Thundersley

Thundersley derives from the Old English Þunres lēah = "grove or meadow [perhaps sacred] belonging to the god Thunor or Thor". It has also historically been known as Thunresleam.[2] The place-name is first attested in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it appears as Thunreslea.[3]

The place-name is historically significant as a survival from England's pre-Christian Anglo-Saxon paganism.

The area is relatively hilly for Essex, a typical height for the central and eastern part of (old) Thundersley is about 200 feet (61 m) above sea level. The district is partly rural, with large woods and commons; including Thundersley Common (a Site of Special Scientific Interest), Shipwrights Wood (12 hectares) and Thundersley Glen all owned and managed by the council; West Wood (22½ hectares acres) owned by the council and managed by Castle Point Wildlife Group; Tile Wood (6½ hectares) and Pound Wood (22¼ hectares) are owned by the Essex Wildlife Trust; Starvelarks Wood and Wyburns Wood are both part of Little Haven Nature Reserve (37¼ hectares) which is owned by Havens Hospice Trust and leased to Essex Wildlife Trust; Coombe Wood is under mixed ownership and much of it has Village Green status. Thundersley is partly suburban, with large areas of housing, mostly built since c.1950, and small industrial parks.

A clear majority of households in all wards are economically employed (or in self-employment). The proportion of people who are retired is slightly higher than the national average.

Samuel Lewis (publisher)'s major work, a Topographical Dictionary of England in 1848 gives this account:

THUNDERSLEY (St. Peter), a parish, in the union of Billericay [...] S.[outh] division of Essex, 2¼ miles (S. W. by W.) from Rayleigh; containing 596 inhabitants, of whom 120 are in the hamlet. This parish is about two miles in length [east-west], and a mile and a half in breadth, and comprises 2100 acres, of which 100 are common or waste; the village is on elevated ground, and the surrounding scenery is pleasingly diversified. The [parish priest] living...[was] valued in the king's books at £14. 13. 4., and in the gift [appointment of the Rev. G. Hemming: the tithes have been commuted [near-eliminated] for £570; there is a parsonage-house, and the glebe comprises 40 acres. The church is a venerable structure in the later Norman and early English styles, with a tower and spire.[7]

There are three secondary schools in the district – The King John School and Sixth Form, The Deanes School and The Appleton School and Sixth Form College. Five primary schools are Thundersley, Westwood, Kingston, Montgomerie, and Robert Drake. The main campus of SEEVIC Further Education College is also in the district, now part of USP College.

Since the Local Government Act 1972, Thundersley, along with Canvey Island, Hadleigh, and South Benfleet, has formed the parliamentary constituency of Castle Point and local government district and borough of Castle Point.

Thundersley elects one councillor to Essex County Council. Within Castle Point Borough Council, Thundersley is represented by 12 councillors, all Conservative, elected from the wards (from west to east) of St George, St Peter and Cedar Hall.

The Parish of Thundersley includes Daws Heath. The western part of Thundersley (approximately St George's parish or the St George ward) is known as New Thundersley.

Thundersley is within the SS7 Postcode Area.[n 2].

Thundersley is bounded by the A127 road to the north, where it borders the Borough of Rayleigh, the A130 road to the west where it borders the villages of North Benfleet and Bowers Gifford in the Borough of Basildon, the A13 road to the south (bordering the South Benfleet district of Castle Point), plus a triangular salient further southward as far as Benfleet Road and Thundersley Glen, and eastwards beyond the A129 road bordering through Daws Heath, Belfairs Park in the Leigh-on-Sea Borough of Southend-on-Sea, and Hadleigh, also within the borough. The nearest railway stations are Benfleet railway station and Rayleigh railway station. The London Tilbury and Southend LT&SR 79 Class 4-4-2T No. 80 locomotive Thundersley was named after this area, and it is on exhibition at Bressingham Steam and Gardens in Norfolk, on loan from the National Railway Museum. The district has no fixed speed enforcement cameras, but mobile ones are sometimes observed in Daws Heath Road about 0.5 miles east of The Woodmans Arms junction.

Thundersley Rovers Sports Club was formed in 1963 by local football fan Keith Walker. The Club was a founder member of the Thundermite League in 1966 and it is from the club that the league took part of its name. From those early beginnings the club grew exponentially and within a decade Rovers boasted no less than three senior teams (two Saturday and one Sunday) plus six youth teams (under 10s through to under 15s), all of whom played in the Southend Junior League.

In 1980, the club found a permanent home at Thundersley Common having played at various venues (including Woodside Park, the John Borrows Ground, Benfleet Rec., Dark Lane and Scrub Lane). The Common, now synonymous with the club, has remained the club's home ground ever since. Since the beginning of the 2012/13 season, it has been the home venue for both junior and senior Thundersley Rovers teams.

Although officially named Thundersley Rovers Sports Club, the only sport the club has participated in thus far is football. In 2013, the club celebrated its 50th anniversary.

Greeves motorcycles were produced in a purpose-built factory at Thundersley from 1953 to 1976. Initially the bikes were an offshoot of the Invacar company, which produced invalid cars and needed to diversify its products.

The bikes were exclusively two-stroke powered, using proprietary engines from Villiers and British Anzani initially and always for the roadsters, but by 1964 they had developed their own engine for competition use. For a few years, Greeves were successful in competition, with wins in the European Motocross Championship, the Manx Grand Prix, the European Trials Championship and the Scottish Six Days Trial, and with Gold medals in the ISDT and the ACU 250 cc Road Race.

A movie memorabilia barber shop, is among the many unusual businesses of note.[10]

• Daws Heath, the east of the parish which has its own church.
• South Benfleet, on many slightly badly drawn modern maps, such as Google maps as to small places, appear to include the much smaller parish of New Thundersley. It is contiguous with that equally modern small town or village, separated along its main east-west street.

• Chessplayer, journalist and author James Mason (1849-1905), who became one the world's best half-dozen chess players in the 1880s,[11] is buried in Thundersley churchyard.
• Novelist Fergus Hume (1859-1932), author of The Mystery of a Hansom Cab, spent the last 30 years of his life in Thundersley and is buried there.
• The writer Bernard Cornwell (b.1944), author of the Sharpe novels, grew up in Thundersley.
• The rector of Thundersley, Robert Drake was burnt at the stake in 1556 for refusing to renounce his protestant faith.
• The famous composer Roderick Elms lives in Thundersley.

• 
  St Peter's Church Thundersley
• 
  St Michael's Church, Daws Heath, Thundersley. Pictured in 2009 before demolition in 2012
• 
  The New Church of St Michael & All Angels Daws Heath
• 
  Top of old road direction sign of Thundersley

References

Notes

• Terry Babbington. (1993). Thundersley - A Pictorial History. Phillimore. ISBN 0-85033-872-7.
• John Greig. (1818). Antiquarian and Topographical Cabinet, Containing a Series of Elegant Views of the most interesting objects of curiosity in Great Britain Vol III. Thundersley, Essex. Published by J. Murray [etc.] page 202, plate 98.

• Castle Point Wildlife Group
• Essex Wildlife Trust
• Pound Wood
• Thundersley Air Cadets
• Thundersley Christian Spiritualist Church