On the southwesterly border of Billericay, sits the urban settlement of Great Burstead. Futher southwest, sits Crays Hill, a small village connected to the South Hanningfield parish. Great Burstead, in particular, has a long and storied history with roots dating back to over 1,000 years ago! In fact, it is believed that the sprawl of Billericay developed from the original site of Great Burstead. Nowadays both Great Burstead and Crays Hill are known for their variety of housing styles, from grand-scale manor homes with significant acerage, equestrian facilities, farmland, to modest suburban housing.

Great Burstead’s history is undoubtably tied to the history of the church, St Mary Magdalene. St Mary Magdalene - which still stands today - sits on the site of one of the first locations of Christian worship in Essex. The church site commemorates the original wooden 7th century building erected in part due to Saint Cedd (c. 620-664), an Anglo-Saxon monk who once prayed at the site. Most of the building now is from the Medieval period, particularly the 12th century, and now is a Grade I listed building! Great Burstead was recorded in the 1086 Domesday Book survey, and even in the Medieval period was a relatively popular locale, with over 118 recorded households in the area!

Even though Cray’s Hill is much smaller than Great Burstead, it too was also recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086. However, Cray’s Hill is much more well known for its more recent history. Dale Farm, situated in Oak Lane in the Cray’s Hill area, up until 2011 was one of the largest Irish Traveller settlements in the whole of the UK, and at its peak housed over 1,000 people. Throughout the 2010s, Basildon Council entered into a £4.5 million legal battle attempting to forcibly evict the residents of Dale Farm. The use of police force and the high cost of the legal battle garnered this event international press coverage during the mass eviction in 2011. It is still a Traveller site today, with local council permission for 34 pitches.

Great Burstead sits firmly on a conservation area, that protects the area directly surrounding St Mary Magdalene’s Church, owing to its Grade I listed status. As such, much of this area is under strict planning permission rules. Similarly, Cray’s Hill, is situated on the Green Belt strip, and therefore new developments must adhere to this in order to be approved. The Basildon council is still preparing their new Local Plan policy map - which allocates specific sites for the development of dwellings - so therefore it is hard to say whether these areas will receive development. That being said, the Great Burstead and Cray’s Hill locales are awash with houses on the market now - ranging from suburban builds at £400,000 to large-scale detached properties at over £1 million!