Grays (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Graies

In the civil parish of Grays.
In the historic county of Essex.
Modern Authority of Thurrock.
1974 county of Essex.
Medieval County of Essex.

OS Map Grid Reference: TQ613774
Latitude 51.47256° Longitude 0.32214°

Grays has been described as a certain Artillery Fort.

There are no visible remains.

Description

The Thamesis Descriptio Anno 1588 is a map showing the defence along the River Thames from London to Tilbury in case of attack from the Spanish Armada. The plate was produced in the 18th Century from an original survey made by Robert Adams at the end of the 16th Century. The map features title in cartouche with royal arms above the plan, compass rose at top right and scale bar in cartouche below the plan. It shows the fortifications and points of observation along the river, the pontoon between Gravesend and Tilbury, the main defence against the advancing Armada, and the military encampment at Tilbury chosen by the Earl of Leicester, commander in chief of the land forces. (British Library Online Gallery)

Sources of information, references and further reading

Further information may be available from the holder of the county Historic Environment Record.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- British Library online gallery
Books
- Kent, Peter, 1988, Fortifications of East Anglia (Lavenham: Ternence Dalton)
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- Thamesis Descriptio Anno 1588 online copy

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The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of Historic England, County Historic Environment Records and other individuals and organisations. It may also contain information licensed under the Open Government Licence. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes.
The author and compiler of Gatehouse does not receive any income from the site and funds it himself. The information within this site is provided freely for educational purposes only.

The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

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