In 1949 the modern-day town was formed from the amalgamation of four small villages - Pitsea, Laindon, Basildon, and Vange. The new town took the name of Basildon as it was the most central of the four. It was created following the passing of the New Towns Act 1964 which was put in place to establish new settlements for those who had been bombed out of their homes during the second world war. The designated New Towns were removed from local authority control and placed under the authority of a development corporation. Basildon was part of the first wave of 10 New Towns, with 8 of these being located just beyond London's green belt. As of the 2021 census the population was 115,955 with many having roots back to London's east end.
Related Links:
The Borough of Basildon parkrun write-ups:
A couple of interesting records that Basildon has held over the years are; The town's main shopping centre, 'Eastgate Shopping Centre' which has 750,000 sq. ft of retail space, was the largest covered shopping centre in Europe when it was completed in 1985. The second is that in 2017 Coasta Coffee constructed a roastery in the town and this is noted as being the largest coffee roastery in Europe (although Costa themselves note it is being 'one of the largest'). It can produce 45,000 tonnes of coffee per year. I also couldn't write this blog without giving Basildon's famous Hollywood-style sign a mention - It was installed at the side of the A127 in 2010 at a cost of £90,000 and has faced ridicule over the years. However, it is kind of quirky and I like it.
Basildon's most famous exports are from the entertainment world. Firstly the synth-pop, electronic rock, dark wave, band Depeche Mode. Secondly Alison Moyet. who was half of the synth-pop duo Yazoo, incidentally with Depeche Mode's former drummer Vince Clarke who then went on to form Erasure. A mention should also go to Perry Bamonte from the Cure and Keith Chapman, creator of the Bob the Builder and PAW Patrol children's shows, who also both went to school in the town. The incredible thing is that Alison, Perry, and DM's Martin and Andy were all in the same class together!
Much of the land used to develop the town was formerly farmland and one farm in particular is of interest to this write-up. Felmores Farm in the former village of Pitsea was once around 60 acres in size, and it survived the initial development. However, in the 1970s the expansion of the town finally came knocking on the farm's door. Most of the former farmland was developed into homes and was named Felmores Estate. When developing the area, part of the land was landscaped into a park which is called Northlands Park. In more recent times the local council has re-branded the area as the Northlands Park Neighbourhood, but most locals still refer to it as Felmores.
The park itself was created in the 1970s and features two lakes in its north-west corner which were designed to catch floodwater, preventing the newly created neighbourhoods from flooding. The picturesque lakes provide home to a range of wildlife including water birds and insects such as dragonflies, and are also used for fishing. The northern part of the park also contains other facilities such as a playground, skate park, sports court, and a cafe. The southern half of the park is made up of gently undulating naturally landscaped areas packed full of trees, grassy fields and meandering pathways. In April 2014 Northlands Park became home to a free, weekly, timed 5 kilometre event called Basildon parkrun. The event is open to all abilities including those who wish to walk the course.
I first visited the event in May 2014 where I took part in event number 7, the write-up from that event can be found here: Basildon parkrun 2014. I returned in June 2024 and this is where this new, and hopefully improved, write-up dates from. On both occasions I drove to the venue and parked in the free-of-charge onsite car park which is at the north of the park and accessed from the roundabout on the road called Felmores. Should an alternative be required you could probably find a bit of on-street parking in the residential streets to the north-east of the park. Incidentally there is a Premier Inn just opposite the car park, which makes this a great option for anybody looking for a parkrun within walking distance of a purple palace.
If travelling to the venue by public transport, there are two train stations to choose from, both served by c2c trains on the London Fenchurch Street to Shoeburyness line. Firstly, the closest station is Pitsea where the connecting journey on foot is around 2.5 kilometres. It may be possible to pick up the B3 Basildon Shuttlebus from Pitsea High Street which then stops near the Northlands Park car park. The other option is alighting at Basildon station, but it is further away with the connecting walk being 3.8 kilometres. The connecting bus services seem to be number 25 or the B3 Basildon Shuttlebus. There may also be other buses that stop near the park such as the 1A, 49, 50 and the X10 Airlink service which connects Basildon to Stanstead Airport. When I first visited there were no proper bicycle racks in the park, but there is now a small bank of racks set within a shelter in-between the car park and the playground.
The meeting point for the parkrun is just outside the Two Lakes Cafe building which is next to the playground and faces towards the lakes. The park's toilets are located at the rear of the cafe building and when I visited they were open well in advance of the parkrun start time. There are two briefings that take place before the event starts, a detailed more intimate one for first-timers and then a large briefing for everybody - both of these take place outside the cafe and once complete the participants move across to the start line which is on the grass next to the skate park.
When I first visited in 2014 the parkrun used an almost-three-lap anti-clockwise course, but this has now been changed to a clockwise course, and it still uses an almost-three-lap configuration. While most of the route is fairly flat, there are some sections in the southern half that feature some ups and downs. Overall I wouldn't describe the course as being hilly, just gently undulating and my GPS data recorded a total elevation change of 26 metres. Underfoot is mixed terrain, so expect to find a nice varied selection of grass, tarmac, stones and dirt. In the winter, trail shoes may be helpful as it can become muddy in the southern half of the park, but in the summer road shoes are perfectly fine.
The opening section on grass is only used at the start and after about 100 metres it joins the main loop at Ian and Shane's Corner, the first of three named corners on the course. The path gently meanders around as it heads to the south. The next significant turn is at the south-east corner of the course where there is a sharp right-hand turn onto a stony path at Anne's Corner. The course begins to rise at this point and it follows the natural path through the southern section of the park. There's another short section on grass where the course then merges onto another path that dips downhill. The surface underfoot is quite uneven here, and when I visited some sections had been highlighted with small cones.
Passing through a section of woodland via a sweeping dip in the terrain, the course then emerges at Derek's Corner, and this marks the beginning of the north-west corner of the park where the route circumnavigates the two lakes. This section has a tarmac path underfoot and is flat. As the course reaches the north-east side of the lakes, the playground and the cafe building come back into view and the course passes both before a final left hand turn then leads back along to Ian and Shane's Corner and this completes the full lap. It is repeated in full one more time, and then when reaching the cafe at the end of the third lap, the finish funnel can be entered.
Barcode scanning takes place just after exiting the finish funnel and the parkrunners and volunteers have their post-event refreshments at the Two Lakes Cafe. There's a bit of outdoor seating which gives a lovely scenic viewpoint across the lakes. If you have children with you, it's also a very convenient spot for letting them play in the playground. I had recorded the course using my Garmin and the GPS data can be viewed on my Strava account. You can also view a Relive course fly-by video of the course on my YouTube channel. For anybody interested in the original 2014 anti-clockwise course, my original GPS data can also be viewed on Strava.
The results were published a little later that morning and 228 people had participated at event 469. This was a little higher than the average which tends to be in the 160-180 range. The attendance figure seems to be in the low 100's during the winter and can even drop into double figures when conditions are particularly harsh.
It's a really lovely park and definitely worth a visit. I really enjoyed chatting to some of the locals and to the volunteers, who I'd like to thank for making us feel welcome and for putting on the event on the day we visited.
Related Links:
- Basildon parkrun GPS data (June 2024)
- Basildon parkrun Relive course fly-by video (June 2024)
- Basildon parkrun original course data (May 2014)
- The Essex parkrun venues (blog7t page)
The Borough of Basildon parkrun write-ups:
