My Adventures 3: Thurrock Airfield

On Monday the 4th May 2020, I drove 20 minutes to Bulphan for another local walk due to still being in the Covid19 lockdown.

I parked up outside St Mary The Virgin church and walked about the grounds as all churches are currently closed due to the virus.

Postcode for the church is RM14 3TP

GPX File here
Viewranger file Here

Bulphan (pronounced 'Bul-ven') is a village in the borough of Thurrock .

The Church of St. Mary the Virgin stands towards the far end of the main village of Bulphan. The walls are of limestone and flint-rubble, modern brick and timber-framing. The Chancel, Nave, Belfry and South Porch are apparently of late 15th-century date but the church was very considerably repaired and partly re-built in the 19th century when the Vestry was added and the external walls were refaced so that little of the earlier building remains.

Notable people from Bulphan

Charles Littlehales (1871-1945), cricketer and clergyman

Jim Davidson (1953-), comedian

Tony Cottee (1965-), footballer and commentator

Mick Norcross, reality TV performer, has developed property in Bulphan.

I leave the church and take the path beside it and follow this down pass some fields and paddocks.

The paths around here are well marked with white posts and clear pathways, unlike so many other farms in Essex. Very welcome indeed.

I walk alongside a meadow which was full of grasses and buttercups.

I cross over Caylocks Farms.

Then the path takes me through a Equestrian centre, full of horses. A sign warns of loose horses, but they were all safely behind fences today.

I walk out into the road ahead and without looking at my GPS unit I walk straight across onto the footpath opposite. It was about 100 to 200 yards down the path when I saw I should have turned left onto the road to continue my route so I stroll back to the road.

I follow the private lane down pass Judds Farm where another footpath leads off from.

A bid has been submitted to demolish existing building at Judds Farm on Harrow Lane and replaced then with eight new homes, including five bedroom houses.

The bid appears to mirror similar applications which have seen large modern houses built on the site of old farm buildings – most notably on Doesgate Lane where a number of large executive homes are currently under construction – and adjacent to the A128 where an executive homes steatse has been built by property developer and one time TOWIE TV celebrity Mick Norcross.

Here I join the path then it splits three ways, I stand for a bit making sure I take the right path. Its the path that runs diagonally across the field in front of me.

I follow the path across farm fields for some distance.

I walk through a field of Rapeseed towards Populars farm.

Red Campion growing beside the hedgerow.

I walk out onto Green Lane, where there was quite a few people out walking from nearby Orsett I'm guessing.

This leads me onto Fen Lane, passing Populars Farmhouse.

The farmhouse is a Grade II listed house, it was built Late C16 or early C17 house, timber framed and plastered.

Simple C18 door with hood on shaped brackets. Later extension at rear.

I reach where my GPS says to turn but this is private property a sign say. But hey its a big diversion otherwise into Orsett. So I follow the tree lined concrete road through.

On my right I can see Orsett House.

Orsett House is listed Grade II of Architectural or Historical Interest, dates from the mid-18th century and has been converted into four individual apartments. It is an attractive building with a red-brick facade relieved by tall windows over four storeys under a tiled roof surmounted by red-brick chimneys. Apartment One is the largest of the four properties, extending to over 3,800 sq ft, and occupies the central core of the building. The house stands in the middle of 17 acres of gardens and parkland on the immediate borders of Orsett village.

The concrete road now reaches a footpath that crosses it and I turn left onto this.

I follow the path through more farmland.

There were loads of these flies flying around me, I have no idea what they are yet. But I'm looking into it.

I walk out onto Parkers Farm Road and turn right along the road for a bit.

At the end of the road I turn left onto Conways road.

Just past Parkers Farm I take a bridge across a ditch and follow the footpath along the fields.

At the end of the path, I stop the path disappears. it looks like you should walk around the fields edge. But no the GPS says the path goes straight across. This farmer didn't re-instate the footpath. So I walk straight across the growing field of wheat.

Now I reach Thurrock Airfield. I had no idea this existed!

It is a private airfield for light aircraft. I could have taken the path to my right and walked to the Dog and Partridge pub adding more mileage and a walk along a busy A road, But there is no point as all pubs are closed due to the lockdown.