'Grays Thurrock consists principally of one irregular street situated on a small creek navigable for vessels of small burden.' So says a travelers' guide to Essex published in 1818.

Not a recognisable description of Grays nearly 200 years later, but as readers will have seen in recent editions of the Gazette, that 'small creek' is about to be rediscovered.

Thurrock Council, in co-operation with local industry and other bodies will soon take another step towards bringing the river back to the community by opening the ancient Grays Wharf to the public.

But how ancient is Grays Wharf? The earliest reference so far discovered dates to 1228/9. At that time the Priory of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem at Clerkenwell owned the church at Grays and needed to transport the corn and other produce collected tithes. The Lord of the Manor, Richard de Gray successfully contested the Priory's right to unlimited free use of the wharf at 'Turroc'.

The lords of the manor undoubtedly owned Grays Wharf and charged dues for its use. In 1756 these charges included 1d for a pig, 1/- for 1000 bricks, and £2 2s 0d for a regiment of soldiers and their baggage. the owner of the wharf also had to repair it. William Palmer (the founder of Palmer's School and College) when he was lord of the manor, employed two builders from Gravesend to rebuild the wharf for the sum of £65.

The lords of the manor also had the rights to the ferries from Grays and owned Pier Wharf, immediately to the east, from which the ferries operated carrying people to London and Gravesend. These are recorded from as early as 1302. An idea of the extent of river travel was given when in February 1698 during a gale, 55 people were drowned when a ferry sank off West Thurrock. These early ferries were powered by sail and oars. In 1815 the first paddle steamer arrived on the Thames and by 1830, 57  steamers were running between London, Gravesend and the coastal towns of Essex and Kent. Because of their draught they could not moor at Grays and passengers were taken out to them in mid-stream by small boats. In 1841 a wooden pier, 400 foot long, was built to extend Pier Wharf and steamers called there five times a day. In 1850 the steamers were carrying 25,000 people a year between Grays and London! Then the railway was built - the steamer trade collapsed, the few remaining steamers being used for pleasure trips to seaside towns, a tradition still maintained by the Waverley today.

During the 19th century other wharves were built along the Grays river front by local industries: Kilvert's Wharf, Seabrooke's Wharf and so on. But there remained one place which gave the public the right of access to the river. Between Grays Town Wharf and Pier Wharf is a narrow footpath, now overgrown which led down to the public causeway, a stone paved path across the foreshore to the low water level. Does it pre-date the Norman lords of the manor? Could it date from Saxon times?

During the 19th century James Theobald, the then lord of the manor, sold off all his interests in Grays; Pier Wharf was bought by a Mr. Landfield and then by Cole & Lequire, the corn and seed merchants, and Grays Town Wharf was bought by E.J.& W Goldsmith. So we come to the heyday of the port of Grays. E.J.& W Goldsmith was a firm of barge founded in 1848 and they built the Emma, their first barge to be built at Grays, soon after. They already owned the wharf adjoining Grays Town Wharf and by the early years of the 20th century Grays was the home port for 140 vessels, the largest fleet of barges ever recorded.

How many can remember looking down the old High Street from outside the church and see a forest of masts, most of which fluttered the Goldsmith's blue, white and red burgee? Or the shops selling thick navy blue jerseys and oilskins, or all those public houses, or even the bargees rolling lighted tar barrels down the Old High Street on Guy Fawkes night!