metropolitan Green Belt is a statutory green belt around London, England. It comprises parts of Greater London, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent and Surrey, parts of two of the three districts of Bedfordshire and a s ...

land have been earmarked for development; it is expected to include 14,000 homes and provide 20,000 jobs. East Tilbury is one of seven

conservation areas Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...

in Thurrock. On the northern end of the town is a small park called 'Gobions Park'. This got a development grant in 2009 of £50,000. The name may have come from Sir Richard Gobion from Up

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 ...

. From the late 1950s Esso Petroleum made tentative plans to build an oil refinery on East Tilbury marshes. In 1956 Tilbury Contracting & Dredging sold land that they owned in East Tilbury to Esso Petroleum for about £250,000. The land is marked on an undated map made by the Ministry of Power which also identifies the Occidental Refineries Limited and the United Refineries Limited sites on

Canvey Island Canvey Island is a town, civil parish and reclaimed island in the Thames estuary, near Southend-on-Sea, in the Castle Point district, in the county of Essex, England. It has an area of and a population of 38,170.Office for National Statistics ...

, which dates the map to about 1971.Ministry of Power/Ministry of Technology/Department of Trade and Industry, The National Archives, POWE 64/13. The land at East Tilbury is marked as 'land suggested for examination as oil refining site'. The 'Esso' land extends southwest from Low Street level crossing (TQ669776) to the river Thames (TQ663754) east of

Tilbury power station The Tilbury power stations were two thermal power stations on the north bank of the River Thames at Tilbury in Essex. The 360 MW dual coal- and oil-fired Tilbury A Power Station operated from 1956 until 1981 when it was mothballed, prior to ...

then along the river past

to just north of Coalhouse Battery (TQ691776) then west to Low Street. The project is likely to have been abandoned as a consequence of the

1973 oil crisis The 1973 oil crisis or first oil crisis began in October 1973 when the members of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC), led by Saudi Arabia, proclaimed an oil embargo. The embargo was targeted at nations that had su ...

and the resulting slump in oil and petroleum consumption.

References

External links

{{authority control Villages in Essex Populated places on the River Thames Former civil parishes in Essex Thurrock