Corringham Light Railway & Coryton Station
The Corringham Light Railway was a line built in 1899, opened in 1901, as part of access to the Kynochs munitions factory on the site of what is now Coryton. It went from the London Fenchurch/Tilbury/Southend line at Thames Haven down to Corringham and Kynochtown to allow for transport to and from the munitions site but was used as late as 1971 for oil refining activities.
Pictured above is a black and white photograph showing the initial Corringham platform and station, as well as recent photographs of the remains of the brick trackbed, a Kynochs bridge was widened for D-Day movements as it was wider than standard-gauge permissions allowed, imprint of the railway sleepers under the grass, and a possible Kynoch waterway
The line has been at first glance removed without trace, but plenty of remnants begin to appear when you follow the line closely which we did in 2013 with the Corringham Light Railway Preservation Society with great thanks to Lisa Sargent. We found remains of the CLR and Kynochs munitions works all the way from the housing area near the Pegasus Club in Stanford-le-Hope out into the remote farmers fields where we stopped. We found ponds near the Pegasus Club that would’ve been used for brick works serving the railway, as well as sewage works left by Kynochs serving the works colony, and also Brickfield Bridge now in the water-logged fields that the CLR would’ve run over. Trackbed remains such as sleepers, and surrounding fences, still survive too. The station platform at the start of the CLR also surves in a garden in a residential area. Inside Coryton refinery, which is of course heavily guarded due to terrorist threats, the 1919 Coryton Station platform survives.
Pictured below are Corringham station platform in a garden (below trees, behind fence), photos of the walking party we joined in 2013 with Lisa Sergent’s CLR Society, Coryton/Shell Refinery pipes, mystery concrete in the fields the CLR used to run through, metal stye on the footpath women used to get to the railway, Kynoch’s white fencing, and a railway sleeper with stays to prevent the train derailing being used as a fence-post.
Corringham station in a front garden
Coryton Station
The CLR served to primarily transport workers across the marshes between Corringham station (pictured today in someone’s garden above) and Coryton station; within the disused site of Coryton oil refinery. In 2021, we headed into the oil refinery to document the overgrown and largely forgotten Coryton platform.
The surviving brick platform was built in 1917 next to a long-gone older wooden platform and waiting room, made to serve Kynoch’s ammunition factory and the quaint village of Kynochtown. The factory was shortly succeeded by the oil refinery, which Mobil expanded in the 1970s forcing the villagers to move out and the town to be demolished without trace. Today, the station platform survives as a final reminder of a bygone era swallowed up by the now also-declining industries of the Thames Estuary.
Below are some 2019 images of the old railway lines running into Coryton refinery; where Coryton village used to stand.
The two photographs below were taken in the same spots along the disused CLR in the summer two years apart, showing a vast amount of vegetation to have emerged due to abandonment.
2019 
2021
Coryton Oil Refinery
The refinery c.2014 (BTP) and 2016 (Slayaaaa) prior to the demolition of its many towers
The refinery was built over Coryton village (Kynochtown) and Kynoch’s munitions factory (the site of which still remains just north of the refinery – see here). The explosives factory operated from the late 1890s up until 1919 serving through the First World War. The refinery has its origins in 1953 and possibly prior, although the refinery as we know it was mainly built through the 1970s when the village was demolished to make room for it, although refineries existed at Shell Haven and Thames Haven since the early twentieth century. It ceased refining in 2012 and the iconic flare stack which could be seen burning for miles was removed. The refinery and its landmark features came to define the area to locals, and its cultural influence is evident in rhythm and blues band Dr. Feelgood’s songs ‘All Through the City’ (“Stand and watch the towers burning at the break of day”) and ‘Sneaking Suspicion’ (“Midnight on the river in the light of the flames”). The Corringham pub ‘the Cat Cracker’ was named after the refinery’s tower of winding pipes, and was converted into a Co-Op in late 2013. The iconic catalytic cracker and flare stack have since been demolished, as has much of the refinery infrastructure including the generator house. However, the iconic chimney has been kept, and some of the vessels are still used for fuel storage. Some excellent photography of these which we sadly never saw are visible on 28 Days Later both here (chimneys and control rooms) and here (boiler house). We have been kindly allowed to include the first further below.
2021 Photography
We visited the refinery in 2021 and captured some high-quality photography of what remains of the site, along with the last remaining (and main) chimney which has become an icon of the Thames Estuary’s horizon.
Whilst parts of the refinery remain complete with pipework and fuel tanks, the central area once occupied by the towering structures captured by Slayaaa in 2016 (see below) is now flattened, leaving not much more than the chimney and a few bridges left. It is now used as a shipping container storage yard. We were able to reach the incredible structure and photograph it both up close and from the inside of its base.
2019 Photography
We managed to capture these photographs of the semi-abandoned refinery site during an overnight infiltration in 2019. Much of the main structures and towers seen in the 2016 imagery was long gone, but the chimney and various vessels still survived in-situ. We feel privileged to have been able to get so close to this definitive landmark of our childhood. Venturing to the site with Sam (Unleashed Exploring), he bravely climbed the chimney and captured the incredible view at sunset. Below are our photographs of some of the surviving equipment and vessels, as well as shots of part of the Thames Haven line and suffocated historic River Fleet; once surrounded by the quaint village of Kynochtown. Also thanks to Luke Baker Photography for some of these shots.
Below our Sam’s excellent photographs of the surviving main chimney top and its incredible view across Coryton and Hole Haven:
January 2016 Pre-Demolition Shots by Slayaaaa
Thanks to slayaaaa from 28 Days Later for allowing us to share their incredible night photography of the refinery captured only months before much of it was demolished which we ourselves personally did not manage to capture. These long exposures show views of various chimneys, gas towers, pipework and control rooms. The full set and write-up can be seen here.
December 2014 Shots From Canvey Island
2011 Permission Night Visit from Manorway Roundabout
“Thanks to BTP Joe’s persuasive style, we managed to receive access to take pictures of Coryton Refinery from the Manorway Road. We went in the evening when it was dark, although a foggy night along with the darkness meant most of our pictures came out blurry. Only three of mine were focused enough to make it into this post out of the many we took! What was good about the trip was the sights we saw. The scale, engineering, and complexity of it was an amazing spectacle, although the air was thick with an oily smell and droplets of moisture.”
Comment by Phil Walpole
“I am no expert on Coryton and it’s history. But, parts of the old Kynochtown still existed in the 1950’s. in the shape of bungalows. I lived in Coryton during this time, in a fairly new house built I think by the oil company. The road name was Freeman Avenue. The refinery was right next to the houses and many a time it became my playgroung. There used to be a manor house, just a short distance from where I lived and can recall being inside it many times. I think it became a social club for those that worked for Mobile. I have a very hazy memory of the refinery being built and can recall what seem to have been dozens of busses bringing in the workman who built it. Following the flood in 1953 and an explosion a couple years later my family moved to Basildon, which was a new town then. I can remember a pond in a place that is now Basildon town centre. As for Coryton, I think it was all knocked down in the early 70’s . I like the photo’s of the refinery, my dad worked there for over 20 years.”
Fisons Fertiliser Factory
Fisons Plc was a British pharmaceutical, scientific instruments and horticultural chemicals company established by Edward Packard in 1843. In 1863 he was joined in business by his son, also named Edward, who was developing the business and rationalising the UK’s fertiliser industry. The business was incorporated in 1895 under the name of Edward Packard and Company Limited.
In 1919 the company expanded and bought a fertiliser business founded by James Fison back in the early 1800’s and subsequently changed the company name again in 1929 to Packard and James Fison (Thetford) Limited.
In 1959, at their new factory in Stanford-le-Hope, Fisons Fertilizers Limited began manufacturing ammonium nitrate for use in Fisons compound fertilisers. This salt provides nitrogen, one of the three essential elements of all plant food, with resultant advantages to the farmer. As a starting material for the manufacture of ammonium nitrate, anhydrous ammonia is used, and is purchased from an adjacent plant operated by Shell Chemical Company Ltd at Shell Haven. Here ammonia is made synthetically from the nitrogen of the air and from hydrogen obtained from oil by the Shell gasification process, and is delivered to Fisons by pipeline as a liquid under pressure.
The ammonia is stored on the Fison site in a 2,000-ton insulated spherical tank, the largest of its kind in Europe. The raw material is converted into ammonium nitrate, which is despatched by road and rail to Fisons compounding factories in various parts of the country. Fisons went defunct in the mid 90’s, but the factory could have been closed in the mid 80’s when its fertilizer activities were sold to Norsk Hydro in 1982 – the year we believed it closed.
Photographs of the 1959 Opening Brochure
Beyond the Point does not own the copyright to to the original booklet however we were able to take photographs. The final photo is a recolouring by Liam Heatherson of the extant section back in 1959.
Drone Photos – Dec 2018
Fobbing QF Bomb Decoy
After setting off from the explosives site at Coryton, we headed on a trek across the marshes towards the town of Fobbing. We were searching for a ‘Starfish’ site – one of a few that survive today. In January 1940, Britain’s decoy programme began and was designed to distract aircraft to sites that had supposedly been bombed however in reality it was actually fields with huge oil pits on fire, to simulate a destroyed city or town. Some 839 of these sites are recorded on official records in England however few remain today.
Due to costs and development issues only twelve Oil QF sites were built across Britain with just two in Essex; the Fobbing decoy and one in Stanford-le-Hope. This would have been used to simulate a bombed oil refinery and was to protect the nearby Shell Haven and Thames Haven oil refineries which did get hit in 6th/7th September 1940, possibly prior to the decoy’s installation. The decoy is thought to have been at least partly effective as numerous bomb craters are visible on contemporary aerial photography on the surrounding marshes.
In Fobbing, the night shelter house and a number of other remnants survive. It’s from the night shelter where the site would have been manned and fires would have been ignited electronically from here. Because the crew would have been right amongst the decoy designed to draw bombing, they needed a thick concrete air raid shelter of this type to protect them from anything but direct hits. Close to the shelter house are 4 concrete semi-circular walls, something that would have held the oil drums. Pipes can be seen coming out from the bunker and under the marshes, where the oil would have been pumped.
The night shelter has a narrow entrance round the north side and has an emergency escape hatch on the roof. It is split into two small rooms; one for a generator and the other for control or sheltering. What looks like loop holes are in two of the walls with some smaller holes for piping. Heading away from the bunker, the pipes led us to a small circular hole, perhaps a burning pit or maintenance point.
This decoy is very similar to the shelter at Allhallows Marsh, which still retains the circular decoy pools which would have ignited with fuel. These are sadly gone at Fobbing. It also has a stand for the fuel tank like the Fobbing Decoy, but of slightly different shape. We visited to Fobbing decoy in January 2018 and Summer 2020.
Night Shelter
Miscellaneous
Source: Historic England
Kynoch Explosives Factory, Coryton
We visited these structural remains in 2018 and 2020 . The first visit consisted of an initial exploration with photography to identify if these remains existed following prior research. The second visit consisted of a return to film them (video below), joined by Exploring with Em & Stu. Amazingly, we are perhaps the first to locate and identify these rare survivals of what was once a huge factory spanning the Coryton area, widely believed to have gone without trace. There’s little detail anywhere about what, if anything, remains of the site today, although by looking at old maps from Peter Kay’s excellent The Corringham Light Railway: A New History book which includes the history of the factory, we managed to narrow down the locations of potential remains to a few areas. We aimed for areas of lower land just north of the Coryton oil refinery site. Much of the land here has been subsequently raised following landfill, so we were limited to a ditch between this and the refinery, and farmland north-west. Thankfully, our suspicions were confimed…
After dodging the boggy marshes and finding a suitable route through the bushes, we came across some old bricks and rubble, covered in moss. This could have been from either the current refinery (which was previously bigger) or potentially the explosives factory. We also came across a some sort of concrete-lined water pool. Satisfied with this, we started to head onto our next site, before Liam spotted something in the bushes. What initially just looked like more bricks, turned out to be the foundations of a small building, perhaps this was the jackpot? Inside the ruins were lower ditches, lined with metal, which also had pipes inside.
Like the factories at Wat Tyler country park, and further away at Cliffe in Kent, Coryton was home to an explosives factory in the turn of the 20th Century. Kynochtown was the name given to the village for employees. The factory was built by the well-known ammunition firm ‘Kynoch’ in 1895 and it opened two years later. It produced generally speaking every element of the munition production line; from cotton wool-like exploding guncotton, to spaghetti-like cordite placed inside bullet cartages, to gunpowder and the cartridges themselves. Guncotton is chemically known as nitrocellulose and exploded on impact. The explosives made at Kynochs’ factory were placed inside .303 bullet cartridges of the Lee-Enfield rifles in service at the time amongst other less common civilian calibres. Alongside Kynoch’s main factory in Birmingham, they produced a large portion of the standard-issue ammunition of World War One. The factory would’ve served through the First World War but closed a year after it came to an end; in 1919. Women dominantly worked on the site and those touching TNT powder mixing explosives by hand. This could cause skin rashes such as hives, and discolouration of the hair and skin. Their skin became yellow as did that of their children; ‘canary babies’ as they were called. This chemical change in skin colour would wear off eventually.
Incredible photographs of the site from Peter Kay’s book The CLR: A New History, and a 1919 OS map which helped to locate the rare remains.
The Cory Brothers where coal merchants who used the site for storage after Kynochs left, and they accordingly named the village Coryton. However Mobil was an oil-refining company who took over the site in 1950 after various industrial use. A refinery was built in 1953 and this expanded into what Coryton refinery is seen as today in the 1970s. As a result Coryton village was demolished and the ground used for the refinery at this time, destroying the elegant town situated around the Fleet lake with the promise of paying to relocate residents who were almost exclusively workers on the site.
Below are photographs we have taken of the illusive remains of the factory which we personally located in the first known case of their rediscovery. We sincerely hope these remains are appreciated for their heritage value and survive into the future in the face of the developing ex-refinery site south.
Water Tower Foundations
In the low ditch between Coryton refinery and empty landfill north, we found the foundations of a water tower for the factory at the original ground level. This incredible find consists of a concrete tank with a wooden planked circular structure; perhaps the base of a water tower. This is one of the most visually impressive remains, and its age is confirmed clearly by the 1919 mapping.
Ruined Building with Blast Mound
Amongst the thick bushes in the ditch near the water tower foundation, we found the clear remains of a rectangular brick building missing its roof, surrounded by an overgrown blast mound. Whilst the pictures struggle to do it justice, it is from this evidence we can thankfully say that a building from the factory does indeed survive. This is not as obvious on old mapping, and perhaps is not covered by the 1919 mapping, but its blast-mound layout confirms its association with the factory.
Walkway Foundations & Pond
Here we found concrete ridges with metal pins upon which the wooden walkways around the site would’ve stood to avoid people sparking explosives on stones on the ground. The walkway ran under the grass east, and at its west end formed a right angle where a building would have presumably stood. This appears on the 1919 mapping as pictured, as does a large surviving pond. The smaller less-flooded pond does not seem to appear on the 1919 map so is probably a later unrelated feature, or a bomb crater.
Other Shots & Rubble
Kynoch Sewage Work
Coryton was home to an explosives factory in the turn of the 20th Century which you can read about and see the remains of in our in-depth article here. Kynochtown was the name given to the village for employees. The factory was built by the well-known ammunition firm ‘Kynoch’ in 1895 and it opened two years later. The factory would’ve served through the First World War. Whilst on a walk in 2012 with the Corringham Light Railway Society of the CLR track’s path which once served the factory, we passed the remains of a supposed sewage works believed associated with the Kynoch factory. These were located close to the overgrown trackbed of the railway just off a footpath running from where Fobbing Road becomes Lion Hill. The ruin consisted of a series of old London Stock Brick pits almost certainly originating from the turn of the 20th century. It is overgrown and quite mossy, and I nearly slipped and fell into one of the deep chambers whilst taking these photograpsh! Any more information on these remains would be appreciated. Below are images of other interesting finds from the walk:
Nearby stye for women workers travelling to the factory via CLR 
Believed Corringham Light Railway post 
Pipe leading to refineries 
View of Coryton in 2018
London Gateway Container Port
DP (Dubai Ports) World began to construct a huge shipping container port over the site of the Shell Haven oil refinery in around roughly 2010, first opening in November 2013 although with most of the site remaining under continual construction. When the refinery land was first remedied for construction of the port, works involved covering the site with sand and extending the banks of the Thames Estuary itself further into the river with a lot of boulders and probably other deeper methods. These changes to the landscape are clearly visible on Google satellite mapping. The dock is called London Gateway, and it is a deep-water port constructed to deal with some of the largest container ships in the world being regularly linked with 51 countries. Larger ships are escorted from Harwich to the port. Since the port’s construction it has expanded from its initial portion further west as well as north of the port to warehouse and storage areas. The cranes installed there are visible for miles around and have became industrial landmarks upon the landscape. Also installed to serve the port is a modern conversion of the Thames Haven Railway, which historically served the refineries in the area over the 20th Century.
Under Construction – Autumn 2013
We were fortunate enough to be able to visit the periphery of the London Gateway docks as they were being constructed in October 2013. The docks were built over the site of Shell Haven oil refinery that closed in 1999. New land was created in the Thames too – which appeared to be made up of many many large rocks seen in the photographs below, then covered in sand. Construction began in 2010 although major development appeared in 2013 with the installation of eight monstrous quay cranes to lift the shipping in, deemed as high as the pyramids of Giza and far taller than the catalytic cracker of Coryton refinery that dominated the horizon as far away as Southend.
Sources: Wikipedia
Oozedam Farmhouse and WW2 Defences
We visited Oozedam Farm in January of 2018, on a trek across Fobbing Marshes which saw us head from the farm to discover a lost explosives factory, bomb craters and much more. Starting here, we knew that there was a pillbox on the old farm and possibly even the remains of a Spigot Mortar or two. Despite living only across the water at Canvey Island, Joe and I were completely unaware these existed until discovering this great World War Two Heritage trail by Fred Nash – you can click here to get the guide and visit yourself.
Oozedam Farmhouse
The farm itself didn’t seem to be inhabited at all, and seemed hardly used, although a lorry did arrive whilst we were exploring. A public footpath connects the farm from the nearby roundabout, which is where we started. Heading in, we passed the old farm buildings including a modern cottage, probably built in the post-war era, all boarded up. This was clearly a rather recent structure, although we know that Oozedam Farm stood long before this and once had a much older farmhouse bearing a russet hipped roof. Census records record that it was originally a local marshland farm acquired by the Orsett Hall estate in the 1800s, although may not have had many people living on it (Source: Bingley, Fobbing Life & Landscape). The Orsett Hall estate let the farm out for grazing in 1902, and possibly was sold off in 1925. It is interesting to note how the farmstead became a focal point of defensive militarisation during the Second World War.
In a Facebook post, Muriel Bond; resident of Corringham, offered her vivid memories of the Oozedam old and new farmhouses as follows:
“That farmhouse was my grandparents house for many years. Me and my sisters spent our childhood summer holidays there. The old farmhouse you refer to was still standing but derelict when I was a kid and grandads chickens used it. It was called the Black House and was demolished early 60’s. In fact all the time my grandparents lived there (30 + years) it was known as Blackhouse farm. Happy memories roaming the marshes. The old black house stood about 60 feet to the rear of the bungalow. My Nan’s address was always ‘Blackhouse Farm’. Most of the video was taken at the back of Blackhouse towards what grandad used to call Pitsea Creek. The bungalow that you went into (my grandparents house) was built in front of the old black house with about 50 or 60 feet between them. The old black house had a cellar and I assume that was filled in with the rubble because after it was demolished the footings were still visible. It was in line with the barns the other side of the track. Behind that barn was an old orchard of dead trees. Very eerie. As the video went through the bungalow, I named all the rooms. Those fireplaces were not the originals. The front room had a black wooden structure almost to the ceiling with blue and white tiles inset. The cupboard beside the fireplace in the other sitting room is where the dog and cats had their pups and kittens! Such lovely memories. Thanks for the video.”
WW2 Pillbox & Spigot Mortar
We first spotted a Type 24 pillbox, standard in design, which seemed to be in fair condition and on closer inspection has been left untouched – luckily it wasn’t part of the rubble in front of it! As we walked up to it, Joe spotted a Spigot Mortar stand in the next field. There seem to be another somewhere in the area which we missed. We revisited these in Summer 2019. The blacker bombard spigot mortar was a primitive form of infantry weapon designed to be fired from a pedestal such as the one that survives here in Fobbing. The Home Guard would most likely have used them alongside the pillbox here to defend the Essex coastline and Shell Haven Oil Refinery from a German invasion. Anti-glider ditches once cut through the marshes here, which would have hindered the landing of German Fallschirmjager paratroopers if they came in 1940.
Shell Haven Jetties
The Shell Haven Oil Refinery existed behind the Coryton refinery that dominates the skyline of the surrounding area, which ceased oil production in 2012. It closed in 1999 having been operating since 1916. Prior to this, the area of Shell Haven was scraped by Kynoch’s Munitions Factory which stood near the site of Coryton village from the late 1890s until 1912. The village was mostly demolished with the building of Coryton refinery in the 1960s and 70s. The site of Shell refinery is now majorly resurfaced for use as the DP World London Gateway Docks which extended the land around a mile out into the Thames itself! My grandfather Peter Basham worked at Shell Haven refinery from the 1950s as a teenager up until not long before its closure. Once he decided to climb one of the chimneys for his own entertainment in his spare time, and simply wandered up the staircase that had a back support for some safety. He described how once near the top he began to notice how the chimney was actually swaying slightly in the wind! Some of the jetties from the site have escaped the DP World development and we explored them both in January and October 2013, seen below.
A field south of Fison’s Fertiliser Factory and the Shell Haven jetties was flooded presumably as part of the RSPB developments for the Mucking reserve. This turned the old seawall into a kind of jetty. It provided great views into the Thames and over to Mucking cranes and RSPB centre.
The Peasants Revolt of 1381
Pictured above are a set of eerie wooden sculptures of the rebels at Wat Tyler Country Park, Pitsea, Essex. Whilst the park does not in fact have any direct connection to the revolt, only its proximity to Fobbing, these sculptures commemorate the 1381 events that happened in the wider area.
The Peasant’s Revolt of 1381 is a subject recognized by most of us around the country, even if we have only heard about the individual ‘Wat Tyler’. What some of us know, is that the revolt began in Essex and Kent, that’s why it fits in nicely with BeyondthePoint.co.uk, as we reveal to you this not usually talked about side of the areas’ local history.
It all began with the Black Death – the Bubonic Plague, of 1349. So many people were killed and effected by the widespread disease, and it was brought over on ships by foreign rats which let off fleas carrying the menace. The population of England was cut drastically, and now, there was no longer a large body of peasant workers. This meant that those who were left tried to haggle their masters a higher pay, to make up for the lack of ’employees’. The government, which had none of this, far detached form its people, deiced to revert their wages back again. To add insult to injury, they brought in ‘the third medieval poll tax’, allegedly to fund the country’s overseas interests. This heightened tension between the gentry and peasants, which were suffering poor lives due to the strongly hierarchical ‘Feudal System’ – a system which clearly outlined the status and power of social classes, common throughout the mid medieval period. This tax was one of three groats per person, no matter how poor, meaning those who were poor would suffer, while those richer would not – there was no discretion given according to wealth. With a slave-like serfdom enslaving the people, they were not happy. Having to work up to two days a week on church land was not popular.
(Left) A perhaps over-grisly photographic reconstruction of a mob of revolutionaries gathering near the Tower of London, with Wat Tyler at front wielding a large two-handed sword. (Right) St. Mary’s Church, Great Baddow, where Jack Straw gathered Essx’s rebels in the churchyard before he led them to London. Note the church was heavily restored over 100 years go since its contemporary incarnation at the time of the revolts.
In 1381, peasants began to protest and did not pay their tax. A tax collector visited Fobbing in Essex to investigate, only to be forced out by the peasants. Another event later occurred in Brentwood, where the party was attacked, and violently, six officials were killed. Other local villages joined the righteous disarray. The misconduct soon spread to Kent, and a rebellion occurred at Maidstone. Wat Tyler, a mysterious character, here joined the fray. He was believed to have been born in Brenchley, Kent, according to local tradition, although historians say he was born in Essex. Two more instigators joined the battle to lead the Essex side of the gathering into London. John Ball was a priest of reformed Christianity of the time, known as ‘Lollardy’, who was situated in Kent at time of rebellion, although lived in Colchester prior to then. Jack Straw was a man who has also been referred to as Rackstraw and John Rakestraw, was probably a priest or preacher, was allegedly provoked to rebel after an assault on his daughter by a tax collector, and was in this source called by the alias of ‘John Tyler’ leading the speculation that he was in fact the same man as Wat Tyler himself. While Wat Tyler supposedly lead the Kentish rebels, Straw was said to have led those of Essex. One source describes how he lead a crowd into the main rebellion, on its way to London, from St. Mary’s Churchyard, Great Baddow, Essex.
The rebels soon met up in their thousands at the capital, London, where they caused blood-stained havoc. The Savoy Palace – where the Savoy hotel stands today, was burnt to the ground, as a royal residence to the king’s uncle John of Gaunt. The Tower of London was under siege, and eventually, the rebels broke inside. rushing to the chapel, priests and those of high authority to the tax, were torn away to the traitor’s area of Tower Hill, where they were beheaded viciously one by one. their heads – stuck on stakes, and shown around the city as a warning and a victory. On the following day, a meeting was held to reconsider the clearly disputed taxes – June the 15th. King Richard II rode out to meet the ravening mob, and Wat Tyler mockingly rode close in a taunting manor to the king and his horse. Suddenly, a temper-filled squire threw him down, and ran him through with his sword, in an unexpected, merciless flurry. This is what http://www.middle-ages.org.uk said:
He knocked Wat Tyler off his horse with a broadsword and as Wat Tyler lay on the ground one of the king’s squires stabbed him in the stomach, killing him. The English Peasants’ War was over. Wat Tyler’s head was cut from his corpse and displayed on London Bridge. John Ball was hanged, drawn and quartered in the presence of Richard II and his quarters were displayed in four other towns as a warning to other rebel. Jack Straw was executed and his head displayed on London Bridge. The promises made to the rebels by Richard II were quickly withdrawn although the poll tax was abolished.
(Left) The Savoy Hotel today, London, on the site of the Savoy Palace raised by the peasants in 1381. A great shot from ‘E-Architect’ website. (Right) Norsey Wood, Billericay, where the remaining retreating peasants from London were slaughtered. From ‘geograph.org.uk’
Following the loss of all their leaders, the peasants lost their courage and became a broken crew. The fleeing peasants then went to Essex, Unsure of what action to take next. It was at Billericay, where the Battle of Billericay took place in Norsey Wood. The royals followed in pursuit, without a care to listen to the majority. They came and brutally murdered around 500 peasants encamped at the wood that day.
Despite being fueled by bloodshed, the revolts of 1381 did have a positive outcome:
1.On the surface, the peasants were crushed, their demands denied, and many executed. However, the land owners had been scared, and in the longer term several things were achieved.
2. Parliament gave up trying to control the wages the landowners paid their peasants.
3. The hated poll tax was never raised again.
4. The Lords treated the peasants with much more respect. They made more of them free men ie. they were not owned as part of the land. This benefited in the end, as free men always work much harder.
5. This marked the breakdown of the feudal system, which had worked well during the early Middle Ages, but was now becoming outdated as attitudes were beginning to change.
I hope you enjoyed this long yet flavourful insight into the events of 1381, and have learnt what happened – especially in Essex. If Medieval local history floats your boat, explore this site for more articles.