North Ockendon is the easternmost settlement of

Greater London Greater London is an administrative area in England, coterminous with the London region, containing most of the continuous urban area of London. It contains 33 local government districts: the 32 London boroughs, which form a Ceremonial count ...

, England, and part of the

London Borough of Havering The London Borough of Havering () in East London, England, forms part of Outer London. It has a population of 259,552 inhabitants; the principal town is Romford, while other communities include Hornchurch, Upminster, Collier Row and Rainham, Lo ...

. It is east-northeast of

Central London Central London is the innermost part of London, in England, spanning the City of London and several boroughs. Over time, a number of definitions have been used to define the scope of Central London for statistics, urban planning and local gove ...

and consists of a

dispersed settlement A dispersed settlement, also known as a scattered settlement, is one of the main types of settlement patterns used by landscape historians to classify rural settlements found in England and other parts of the world. Typically, there are a num ...

within the

Metropolitan Green Belt The Metropolitan Green Belt is a statutory green belt around London, England. It comprises parts of Greater London, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent and Surrey, parts of two of the three districts of Bedfordshire and a s ...

. It was historically an ancient parish in the county of Essex, which was abolished for civil purposes in 1936. North Ockendon is the only inhabited area in Greater London outside the M25 London Orbital Motorway. North Ockendon is north of South Ockendon, in

Thurrock Thurrock () is a unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Essex, England. It lies on the north bank of the River ...

, Essex.

History

North Ockendon

ancient parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

had an elongated east–west shape, thus contrasting with a series of perpendicular parishes to its north and west. With the adjoining parishes this formed a large estate that is at least middle-

Saxon The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...

or, perhaps, even Roman or

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

. The parish church, dedicated to

Mary Magdalene Mary Magdalene (sometimes called Mary of Magdala, or simply the Magdalene or the Madeleine) was a woman who, according to the four canonical gospels, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers and was a witness to crucifixion of Jesus, his cr ...

, was built in the fourteenth century, on the site of an earlier church. From 1894, North Ockendon formed a parish in the Orsett Rural District of

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

. In 1931 the county council proposed that the parish should transfer to Purfleet Urban District as part of a review of districts triggered by the

Local Government Act 1929 The Local Government Act 1929 ( 19 & 20 Geo. 5. c. 17) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that made changes to the Poor Law and local government in England and Wales. The act abolished the system of poor law unions in England ...

. The proposals met with objections and by 1933 it was decided to divide the parish between an expanded Hornchurch Urban District and a new Thurrock Urban District. Purfleet Urban District Council took legal action in an attempt to revert to the earlier scheme, ultimately taking the case to the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

without success. In 1936 the majority of its former area was used to enlarge the Cranham parish of Hornchurch Urban District. The remainder, around , became part of Thurrock Urban District. North Ockendon was still rural at the time of its inclusion in the Hornchurch Urban District, but it was anticipated suburban house building would soon encroach on the parish. The creation of the

meant the limit of London's urban sprawl stopped just short of the parish boundary, and North Ockendon remained rural. In 1965, Hornchurch Urban District was abolished, and its former area, including North Ockendon, was transferred to Greater London and used to form the present-day London Borough of Havering. North Ockendon and Great Warley were to the east of the

M25 motorway The M25 or London Orbital Motorway is a major ring road encircling most of Greater London. The motorway is one of the most important roads in the UK and one of the busiest. Margaret Thatcher opened the final section in 1986, making the M25 th ...

when it was constructed. In 1992, it was proposed that the part of Greater London to the east of the M25 should be transferred to Essex, with the Great Warley section north of the railway transferred to Brentwood and the North Ockendon section to the south transferred to Thurrock. The transfer of North Ockendon from London to Essex was strongly opposed, with Nicholas Bonsor MP stating that his constituents agreed it had "more affinity with Havering than with Thurrock". Following the review the Great Warley section was transferred to Essex, but the North Ockendon part was not, leaving it the only part of

to be outside the M25 motorway. North Ockendon is the location of Stubbers, a former stately home which was demolished in 1955, the grounds of which are now used as an activity centre. Elizabeth Kucinich, wife of the U.S. congressman and presidential candidate

Dennis Kucinich Dennis John Kucinich ( ; October 8, 1946) is an American politician. Originally a Democratic Party (United States), Democrat, Kucinich served as U.S. Representative from Ohio's Ohio's 10th congressional district, 10th congressional district fro ...

, was born in North Ockendon in 1977.

Demography

North Ockendon lies within the Upminster ward. The 2011 census showed that the population was 96% white (92% British, 2% Other, 2% Irish). Indian, Chinese and Black African were 1% each.

Geography

To the east is a small area of fenland, which extends into Bulphan and the rest is clays and Thames alluvials. The land is very low-lying. The field boundaries are wholly rectilinear. In the far north, beyond the

London, Tilbury and Southend line The London, Tilbury and Southend line, also known as Essex Thameside, is a commuter railway line on the Rail transport in Great Britain, British railway system. It connects Fenchurch Street railway station, Fenchurch Street station, in central ...

, it borders the villages of

Great Warley Great Warley (also known as Warley Abbess, Warley Magna, Warley Wallet or West Warley) is a village located south of Brentwood, Essex, England. Great Warley was formerly a parish, but today comes under the Warley ward in the Borough of Brentwood ...

, Little Warley and Childerditch in the borough of Brentwood. The settlements of West Horndon and Bulphan are to the east, and South Ockendon, to the south, is in the borough and

unitary authority A unitary authority is a type of local government, local authority in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Unitary authorities are responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are ...

. It is the only significant settlement in Greater London which lies outside the

. The Church of St Mary Magdalene, North Ockendon has a probably re-used Norman nave door on the south side of the nave. Its tower was used in the first accurate measurement of the

speed of sound The speed of sound is the distance travelled per unit of time by a sound wave as it propagates through an elasticity (solid mechanics), elastic medium. More simply, the speed of sound is how fast vibrations travel. At , the speed of sound in a ...

, by the Reverend William Derham, Rector of Upminster. Gunshots were fired from the tower and the flash thereof was observed by telescope from the tower of the church of St Laurence, Upminster; then the time was recorded until the sound arrived, from which, with an accurate distance measurement, the speed could be calculated.

Economy

Proposed data centre

North Ockendon is the proposed location of the 175-hectare London Data Freeport

data centre A data center is a building, a dedicated space within a building, or a group of buildings used to house computer systems and associated components, such as telecommunications and storage systems. Since IT operations are crucial for business ...

. , Havering Council was considering granting permission through a

local development order In the United Kingdom, local development orders (LDOs) were introduced with the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004. They allow local authorities to extend permitted development rights for certain forms of development with regard to a relev ...

Transport

The nearest railway stations are at Ockendon and Upminster. London bus routes 347 and

370 __NOTOC__ Year 370 ( CCCLXX) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Augustus and Valens (or, less frequently, year 1123 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 370 ...

directly link the area with Upminster and Romford, as well as Lakeside Shopping Centre (370 only), and Essex routes 269 and X81 link the area with Brentwood (both) as well as Grays (269) and Lakeside Shopping Centre (X81).

References

External links

Hidden London: North Ockendon
{{authority control Areas of London Districts of the London Borough of Havering Villages in London Former civil parishes in the London Borough of Havering