Hockley

Hockley is a large village and civil parish in Essex in the East of England located between Chelmsford and Southend-on-Sea, or, more specifically, between Rayleigh and Rochford. It came to prominence during the coming of the railway in the 1890s[2] and at the 2001 census had a population of 13,616 people,[3] reducing to 9,616 at the 2011 Census,[1] many of whom commute to London. The parish of Hockley itself has a population of 8,909 (2001 census), while the urban area runs into the neighbouring parish of Hawkwell. Hockley railway station serves the village.

The place-name 'Hockley' is first attested in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it appears as Hocheleia. The name means "Hocca's woodland clearing or glade".[4] Today there is still a large wooded area named Hockley Woods. Notable buildings in the village include the church of St Peter and Paul, which has a nave which was possibly built before the twelfth century, a thirteenth-century chancel and a fourteenth-century tower, the upper half of which is octagonal and was built at a later date. The tower holds three bells, manufactured by Miles Gray in 1626, by James Bartlett in 1684 and by John Hodgson in 1657, and the building is Grade II* listed.[5] The church is situated to the north-west of the village centre, where the Grade II listed Spa Pump Room is situated. The building was built as a spa to a design by James Lockyer in 1842, after Robert Clay found a medicinal spring there in 1838.[6] Hockley is also the site of the former Bullwood Hall prison which closed in 2013.[7]

Plumberow Mount, a Roman burial mound,[8] was excavated in 1913 by Mr. E. B. Francis. At the time, there was a summer house on the top of the mound, and so trenches were cut on three sides. The excavation found a Roman coin of Domitian, and some Saxon pottery which may indicate a secondary burial. The oval mound is 14 feet (4.3 m) high, and 76 feet (23 m) in diameter, with a flattened top, where the summerhouse was located.[9] Since 2005, the mound has been surrounded by a metal fence to protect it from erosion, and a number of trees which were growing on or near it were cut down at the same time.[10]

Hockley has a parish council consisting of two wards[11] and is part of Rochford District Council[12]