South Benfleet

In the medieval manorial rolls there are references to ancient roads and lanes that carry the same names today. A field known as Joiners Hill on the south corner of St Nicholas Lane at the entrance from High Road is shown on the 1839 Laindon Tithe Map, and it is thought that the route via Laindon High Road and St Nicholas Way was used by many pilgrims on their way to Canterbury; it was a busy trade route from the 1500s. In addition to the difficulty of travelling over bad roads in the 18th and 19th centuries, murderers and thieves abounded, and farmers coming home from market would travel together for protection. In 1815 two Laindon men were robbed on their way home from Rumford (now Romford) market.
An extract from from"Basildon - A History & Celebration".

In the medieval manorial rolls there are references to ancient roads and lanes that carry the same names today. A field known as Joiners Hill on the south corner of St Nicholas Lane at the entrance from High Road is shown on the 1839 Laindon Tithe Map, and it is thought that the route via Laindon High Road and St Nicholas Way was used by many pilgrims on their way to Canterbury; it was a busy trade route from the 1500s. In addition to the difficulty of travelling over bad roads in the 18th and 19th centuries, murderers and thieves abounded, and farmers coming home from market would travel together for protection. In 1815 two Laindon men were robbed on their way home from Rumford (now Romford) market.
An extract from from"Basildon - A History & Celebration".

Laindon and Langdon Hills had always been separate villages with long histories, and even appeared as separate entries in the 1086 Domesday Book. Laindon took its name from the River Lyge, a lost tributary of the River Crouch, which rose from the hill on which St Nicholas’s Church stands and is responsible for the extreme dampness of the graves dug in the churchyard. The Lynge, a road in Laindon, was named after it, but no longer exists. In 1777 Chapman and Andre refer to Langdon clay, a clear indication of the nature of the soil here. The first part of the name Langdon Hills means ‘long hill’, which it certainly is, and the highest point in Essex.
An extract from from"Basildon - A History & Celebration".

Built on the site of the Old Rectory, the Basildon tractor plant was finally completed on 20 February 1964. It covered 60 acres of the 100-acre site, and had 1,360,000 square feet of buildings. Its most recognisable feature was its distinctive 125ft-high water tower holding 200,000 gallons (right); nicknamed ‘the onion’, it is still regarded as a local landmark.
An extract from from"Basildon - A History & Celebration".

Picturesquely perched on top of its steep knoll and surrounded by a sea of 20th- century housing, the church of St Nicholas, Laindon, possibly dates from the 12th century. It incorporates the stout original timbers of its 14th-century belfry with broach spire, weather-boarded outside in true Essex style. The timber is about 700 years old, and the bell turret rests on an arched frame of timber. It is rumoured that the timbers supporting the belfry came from ships of the Armada, but they are more likely to have grown in the nearby woods. The chancel and south aisle were added later. From Saxo-Norman times Basildon was closely associated with Laindon, and Laindon parish was always described as Laindon-cum-Basildon. St Nicholas’s and Holy Cross, Basildon have similar curious primitive 15th-century carvings on the spandrels of their porches.
An extract from from"Basildon - A History & Celebration".