# Thundersley

Thundersley is a town in the Castle Point borough of southeast Essex, England. It sits on a clay ridge shared with Basildon and Hadleigh, 31 miles (50 km) east of Charing Cross, London. In 2011 it had a population of 24,800.
The ecclesiastical parish of Thundersley St Peter takes in Daws Heath to the east which is also part of the current St Michaels local government electoral ward. The two areas have Anglican churches. A third Anglican church is in the secular ward of St John's, which is commonly conflated on maps with South Benfleet which it adjoins and it is separated from Thundersley by a narrow green buffer. As of the May 2024 local elections, the main wards in the area are Thundersley North and Thundersley South.

## Toponymy

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. The place-name is first attested in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it appears as Thunreslea.
The place-name is historically significant as a survival from England's pre-Christian Anglo-Saxon paganism.

## Geography

The area is relatively hilly for Essex, a typical height for the central and eastern part of (old) Thundersley is about 200 feet (60 m) above sea level. The town 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.

## Employment

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.
| 2011 ward name | households | with no adults in employment | as a % of households |
| Cedar Hall | 2500 | 1000 | 40% |
| St Peter's | 2578 | 853 | 33% |
| Boyce | 2563 | 823 | 32% |
| St George's | 2288 | 710 | 31% |

## Retirement rate

| 2011 ward name | adults | retired | as a % of adults |
| Cedar Hall | 4156 | 963 | 23% |
| St Peter's | 4759 | 946 | 20% |
| Boyce | 4370 | 869 | 18% |
| St George's | 2288 | 831 | 19% |

### Tenure

The wards have a high rate of owner-occupation. In the 2011 census tenure is stated for all 8570 wards of England and Wales, all of Thundersley's wards ranked between 236th and 341st as to this statistic (the degree to which the census returnees stated they owned their homes either outright or with a mortgage). Specifically these varied in owner-occupation between 87.5% and 88.6%, the average in the jurisdiction being 67.8%.

## History

Samuel Lewis'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.
In 1951 the parish had a population of 6 482. 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.

## Schools and colleges

In the wards of Thundersley North, Thundersley South and St Michaels, there are two secondary schools – The King John School and Sixth Form and The Deanes. There is also USP College (Seevic Campus) for further education, and Cedar Hall School, which is a special educational needs school for those aged 4-18. There are two primary schools - Thundersley Primary School and Kingston.

## Governance

There are two tiers of local government covering Thundersley, at district and non-metropolitan county level: Castle Point Borough Council, based on Kiln Road in Thundersley, and Essex County Council, based in Chelmsford.
Thundersley was an ancient parish. In 1929 the parish was merged with the neighbouring parishes of Hadleigh and South Benfleet to become Benfleet Urban District. The three parishes were thereafter classed as urban parishes and so no longer had separate parish councils, instead being directly administered by Benfleet Urban District Council.
Benfleet Urban District was abolished on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, becoming part of the new district of Castle Point. No successor parish was created for the former urban district.
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 included 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..

## Transport

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. The A13 road to the south and eastwards beyond the A129 road bordering through Daws Heath, Belfairs Park in Leigh-on-Sea and Hadleigh.
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.

## Recreation

Football club Thundersley Rovers Sports Club was formed in 1963 and currently has a senior mens team along with junior teams for boys and girls. Since 1980 it has been based at Thundersley Common.
There are multiple parks in the area aimed at children under 12. There is one park located in Swans Green Recreation Ground, along Hart Road and another at Thundersley Great Common.
Other leisure opportunities include Runnymede Leisure Centre, which contains two swimming pools and a gym.

## Religion

The Parish of Thundersley has three Anglican churches: St Peter's, Thundersley, St George's, New Thundersley and St Michael's, Daws Heath the original of which has been replaced by an enhanced timber church, consecrated by the Bishop of Bradwell on 1 December 2012.)
Fully reformed Christian churches include Thundersley Congregational Church which runs as its mission The Beacon, Thundersley Gospel Hall, Daws Heath Evangelical Church and Thundersley Community Church at Cedar Hall School.
Thundersley Christian Spiritualist Church was formed in October 1933 and moved to a wooden hut on Bread and Cheese Hill in July 1947. A new building opened at the same site in 1998.