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Tilbury (or Tilbury Town) is a port town on the north bank of the Thames in the borough of Thurrock in Essex, England. The present port was established as separate settlement near East Tilbury and West Tilbury and Tilbury Fort in the late 19th century, on land that was mainly part of the parish of Chadwell St Mary. The Gravesend–Tilbury Ferry was an ancient and important crossing point. Tilbury is part of the Port of London with a major deep-water port which contributes to the local economy. It lies east of central London and adjoins the town of Grays. It is the southernmost point in Essex. At the 2021 census the Tilbury built up area had a population of 14,185.
There is archaeological evidence of Roman occupation. At the time, sea-levels had dropped, making the marshes habitable. There may well have been a Roman settlement on the site of what is now Tilbury Docks.FCJ Spurrell, Early sites and embankments on the margins of the Thames estuary (in The Archaeological Journal, 1885) In the 12th century the river, which had hitherto consisted of difficult channels with uncharted , was changed by the process of embanking the river and enclosing areas of marsh. This improved the river's flow, and also resulted in improved land resources on the marsh. The Book of Gravesham Sydney Harker, 1979 It was nevertheless an unhealthy place in which to live; Daniel Defoe,Daniel Defoe (1724). A tour thro' the Whole Island of Great Britain. who, in 1696, operated a tile and brick factory in the Tilbury marshes and lived in a nearby house, wrote about "the Essex ague".
In 1588 Queen Elizabeth I came ashore here to review her main army at the nearby village of West Tilbury (see Speech to the Troops at Tilbury).
In 1852 an Act of Parliament had authorised the building of the London Tilbury and Southend Railway (LTSR), with a short spur to take advantage of the ferry over the Thames; a pier nearby was constructed for the steamboat traffic. The station was originally named Tilbury Fort and opened in 1854. The station was renamed Tilbury Riverside railway station in 1936.
A few houses were built for the railway workers, but it was not until the construction of Tilbury Docks (see below) that there was any settlement worthy of a name. Whilst the docks were being built, the thousands of workers were either provided with temporary accommodation or had to commute from surrounding villages and towns. As a result of overcrowding, more permanent housing was built once the docks were completed, including tenement blocks; but these were poorly constructed, and until the formation of Tilbury District Council (see below) the town was in a poor state, as it largely remained until 1918, when government funds were available to better the situation.
When elected parish and district councils were established in 1894, Chadwell St Mary was given a parish council and included in the Orsett Rural District. It was commented upon at the time that all the parish councillors elected at the first election lived in the nascent town of Tilbury which was growing up around Tilbury Docks at the southern end of the parish, rather than in the older village of Chadwell St Mary to the north or the rural parts of the parish. A separate ecclesiastical parish called Tilbury Docks was created in 1903, but the area remained part of the civil parish of Chadwell St Mary. (1979). 9780901050670, Royal Historical Society. ISBN 9780901050670
In 1912, the civil parish of Chadwell St Mary was removed from Orsett Rural District and converted into an urban district called Tilbury, with the town of Tilbury having become the largest settlement in the parish. Tilbury Urban District Council therefore replaced the Chadwell St Mary Parish Council. In the early 1930s, the urban district council laid out a new civic square as a focal point for the town centre, including a war memorial in the form of a clock tower (completed in 1934) with a public library and new council offices behind it.
In 1936, the Tilbury Urban District and the single civil parish of Chadwell St Mary that it contained were both abolished on the creation of the new Thurrock Urban District. At the 1931 census (the last before their abolition), the Chadwell St Mary civil parish and Tilbury Urban District had a population of 16,825.
Thurrock Urban District was reformed to become a non-metropolitan district with borough status called Thurrock in 1974. Thurrock Council became a unitary authority in 1998, taking over county-level services in the borough which until then had been provided by Essex County Council. Thurrock remains part of the ceremonial county of Essex for the purposes of Lieutenancy area.
The major landmarks are the docks, the cruise-ship landing stage, and the Tilbury Power Station. There are two churches in Tilbury: St John's (Church of England) and Our Lady Star of the Sea (Roman Catholic); there is also a Convent of Mercy. There is, in addition, a synagogue in Dock Road. The educational institutions in Tilbury include primary education, which are Lansdowne Primary School, St Mary's RC Primary School and Tilbury Manor Primary School renamed Tilbury Pioneer Academy when the school was taken over by the Gateway Learning Community, a collective of several schools in the local area. The last serve Infant and Nursery, as well as Junior children. Lying just outside the town is The Gateway Academy, the main secondary school for Tilbury, Chadwell St Mary and the eastern parts of Grays, as well as the adjoining Gateway Primary Free School. USP College (Palmers Campus) is in east Grays near Tilbury.
Until the introduction of standardised containers, the majority of the town's inhabitants were employed in the docks. The resulting loss of jobs has never been made up. So Tilbury today has high unemployment, and education and employment prospects are widely perceived as poor.
Thurrock Council, together with Kent County Council, subsidised the ferry between Tilbury and Gravesend, which was operated by Lower Thames & Medway Passenger Boat Company and then by Jetstream Tours. It ceased to operate from 2024.
Tilbury Town railway station is on the c2c (London, Tilbury and Southend line), providing services to London Fenchurch Street and Southend. Tilbury Riverside railway station was closed on 29 November 1992, although the railway still serves the nearby container depot.
Local buses are operated by Ensignbus
National Cycle Route 13 from London to Norfolk passes through the town.
Notable people who have had some connection with Tilbury include: football players, John Evans (1929–2004), and Tom Scannell (1925–1994); Noel Betowski, artist, was born there in 1952; Thomas Horrocks Openshaw (1856–1929), a consultant surgeon at Tilbury Hospital; and actor Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje whose being raised there by foster parents is documented in the movie Farming.
In the 2014 BBC series The Honourable Woman, the title character Nessa Stein is made Baroness of Tilbury in the first episode.
Tilbury and its environs have been used in some television episodes. Tilbury Fort was used as a location for Sharpe's Regiment, starring Sean Bean. Thurrock Council
The Thurrock Gazette is the town's local weekly newspaper.
A later venue called the Tilbury Stadium on land at the end of Dunlop Road also hosted greyhounds between 1964 and 1967.
Geography
Tilbury is on the north bank of the River Thames, where the river's meander has caused it to narrow to approximately in width. The area to the north is one-time marshlands; to the north of that there is higher ground, where lie the villages of Chadwell St Mary, West Tilbury and East Tilbury. The town lies to the north of the London-Southend railway line. Tilbury is located east of the capital of England, London
Transport and industry
The Port of Tilbury handles a variety of bulk cargo, timber, cars and Containerization traffic and remains, along with Southampton and Felixstowe, one of Britain's three major container ports. It is the main UK port for importing paper, including newsprint. The one-time passenger landing stage was reopened by the Port of Tilbury group as the London Cruise Terminal, though it is no longer served by the railway.
People and culture
The Tilbury Band, dating from 1919, was among the leading in the UK. The Tilbury Band
Healthcare
Until 1896 Tilbury had no hospital. In 1894 the Philanthropist John Passmore Edwards, M.P. agreed to fund a new hospital which was named the Passmore Edwards District Cottage Hospital."Passmore Edwards' Munificence". South Wales Daily News: 5. 5 April 1894 – via www.rcn.org. In 1969 Orsett Hospital took over healthcare provision in the area.
Media
Local radio station Gateway 97.8, is a community based radio station.
Sport and leisure
Tilbury has a non-League football club Tilbury F.C. who play at Chadfields. Chadfields had previously been a greyhound racing track. The racing was independent (not affiliated to the sports governing body the National Greyhound Racing Club) and was known as a flapping track, which was the nickname given to independent tracks. The racing is believed to have been operational in the 1930s and lasted until 1947, when a betting licence had been granted.
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