Daws Heath

Daws Heath contains a large area of woodland in eastern Thundersley, part of Castle Point near Southend-on-Sea in Essex, England.

Daws Heath provides a semi-rural escape for local towns and villages and their residents as they walk, cycle or drive out of Castle Point, as Daws Heath Road has fields and woodland on both sides of the road with a small scattering of houses.

Daws Heath is surrounded by Greenbelt and Woodland which are a buffer to stop the local villages merging by development.

West Woods, nearly 80 acres (320,000 m2) of mixed woodland, was purchased from the Church of England in 2009, securing continued public access to these woods; public support in the Daws Heath area is very strong especially on green belt and woodland preservation.

Daws Heath extends from the north side of Hadleigh towards the A127 London-Southend arterial road, and from where it adjoins Thundersley proper at the west end of Daws Heath Road eastwards to Belfairs Park, Leigh-on-Sea in Southend borough.

In fact the two eldest sons from each family could be seen horse riding along Fairmead, Morfcroft and Daws Heath Road.

Burrows continued......"The settlement of this...district is attributed to some discharged soldiers who served in the Peninsular War.

Upon the heath land they built themselves small huts, and by some means or another managed to obtain a precarious livelihood.

Here possibly smuggled goods were concealed until a favourable opportunity enabled the owners to dispatch them to London or through the bye roads into the centre of England."

Pound Wood (OS Grid Reference TQ820887) lies to the north of Bramble Road and spans the parishes of Thundersley and Hadleigh.

Other species include Holly, Birch, Wild Service, Woodrushes, Wood spurge and Bluebells.

There are some Pines, Poplar and Beeches, these are uncommon species in south-east Essex, and indicate that the wood originated as a plantation.