Aveley
| Aveley | |
| Essex | |
|---|---|
_-_geograph.org.uk_-_36157.jpg) St Michael's, Aveley | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | TQ565805 |
| Location: | 51°30’6"N, -0°15’12"E |
| Data | |
| Population: | 8,381 |
| Post town: | South Ockendon |
| Postcode: | RM15 |
| Dialling code: | 01708 |
| Local Government | |
| Council: | Thurrock |
| Parliamentary constituency: |
Thurrock |
Aveley is a small town and ancient parish in Essex, on the edge of the metropolitan conurbation. It is located just over 16 miles east of Charing Cross in London and within the eastern bounds of the M25 motorway.
Position
Aveley is bounded to the south by the A13 road and to the east by the M25 motorway. It is separated from the metropolitan conurbation by Green Belt land. The nearest places are Purfleet, South Ockendon, Wennington and West Thurrock.
Prehistory and history
Aveley has given its name to the Aveley Interglacial period around 200,000 years ago. Important evidence of the local flora and fauna of the period and some signs of occupation by Neanderthal humans have been found there.[1]
In Domesday the names has various spellings – Alvithelea, Alvileia and Alvilea.[2] The name means Aelfgyth's wood clearing.[3] A variation, in 1418, is Alvythele.[4]
John Newton, the author of Amazing Grace, lived in Aveley, which was the home of his father's second wife.[5] Alice Diehl (née Mangold), the novelist and concert pianist, was born in Aveley.
After the Second World War the population grew rapidly as the area absorbed London overspill.
Historic buildings
St Michael's Church
The parish church of St Michael is a Grade-I-listed building dating from the 12th century.[6] It contains a 14th-century memorial brass to Radulphus de Knevynton, which is echoed in the arms of the Thurrock council. The church was declared unsafe in the 19th century, with the recommendation that it should be pulled down. However, this was averted by its parishioners, who raised £1,000 to save it.[7]
Other listed buildings
Grade II*[6]
- Brett's Farmhouse
- Sir Henry Gurnett public house
Grade II[6]
- 79, High Street
- Crown and Anchor hotel
- Park Corner House
- 54 and 56 High Street
- Courts Farm, Park Lane
- Court's Farmhouse barn
- Brett's Farmhouse barn
- Aveley Hall
The Old Ship public house at 58 High Street is on the Campaign for Real Ale's National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors.[8]
Sport
Aveley is the home of two non-League football clubs; Aveley, which plays at Parkside, and Thurrock, which plays at Ship Lane.
Belhus golf course is located in Aveley near the site of the former Belhus Mansion. Much of the remaining land from Belhus forms the Belhus Woods Country Park.
Communications
The nearest railway stations are:
- Chafford Hundred
- Ockendon
- Purfleet
Notes
- ↑ Nick Ashton: Early Humans, New Naturalist series (London: HarperCollins, 2017), pp. 168–70.
- ↑ Christopher Harrold (Editor), Exploring Thurrock (Thurrock Local History Society, 2008)
- ↑ James Kemble, Essex Place-Names (Historical Publications, 2007)
- ↑ Plea Rolls of the Court of Common Pleas; National Archives: CP 40/629; http://aalt.law.uh.edu/H5/CP40no629/aCP40no629fronts/IMG_0489.htm; first entry
- ↑ Lewis, Frank (1976). Essex and Suger. Philimore. p. 51.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 "Appendix 7 to Thurrock Development Plan". Archived from the original on 13 May 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20120513215406/http://www.thurrock.gov.uk/planning/strategic/pdf/udp_appendices.pdf.
- ↑ "St Michael's, Aveley". http://www.thurrock-history.org.uk/michael.htm.
- ↑ Brandwood, Geoff (2013). Britain's best real heritage pubs. St. Albans: CAMRA. p. 39. ISBN 9781852493042.
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Aveley) |