Mucking

Mucking is a hamlet and former Church of England parish adjoining the Thames estuary in southern Essex, England. It is located approximately 2 miles south of the town of Stanford-le-Hope in what is now Thurrock unitary authority.

Early history

Mucking was "a particularly extensive Anglo-Saxon settlement, of at least 100+ individuals, commanding an important strategic position in the Lower Thames region; it may have functioned as a meeting place and mart for surrounding areas on both sides of the Thames". Its name is of Saxon origin and indicates human settlement here for well over a millennium. The meaning is usually given as 'the family (or followers) of Mucca' (Mucca most likely being a local chieftain). However, Margaret Gelling has suggested alternative interpretations - 'Mucca's place' or 'Mucca's stream'. Mucking's geographical location on flat marshland at the very mouth of the River Thames indicates that settlement in the area by Germanic invaders from the Continent probably occurred at a relatively early date; indeed, an outline of a now abandoned nearby Saxon village, West Mucking, was discovered from aerial photographs in the 20th century. Mucking was host to a small iron smelting industry because of its workable deposits of iron ore. Spongy iron blooms were produced and had their impurities worked out by a process known as 'Mucking'. It is not known if this process is connected to the village name or a coincidence.