The name Grays derives from the descendant of a norman knight, Henry de Grai, who was granted the manor of Grays Thurrock by Richard I in 1195. There is a wood in Grays ominously called Hangmans Wood which features an intriguing phenomenon, a large number of shafts in the ground named deneholes. 72 of them have been counted, and there are a variety of theories about their origin, but the most popular is that they were flint mines, the presence of a large number of flints being a bit of a giveaway. Another theory is that the name “denehole” comes from “Dane hole”, i.e. a place where people hid during viking raids in the area, though there is little proof of this.
Map of the area.
Grays Beach. Photo by John Winfield, via Wikimedia Commons |
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