West Thurrock 1848 Whites directory

WEST THURROCK is a long straggling village, extending more than a mile along the road and the marshes on the north side of the Thames, opposite Greenhithe Pier, and between Grays Thurrock and Purfleet, 16 miles E. by S. of London, and 9 miles S.E. of Romford. Its parish includes Purfleet hamlet, and contains 2863 acres of land, and had 1032 inhabitants in 1841, of whom 328 were in West Thurrock, and 704 in Purfleet ; but the latter included 199 persons in the barracks, and 172 labourers in barns, &c., so that the stationary population of the parish is only about 700 souls. About 400 of the inhabitants are employed in the extensive lime and chalk pits, worked by W. H. Whitbread, Esq. , the lord of the manor, and owner of most of the parish. W. D. Cooper, Esq. , and several smaller owners, have estates in the parish. West Hall, the old manor house, was formerly named Le Vineyard, from vines having been cultivated here in ancient times. It has latterly been called High House, from its situation on the side of a lofty hill, commanding a delightful prospect over the marshes and the river Thames. It is now the residence of
Mr. J. E. Joyner.
The Church (St. Clement,) is a very ancient stone building, with a massive tower containing three bells. It stands at the east end of the village, near the river bank, and was formerly appropriated to one of the prebendaries of the collegiate church at Hastings. W. H. Whitbread, Esq., is now impropriator of the rectory, and patron of the vicarage, valued in K.B. at £15. 13s. 4d., and in 1831 at £310 , and now engaged by the Rev. Fdk. Heberden, M.A. , of Wilmington mington., Kent. Here is a neat parsonage and 3A. of glebe, and the vicarial tithes were commuted in 1836 for £313.

PURFLEET is a village and military station on the north side of the river Thames, at the mouth of a rivulet, and at the west end of West Thurrock, to which parish it is a hamlet, though sometimes called a township. It is 16 miles E. by S. of London, and 8 miles S.E. by S. ofRomford, and has a pleasure fair on the 13th of June. Near it are the extensive lime and chalk pits of W. H. Whitbread, Esq. , the lord of the manor. The harbour is often full of shipping business and animation; and joining it is a large government powder magazine, consisting of five detached bomb-proof and well-protected store-houses, barracks for a company of artillery, a store keeper’s mansion, and a
good quay. This magazine was built in 1781, and has room for the safekeeping of 60,000 0 barrels of gunpowder. The village is on rising ground, and in the vicinity numerous romantic scenes are formed by the high projecting chalk rocks, interspersed with deep and extensive caverns. Of these chalk hills, and those on the Kentish side of the Thames, the lofty Beacon Cliff, which overlooks the village, commands an extensive prospect ; finely interspersed with woods, gentlemen’s seats, farm-houses, villages, &c. Many thousand tons of lime are burnt annually, and sent to London and other places ; and from the kilns, railways are extended to the quarries, as well as to the shipping. The chalk cliffs are covered by several feet of surface loam, and from the magnitude of the excavations, appear to have been worked several centuries.

PURFLEET AND WEST THURROCK.
Those marked * are in Purfleet, and the others in West Thurrock.
*Barnes William, grocer, &c.
Barry Robert, farmer, Tunnel House
Bennett William, vict. Fox and Goose
Cotterill Rev. William Shepherd, curate, Vicarage
CowlandWm. shopkeeper & vict. Old Ship
Curtis George Joseph. & Jno. Edw. farmers
Greatorex George, parish clerk
*Greensill John, store keeper and barrack master
*Haydon John, clerk to lime works
Hunt William Edward, gentleman
Ingleton Sarah, schoolmistress

*Ives Thomas, butcher and farmer
Joyner John Eaton, maltster and farmer, High House
Key Thomas, beerhouse
Morgan John, beerhouse and shopkeeper – Rabbits
Nokes Thos. jun. miller, Steam Mill

*Piper John, magazine clerk
Rippington John, mill manager
Royce Cornelius. vict. Rising Sun

*Sanford William, baker and farmer
*Schooling James, shoemaker
Skinner Thos. James, farmer
Steel Thoms, baker
*Taylor Richard. vict. Purfleet Hotel
*Whitbread William Hy. Esq. lime merchant

*POST OFFICE at Peter Edwards’s, Barrack yard.
Letters via Romford daily

STEAM VESSELS to London and Gravesend five times a day, may be hailed by a boat from Purfleet