Thundersley Glen

Thundersley Glen is in South Benfleet, alongside the A13, just before the road drops steeply down Bread And Cheese Hill. Today the Glen is a delightful mixture of sunny clearings, dense scrub, mature oaks, coppiced woodland and marshy hollows. However it has not always been thus and the trees and clearings tell a tale of woodland clearance, farming and coppicing.

The Glen was once part of a much larger wood belonging to the Manor of Jervis Hall. By the nineteenth century much of this woodland had been destroyed and the Tythe Maps of 1843 show the Glen was arable farmland except for a small patch of woodland in the south west. An orchard was established and the land was farmed for a short time before being subdivided into plot land. When these plots were abandoned they were invaded by thorn, birch and oak and rapidly became woodland.

Thundersley Glen is now managed by Castle Point Borough Council as a public open space. A walk has been waymarked through the Glen and an equestrian ride and footpath link Thundersley Glen with Shipwright's Wood.

Access from Kiln Road, Underhill Road or Shipwright's Wood.

Thundersley Glen [pdf] 403KB