South Ockendon
South Ockendon is a small town and also Church of England parish in the Thurrock borough as well as unitary district in Essex in the East of England, United Kingdom. It lies on the border with Greater London, just outside the M25 motorway. The area to the north is North Ockendon. South Ockendon village became a place for premade houses (prefabs) fitting bombed-out homeowners of East London/West Essex in the very late 40s. Much of the original post-war building was undertaken by former German prisoners of war. Most of these were destroyed in the late-1960s when a big Greater London Council estate, Lecaplan "concrete" construction residences-- the Flowers' Estate-- was developed to change them, once again with pre-fabricated houses, albeit of a remarkable style. The Lecaplan Kind B form of pre-cast concrete (large panel concrete) balcony is constructed in rows of eight residential or commercial properties to a layout by J C Tilley as well as manufactured by W. & C. French. In the 1970s the Ford Motor Company factory at Aveley housed Ford's Advanced Vehicle Operations which constructed cars such as the RS1600. The plant was unwinded slowly from the late 90's but shut totally in 2004, when the last 150 jobs were lost. Most of the 150 workers accepted transfers to other Ford or secondary websites around Essex. The 'Aveley' plant was positioned along and also west of the train line, beside Ockendon station in the Belhus Ward that part of Ockendon has currently been turned into new housing estates, with road names after popular Ford cars in keeping with the sites background.
