Place:Purfleet, Essex, England

source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names

the following text is based on an article in Wikipedia

Purfleet is now a town in the Thurrock unitary authority in Essex, England. It is contained between the A13 road to the north and the River Thames to the south and is within the easterly bounds of the M25 motorway but just outside the Greater London boundary. It was within the traditional Church of England parish of West Thurrock. There is some industry to the south and the area forms part of the Thames Gateway redevelopment area. Purfleet is one of seven conservation areas in Thurrock.

From 1921 to 1936, Purfleet formed an urban district of Essex including the parishes of Aveley, West Thurrock and South Ockendon. It covered an area of 8,900 acres (36 km2) and in 1931 had a population of 8,511. The parishes and urban district were abolished in 1936 and their former area was used to form part of Thurrock Urban District.

A nineteenth century description

A Vision of Britain through Time provides the following description of Purfleet from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1870-72:

"PURFLEET, a hamlet in West Thurrock parish, Kent; on the river Thames, at the mouth of Marditch rivulet, and on the London and Southend railway, 8 miles E S E of Barking. It belonged once to the Knights of St. John; was then called Portflete or Pourteflete; is popularly fabled to have got its name from an exclamation of Queen Elizabeth, "Oh my poor fleet!" on seeing her fleet depart from its vicinity to encounter the Spanish armada; is overlooked by Beacon hill, commanding a fine view; had formerly a ferry over the Thames; has now a post-office under Romford, a railway station, abridge over the Marditch, a small harbour, a hotel, pleasure-gardens and government powder magazines, with store-houses, barracks, and a good quay; and ranks as a chapelry, annexed to the vicarage of West Thurrock. Population: 440."

Research Tips

• Purfleet registrations, both church and civil, will be found under West Thurrock. The FamilySearch Wiki reports that the Essex Parish Registers, 1503-1997 are online with a "search" rather than a "browse" facility. For information on other types of records, see the FamilySearch Wiki on West Thurrock.
• The Thurrock Local History Society provides an Ordnance Survey map which illustrates the area of Essex covered by Thurrock.