It is bordered by the A13 road to the north and the River Thames to the south and is within the easternmost part of the M25 motorway but just outside the Greater London boundary.

When King George III heard of this, he insisted they be replaced with blunt conductors and the president of the Royal Society was forced to resign.

[3][4] Magazine number 5, the only one remaining of the original five, is now the Purfleet Garrison Heritage and Military Centre and a Scheduled Ancient Monument.

It is run by volunteers and contains a wide range of local and military memorabilia (including items from RAF Hornchurch) and is open to the public on Thursdays, Sundays and bank holidays.

[5] Other surviving 18th-century buildings include the proofing house (now used for community activities) and the gatehouse clock tower (described by English Heritage as forming "an integral part of the finest ensemble in any of the Ordnance Yards, consistent with the high standards practised by the Ordnance Board in its designs for fortifications and barracks from the C17").

The harbour is often full of shipping business and animation: and joining it is a large government powder magazine, consisting of five detached bomb-proof and well-protected store-houses, barracks for a company of artillery, a store keeper's mansion, and a good quay.

[9] From 1921 to 1936, Purfleet formed an urban district of Essex, including the parishes of Aveley, West Thurrock and South Ockendon.

[15] Purfleet has been the site of a Unilever (formerly Van den Berghs & Jurgens) factory producing Stork, Flora, Bertolli, and ICBINB!

[citation needed] It is the location of an Esso lubricants plant, a roll-on/roll-off ferry (RORO) terminal, and the head office of Carpetright, the UK's largest flooring company.

Operated by C.RO Ports, the 92-acre (37 ha) combined freight terminal handles 250,000 lorry trailers and ISO containers and tanks per year, and via a dedicated Pre-Delivery Inspection (PDI) facility, the import/export of 400,000 vehicles.

There are four railway sidings on site, accessed via the London, Tilbury and Southend line to allow direct unloading/loading from ferry or lorry to rail.