Researching Local and Family History in Thurrock


   Where can I find information?
TLHS Home Page

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People and places of interest in Thurrock

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Thurrock Church Brasses

If you are not local to Thurrock, your first port of call could be the Tourist Information Centre by the M25 where you can obtain maps and guide books.

At the Thameside Complex the Thurrock Museum is somewhere not to be missed. Here there is a wealth of archaeological material to see and usually has a themed display -click here for more information. Local books and postcards are on sale at the box office and other books, especially those showing old photos, can be obtained at local bookshops.

Grays library is a wonderful source of information, from the Victoria County History and all our Panoramas to church histories, schools, information on Tilbury Docks, railways and biographies (look in the index drawers). In Thurrock Gold a list of local books was published and most of these can be borrowed from the library. There are old Trade Directories, Essex Review 1892-1957 and Essex Countryside 1952-2001. The library also has the Thurrock Gazette on film, with cuttings books 1970s-1980s. Local companies are well represented via histories and in-house magazines, including Bata 1956-72, Van den Berghs 1949-82, Esso 1954-72, Shell 1955-72 and Thames Board Mills 1958-70. The map drawers too are well worth investigating.

For Family History the library has copies of the International Genealogical Index, local parish registers and censuses, minutes from the Orsett Board of Guardians and some parish and manorial records. There are also Indexes of Wills Held in Chelmsford and local telephone directories 1953-81.

Churches are probably the oldest buildings you can visit. Many have histories and postcards for sale and the churchyard and cemetery give names of old local families. Parish magazines are sometimes a mine of information,

Further afield, Essex Register Office at Chelmsford, Southend Library and various London depositories are a wonderland of material. The internet has bloomed and hundreds of websites are available. So get those feet or fingers walking!

Norma Leach

For a list of parishes in the area covered by the Thurrock Local History Society - click here

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