Archaeological evidence indicates that the area now occupied by Grays has been inhabited by humans since the
Palaeolithic period.[2]
Samuel Pepys recorded in his diary that he visited Grays on 24 September 1665 and apparently bought fish from the local fishermen.[3] Parts of Grays and Chafford Hundred are set within three Victorian chalk pits; the largest two being the Lion Gorge, and the Warren Gorge. Another area of the
Chafford Hundred residential development is built on a Victorian landfill site. The civic offices on New Road in Grays were built in the 1980s;[4] work on an extension began in January 2020.[5]
In 1931 the parish had a population of 18,173.[6] On 1 April 1936 the parish was abolished to form Thurrock.[7]
On 23 October 2019,
the bodies of 39 people were found in the back of a lorry at Waterglade Industrial Park in Eastern Avenue. They are believed to have been victims of
human trafficking, or
migrants being smuggled into Britain. The vehicle, registered in
Bulgaria, was thought to have travelled to the UK through
Purfleet from
Zeebrugge. A 25-year-old lorry driver from
Northern Ireland was arrested by
Essex Police on suspicion of murder[8] and pleaded guilty to manslaughter in April 2020.[9] Essex Police launched an investigation afterwards and the lorry was moved to the nearby Port of Tilbury.[10][11] It is the biggest murder investigation in the history of Essex police. On 26 May 2020, a total of 26 further suspects, most of whom Vietnamese nationals, were arrested in Belgium and France.[12]
Origin of the name
The origin of the name "Grays Thurrock" comes in two parts. Thurrock is a Saxon name meaning "the bottom of a ship".[13] The element "Grays" comes from
Henry de Grai, a descendant of the Norman knight
Anchetil de Greye, who was granted the manor of Grays Thurrock in 1195 by
Richard I.
Geography
Grays contains the wards and residential areas of Grays Riverside, Grays Thurrock, Stifford Clays,
Little Thurrock Blackshots, Little Thurrock Rectory and Chadwell St Mary.[14][15] Parts of Chafford Hundred and North and South
Stifford are also in Grays.[16]
Grays Beach with the
Tilbury Docks in the background
The Dell
Thurrock Yacht Club
The State Cinema
Beginning of the Derby Road Bridge
Local sites of interest include the Thameside Theatre, the Thurrock History Museum, Grays Beach,
The White Hart, and the former
State Cinema.
The Dell was of the earliest houses in Britain to be built of concrete.[17] It was built on the instructions of
Alfred Russel Wallace, who lived in the town from 1872 until 1876.
From the top of the Derby Road Bridge in Grays one can look down to Thurrock Yacht Club, Grays Beach children's playground and the
River Thames.
As well as Thurrock Yacht Club, Grays Beach is the site of the local landmark The Gull, a lightship built in 1860, which has lain on the foreshore for decades and is now in a serious state of dilapidation. The light from The Gull has now been removed, restored and installed on the foreshore of the yacht club.
The Thameside Theatre was built in 1971 and is the only theatre in Thurrock.[18][19] In July 2021 Thurrock Council declared it to be surplus to budget requirements and announced plans for its closure.[20] The
Labour opposition in the council opposed the plans and an online petition calling for its preservation was signed by over 1000 residents.[21] Grays native
Russell Brand gave his support to saving the theatre on an Instagram post and pledged to perform a show there to help prevent its closure.[22] In January 2022 Thurrock Council announced that they supported a counter proposal that will see the theatre remain open under
community ownership.[23] A group dedicated to saving the theatre began negotiating with the council, and had to provide it with an affordable
business plan for the theatre by 13 July 2022.[24] However, after an unnamed organisation expressed interest in buying the theatre, the council has delayed the deadline to September to allow it to put forward an alternative business plan.[25]
The town is approximately 20 miles (32 km) to the east of London on the north bank of the River Thames and 2 miles (3.2 km) east of the
M25 motorway. Its economy is linked to
Port of London industries, its own offices, retail and
Lakeside, West Thurrock. Its variously used riverside (from homes through wild bird-habitat marshland to importation, storage and distribution) faces
Broadness Lighthouse in Kent.[26]
Quarry Hill Primary and Pre School and Thameside Primary School were formed from the amalgamations of failing
infant and
junior schools.[38][39] Since then, both schools have received favourable grades from education watchdog
Ofsted.[40][41] Belmont Castle Academy was renamed in honour of
Belmont Castle, a demolished gothic mansion that was located on the school site.[42] The Gateway Primary Free School is situated on the site of Gateway Academy,[43] and is the only primary school with
free school status in Grays.
A sixth form was operated by Gateway Academy before 2014, but it closed that year.[72] In 2011, Ofsted deemed the sixth form as satisfactory, which meant it required improvement. This was primarily because of concerns over the number of students dropping out, which was above average.[50] Hathaway Academy intended to open a sixth form some time before the 2014/2015 academic year,[73] but this never came to fruition.
Thurrock Technical College opened in 1952 on Dell Road. Between 1954 and 1957 the college was based in parts of the site of Grays County Technical High School (which would become Grays School) and Grays Hall. In 1960 it reopened on Woodview Road, later establishing a second campus in Aveley.[74] The college later merged with Basildon College to form
Thurrock and Basildon College, with the Woodview Campus remaining in operation. The college then amalgamated with South East Essex College of Arts and Technology in 2010, forming
South Essex College.[75] The Thurrock Campus relocated from Woodview Road to a new complex in Grays town centre in September 2014.[76][77]
The local sixth form college is
USP College Palmer's Campus.[78] Palmer's dates back to 1706, when the merchant William Palmer founded a
charity school for "ten poore children" of the parish of Grays Essex. The school was located in the local churchyard and evolved into a boys' school. In response to the enactment of the
Elementary Education Act 1870, the school reopened on a new site on the hill above the town in 1874. A girls' school opened on the site in 1876.[79] Both schools were
grammar schools,[80] operating on the same site until 1931, when the girls' school relocated to Chadwell Road.[81] From this time, Palmer's became a
public school. This meant that students were no longer admitted on academic performance regardless of background and were instead admitted by fee. This was reversed in 1944, however wealthier students were still prioritised, even if they failed the
11+ exam required for enrolment. In 1971 the girls' school began its conversion into a sixth form college,[82] reopening as Palmer's College in 1972 after it amalgamated with the boys' school and
Aveley County Technical High School. The college merged with Seevic College in August 2017, forming USP College.[83]
There is also Thurrock Adult Community College which is located in multiple venues and community hubs across Thurrock and used to be based from Richmond Road in Grays.[84]
Grays bus station, outside the railway station, is a hub for most bus services in Thurrock. The bus services are operated by
Ensignbus,
First Essex and
NIBS Buses.
^Gateway Primary Free School and Gateway Academy are located between the two communities that they serve, Chadwell St Mary and Tilbury.[35] The schools' official addresses, however, are in Grays.[36][37]
References
^Moncrief, AR Hope; Bruhl, L Burleigh (1909). Essex. Adam and Charles Black. p. 107.
^Herbert Brooks, William Palmer and his School. Being an account of the founder of Palmer's Charity at Grays Thurrock, Essex (Colchester, 1928).
^Lord Strang, 'Fifty Years Ago', in J. R. Hayston (ed.), 250 Years on. To commemorate the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the trust deed by which William Palmer endowed in 1706 a school in Grays Thurrock (1956), p. 59. See also Strang's autobiography, Home and abroad (1956)