Monthly Archives: May 2014

Cleaning and Refurbishing Thurrock’s Great War Memorials

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Thurrock is currently in the process of cleaning and refurbishing all the memorials to the Great War in Thurrock. This process will be completed by 4th August – the day which will mark the 100th anniversary of the entry of Great Britain in to the Great War.

Work on the Peace Memorial in Tilbury has recently been completed and the results unveiled at the begining of May. Photographs of the refurbishment and its results can be seen on the Tilbury and Chadwell Memories site – The Tilbury War Memorial

The focus of the 4th August event will be a Great War open day at Tilbury Fort. The day will start with a short remembrance service that will recognise the sacrifice made by 883 Thurrock soldiers, and many others.

Thurrock Local History Society will be attending the event and would like to collect stories about people who served in the war and to see pictures medals, plaques, certificates, newspaper cuttings, postcards, or other memorabilia.

Meet us at Tilbury Fort on 4th August or if you can’t be there, e-mail: GreatWar@thurrock-history.org.uk

 

Pathways to the Marshes

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The Thurrock Local History Society is participating in a Heritage Lottery Fund Landscape Partnership bid coordinated by Essex County Council. This project will provide ‘pathways’ to the marshes, telling the story of the medieval reclaimed pastures, the creeks and trading ports, the forts, world war remains and post-industrial architecture and highlighting the internationally important biodiversity of the wetlands. Building on the work already undertaken to deliver the Thames Estuary Path, this project will deliver access and interactive heritage interpretation projects that re-connect local communities with the marshes.

The “Pathways to the Marshes” project will benefit everyone interested in the local history of the marshland areas of Thurrock.  Examples of how Thurrock heritage will benefit from this project include:

  • An expanded website for the Thames Estuary Path that will encourage more interest in and visitors to two of the important military heritage sites on the Thurrock marshland – Tilbury Fort and Coalhouse Fort.
  • A Pictorial Survey that will make a large number of historic images of the marshland areas of Thurrock available to a wider audience.
  • “Mapping the marshes” will significantly spotlight the history of the marshes and the Thurrock Local History Society is hopeful that it will be able to contribute a case study in the Thurrock area.
  • Archaeological and landscape investigations that will increase our knowledge of Thurrock history. We are hopeful that the project will enable us to discover more about Oozedam, an interesting marshland site in Corringham.