Thurrock Museums, Landmarks and Local History: Thurrock Museum, Tilbury Fort and Coalhouse Fort

Thurrock's history is told in a museum in Grays and in the forts built to defend the Thames. The history below comes from the council, English Heritage and Historic England. Prices and times change, so we link the venues rather than quote every one.

Thurrock Museum, Grays

The council's Thurrock Museum page says the museum, on the first floor of the Thameside Complex, Orsett Road, Grays, RM17 5DX, shows more than 250,000 years of Thurrock's past in display cases with more than 1,500 objects. It lists the mammoths from Aveley, the earliest known Thurrock coins dating to 75BC, prehistoric flint tools, Roman pottery, Saxon artefacts and medieval finds from Grays, and says events and exhibitions are organised by museum volunteers.

As published, admission is free, and the opening times are:

• Monday and Thursday: 9am to 7pm
• Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday: 9am to 5pm
• Saturday: 9am to 1pm
• Sunday and bank holidays: closed

The museum can be phoned on 01375 413 965, and its office answers enquiries from 9am to 4:30pm on weekdays. The Thameside Theatre and Grays Central Library share the complex; see our libraries guide.

Tilbury Fort

English Heritage says King Charles II commissioned the artillery fort after a Dutch raid in 1667, and describes it as England's best example of a 17th-century bastioned fortress, with its complete circuit of moats and outworks still substantially surviving. It says prisoners were held there after the Jacobite Rising of 1745, and that its guns helped shoot down a Zeppelin in 1916. Visitors can see an exhibition and Victorian magazine tunnels and walk the ramparts with views across the Thames to Gravesend. The address is Tilbury Fort, Officers Block, Tilbury, Essex, RM18 7NR.

The history page says the site began as the West Tilbury blockhouse, one of five gun forts built along the Thames in 1539 to 1540 under Henry VIII. It says that in August 1588, with the Spanish Armada expected, Elizabeth I landed at the blockhouse and next day rallied the army camped at West Tilbury village. It adds that Tilbury's defences were never tested by an enemy and that it stayed garrisoned until the end of the First World War.

Historic England's list entry records Tilbury Fort as a scheduled monument, first listed on 18 January 1973, and says the blockhouse, the first permanent defensive structure there, was built in 1539 as part of Henry VIII's campaign to improve coastal defences.

English Heritage's prices and opening times page says you get a discount by booking online until midnight the day before, tickets are valid all day, and they are free for members.

Coalhouse Fort Park, East Tilbury

The council's overview page says Coalhouse Fort Park, Princess Margaret Road, East Tilbury, RM18 8PB, is 400 metres south of East Tilbury Village and is home to Coalhouse Fort, built in the 19th century to help protect the Thames estuary. It has a Green Flag Award and features a free car park, picnic areas, toilets with disabled facilities, a children's play area and a ranger on site most days. It also points to neighbouring St Catherine's Church in East Tilbury village, parts of which date from the 13th century.

Civic Pride Heritage Trail and local history

The council's history and heritage page says its new Civic Pride Heritage Trail has stops in Purfleet-on-Thames, Tilbury, West Tilbury, Horndon-on-the-Hill and Grays, linked to figures including Daniel Defoe, Bram Stoker, Alfred Russel Wallace and Queen Elizabeth I, and offers a downloadable trail map. The same page lists pages on borough history, historical places and people, history on the River Thames and history research at your library.

The council's Discover Thurrock page also describes the two historic forts built to protect the Thames estuary, Tilbury Fort and Coalhouse Fort, and Thurrock Museum, which it says showcases 250,000 years of the borough's past. For parks and countryside see our parks and things to do guide.