In this series I'm taking the train one stop beyond the Greater London boundary, getting off and seeing what's there. Today that means Purfleet, one stop beyond Rainham on c2c trains to Grays. Officially the town is Purfleet-on-Thames, and has been since 2020 when Thurrock councillors got unanimously overexcited, hoping they'd become a "destination of choice". This will never happen, as any visit to the estuarineoutpost will confirm, but there are occasional bright spots amongst the patchwork of grey.
Purfleet hugs the Thames at the mouth of the river Mardyke, its historic core atop a chalky hump that minimised the risk of flooding. In the 18th century the navy decided it was an ideal place to store their gunpowder, not least because no other settlements were within exploding distance across the marshes. The Royal Gunpowder Magazine was established here, of which Magazine number 5 survives beside the promenade, since transformed into the Purfleet Garrison Heritage and Military Centre. It only opens Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays so I still haven't been inside, but I got some idea from the row of a dozen silhouetted soldiers looiking down from the promenade, also the Gurkha war memorial alongside which manages to look both enormously respectful and like it was supplied by a corner shop that sells trophies.
The rest of the barracks is long gone, bar a rather splendid gatehouse that now graces the start of a cul-de-sac of bungalows. The site is now a postwar housing estate with a Costcutter at its heart, while the quarry opposite is now a separate whorl of roads with stacked flats and a single point of access. As London commuter boltholes go, it's on the cheaper side. Behind all this is Tank Hill Road, a surprising climb with an enormous fence along one side screening a sheer drop over chalk cliffs and a view of gabled roofs, treetops and Kent. Tank Lane continues high above the railway, the sole connection to an entirely separate chunk of Purfleet cut off behind the bypass. Here lurks the CircusTavern, long-time venue of the PDC World Darts Championship (1994-2007), a building with all the outdated allure of an Essex car showroom.
For natural delights find the footbridge across the mouth of the Mardyke, now bedecked with a concrete hoop bearing a million year timeline of the local area inscribed on the inside. I'm not sure I would have included "1950 - Purfleet identified as a possible Cold War A-Bomb target by the Ministry of Food" amongst the chronological highlights. The bridge leads to Rainham Marshes and a long sea wall where local residents exercise their thuggy dogs. The majority of the marshes is owned by the RSPB whose timber visitor centre stands sentinel at the top of a further ramp. It won architectural prizes in 2006 but looks somewhat shabby today, the interior in particular, because insufficient admissions didn't pay for upkeep. Since 2023 it's been free to get in, if not to park, and a single member of staff oversees the empty viewing platform beside the abandoned cafe.
I went for the full 2½ mile circuit through woodland, across boardwalks and around reedy scrape. Only occasionally does the path nudge up against the water, hence the three hides are the best place to scrutinise various kinds of waterfowl, although I'm pretty sure I spotted a little egret strutting its stuff from just behind the electric fence. At more migratory times of year, the marshes are essentially an airport. At one point you get up close to a fizzy pylon, elsewhere (at Shooting Butts) a former rifle range and nearer the Thames a one-way turnstile used for after hours egress. It is a glorious loop, at its furthest point just 200m from the boundary of Greater London, and an ideal visit for both bird-spotters and train-spotters as High Speed 1 swooshes by on a viaduct along one edge.
Around the world Purfleet may be most famous as the unlikely dwelling place of Count Dracula, who bought a house here midway through chapter 2.
"At Purfleet, on a byroad, I came across just such a place as seemed to be required, and where was displayed a dilapidated notice that the place was for sale. It was surrounded by a high wall, of ancient structure, built of heavy stones, and has not been repaired for a large number of years. The closed gates are of heavy old oak and iron, all eaten with rust. The estate is called Carfax, no doubt a corruption of the old Quatre Face, as the house is four sided, agreeing with the cardinal points of the compass."
Many details are given, alas sufficient to confirm that the house never existed in real life. However it's thought Bram Stoker must have visited, Purfleet being a favoured day-trip for train-going Victorian Londoners who enjoyed climbing Beacon Hill, outdoor bathing and whitebait suppers. None of this is currently available. A green plaque on the High Street installed by Thurrock Heritage claims Carfax was based on Purfleet House, long demolished and replaced by St Stephen's Church, but that's more a big hall and not worth a look either. Across the road The Royal Hotel looks in an even more sorry state, surrounded by scaffolding and with its upper cladding missing, so may no longer be the ideal spot for those completing the final section of the London Loop to celebrate with a beer and a bite.
Purfleet station is a lowly level-crossinged affair along London Road, with a cafe kiosk called Munchspot and a hopper for dispensing Metros to the long-retired. It's planned to be the nexus of a major housing development taking advantage of its capital connections, but unfortunately the developer is bankrupt Thurrock council and the project's stalled embarrassingly at 30 houses rather than 3000. Old graffiti across decaying hoardings tells its own sorry story. The only modern building close by is a red and blocky Harris Academy, whose orange-trimmed students are only permitted three at a time inside the humble general store on Station Terrace. One day more of the near-riverfront may be transformed but for now think brownfield wastes, Esso oil depot and hardstanding to park thousands of imported cars.
The most surprising arrival in modern Purfleet is the Royal Opera House. In 2015 they opened a campus on a ridge facing the river at High House Production Park, the centrepiece being a huge barrel-roofed Production Workshop where sets and scenery are constructed by local craftspeople and creatives. Alongside are a less radical building used to store over 20000 costumes from the ROH repertory and also The Backstage Centre, a studio where film and TV crews can shoot or rehearse. The site is based round a cluster of listed barns and cottages, appropriately adapted, complete with charming walled gardens where you could sit with a coffee had the courtyard cafe not folded. The contrast to the surrounding landscape is extreme - a few interwar cul-de-sacs, a long Edwardian terrace, a vast Tesco Distribution Centre and endless rumbling trucks.
Less than half a mile away is the point where the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge launches across the estuary, its companion tunnel starts to burrow underneath and High Speed 1 threads geometrically between the two. This is prime logistics territory, clogged with warehouses, terminals and other pedestrian-hostile locations, but also no longer technically Purfleet, more West Thurrock. It's also unarguably closer to Chafford Hundred station which is Two Stops Beyond, so I can end my description here and perhaps just recommend the bird reserve instead.
