Grays | |
---|---|
Grays High Street | |
Location within Essex | |
Population | 99,462 (2021) |
OS grid reference | TQ615773 |
Unitary authority | |
Ceremonial county | |
Region | |
Country | England |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | Grays |
Postcode district | RM16-RM17, RM20 |
Dialling code | 01375 |
Police | Essex |
Fire | Essex |
Ambulance | East of England |
UK Parliament | |
Grays (or Grays Thurrock) [1] is the largest town in the borough and unitary authority area of Thurrock, in the ceremonial county of Essex, England. The town, which is both a former civil parish and one of Thurrock's traditional Church of England parishes, is located on the north bank of the River Thames.
It is approximately 20 miles (32 km) to the east of central London, 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 the Lakeside Shopping Centre at West Thurrock.
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. Thurrock Town Hall on New Road in Grays was 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]
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,[ citation needed ] who was granted the manor of Grays Thurrock in 1195 by Richard I.
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]
The nearest places to Grays are:
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]
Primary schools in Grays include:
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.
Secondary schools in Grays include:
Since 2007, all of these schools have had specialist school status. [49] Gateway Academy and Hathaway Academy have specialisms in the arts. In the case of Hathaway Academy, these include digital media and the performing arts. [50] [51] Gateway Academy also specialises in design and engineering. [50] William Edwards School and Orsett Heath Academy share a sports specialism, [52] [53] with both schools utilising the ability to admit 10% of their intake by academic aptitude in this subject, [54] [55] an ability granted to all sport specialist schools. [56] Grays Convent High School maintains a language specialism [57] and Thames Park Secondary School has specialisms in artificial intelligence and digital technology. [58] [59]
Gateway Academy was formed in 2003 from a fresh start merger of Torells School in Grays and St Chad's School in Tilbury. [60] [61] [62] [63] The Torells School site has since been demolished and replaced by the sites of two special schools, Treetops School and Treetops Free School. [64] Comedian Joe Pasquale and Olympic medallist Fatima Whitbread both attended Torells School. [65] [66] Footballers Chris Cohen and Max Porter went to William Edwards School. [67] [68] Actor, YouTuber and comedian Russell Brand attended the Grays School, making his acting debut at one of the school's Bugsy Malone productions. [69] Grays Convent High School was attended by journalist and former Thurrock MP candidate Polly Billington and runner Jessica Judd. [70] [71]
All of these schools are coeducational academies or free schools, with the exception of Grays Convent High School, which is instead a voluntary aided Catholic school for girls.
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 has good road links, being close to the A13 road and the M25 motorway. The A126 London Road is the main road which links Grays town centre with Lakeside Shopping Centre, Purfleet and Tilbury.
Grays railway station runs through the centre of the built-up core and is served by c2c services to London Fenchurch Street to the west and Shoeburyness to the east. The typical journey time into London is 35 minutes.
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.
The town is served by BBC London and ITV London with television signals received from Crystal Palace TV transmitter, [85] BBC South East and ITV Meridian can also be received from Bluebell Hill TV transmitter. [86]
Local radio stations are BBC Essex, Heart Essex, Radio Essex, Gateway 97.8, [87] and Thames Delta Radio, a community based radio station. [88]
The Thurrock Gazette is the town's local weekly newspaper. [89]
The area's local football team is Grays Athletic, previously based in Grays but now in nearby Aveley, which plays non-League football and has won the FA Trophy twice. [90]
Thurrock is a unitary authority area with borough status in the ceremonial county of Essex, England. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames immediately east of London and has over 18 miles (29 km) of riverfront including the Port of Tilbury, the principal port for London. Thurrock is within the London commuter belt and is an area of regeneration within the Thames Gateway redevelopment zone. The borough includes the northern ends of the Dartford Crossing.
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 ancient cross-river ferry. Tilbury is part of the Port of London with a major deep-water port which contributes to the local economy. Situated 24 miles (38.5 km) east of central London and 23 miles (37 km) southwest of Southend-on-Sea, it is the southernmost point in Essex.
Thurrock is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2024 by Jen Craft of the Labour Party.
Stanford-le-Hope is a town, former civil parish and Church of England parish in the unitary authority area of Thurrock, in the ceremonial county of Essex, England. Often known locally simply as Stanford, the town is located 24 miles (38.4 km) east of Charing Cross in London. In 2011 it had a population of 28,765.
Chadwell St Mary is an area of the unitary authority of Thurrock in Essex, England. It is one of the traditional parishes in Thurrock and a former civil parish. Grays is 2 miles (3.2 km) to the west and 1 mile (1.6 km) to the south is Tilbury. The area is sometimes referred to simply as Chadwell, particularly before the 19th century.
Thurrock was a local government district and civil parish in south Essex, England from 1936 to 1974.
Orsett Rural District was a local government district centred on Orsett in the south Essex part of the Thames Estuary in England. It was a rural district from 1894 to 1936, initially made up of seventeen civil parishes and the successor to the Orsett Rural Sanitary District. Parts of the district were split off to form Tilbury in 1912, Purfleet in 1929 and Billericay in 1934. Thurrock Urban District was the main successor district in 1936. Today it corresponds to the Thurrock unitary authority area with parts in Basildon, Essex and Havering, Greater London.
East Tilbury is a village and former civil parish in the unitary authority of Thurrock borough, Essex, England, and one of the traditional Church of England parishes in Thurrock. In 2011 the ward had a population of 6,363.
The Hathaway Academy, formerly the Grays School Media Arts College, is a coeducational, non-selective secondary school with academy status that is located in Grays, Essex, England. It is currently part of the Academy Transformation Trust. A school has existed on the Hathaway Road site since 1931, when the John Henry Burrows Central Council School moved from nearby Bridge Road. The school became a secondary technical in 1945 and a comprehensive school in 1971. In 1993, it was given grant-maintained status and was renamed the Grays School. In 2004, it specialised and became the Grays School Media Arts College, which closed in June 2013 with the subsequent opening of the current academy-status school. The academy school has since retained TGSMAC's specialisms, which are digital media and performing arts.
Little Thurrock is an area, ward, former civil parish and Church of England parish in the town of Grays, in the unitary authority of Thurrock, Essex. In 1931 the parish had a population of 4428.
Stifford is an area and former civil parish in the town of Grays in Thurrock, Essex, England. Historically a single village, the area was broken up by the construction of the A13 in the 1900s and is now divided by the road into three communities, the urban areas of South Stifford and Stifford Clays and the small village of North Stifford. In 1931 the parish had a population of 2188. On 1 April 1936 the parish was abolished to form Thurrock.
William Edwards School, 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 founding member of the South West Essex Community Education Trust (SWECET) and is its leading member. The current headteacher of the school is Simon Bell. The school first opened on 11 September 1962, gained specialist sports college status in 2002 and in 2004 also became a training school. The school achieved outstanding in its Ofsted inspection of December 2010 after which it closed to make way for the current academy status school, reopening on 1 August 2011. In March 2017 the school was inspected and retained outstanding status. As of 2019 it requires improvement.
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 find the resources to provide a new building. It was previously a successful fresh start school which was created from two failing secondary schools; Torells School in Grays and St Chad's School in Tilbury. It is currently a part of The Gateway Learning Community (GLC) but has retained its Ormiston sponsorship.
Orsett Heath is a village in the unitary authority area of Thurrock, in the ceremonial county of Essex, England. It is located about twenty miles away from London. Nearby settlements include the towns of Tilbury and Grays and the villages of Orsett and Chadwell St Mary. For transport there is the A13 road, the A1089 road and the A1013 road nearby. The nearest railway station is Tilbury Town.
St Clere's School is a coeducational co-operative secondary school with academy status located on the outskirts of Stanford Le Hope, Thurrock, Essex. The school was established in 1978, became an academy in 2011 and since 2013 has also been a specialist science and sports college. It has a "good" Ofsted rating and has a student population of 1342 as of 2021.
Thurrock Council is the local authority for the borough of Thurrock in the ceremonial county of Essex, England. Since 1998 the council has been a unitary authority, being a district council which also performs the functions of a county council. It is a member of the East of England Local Government Association. The council is based in Grays.
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. Plans to build the new school were approved in April 2017 and it opened in September 2020. Simon Bell of William Edwards is the executive headteacher and the head of school is Sian Rawson. The school models William Edwards' curriculum and specialism in sports. It also originally had an additional specialism in the arts.
Thames Park Secondary School is a co-operative, comprehensive and coeducational secondary free school in Grays, Essex, England. It opened in September 2020 as a member of the Osborne Co-operative Academy Trust (OCAT) and is a specialist school for digital technology and artificial intelligence. The school was previously located on a temporary site at High Street, Grays, before its relocation to Chadwell Road in September 2022. The school's headteacher is Sam Dyer and the executive headteacher is Ashlie Hughes. Ashlie Hughes is the headteacher of Thames Park's sister school, St Clere's.
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