Christopher John Tripp

Thurrock was home to Chris Tripp for much of his early life. He attended St Chad’s Secondary Modern School in Tilbury and then Palmer’s Sixth Form College. After years spent in retail he became an archaeologist, graduating from the Institute of Archaeology (UCL) in 1986. He took up his first archaeological post in 1990 at the Passmore Edwards Museum, Plaistow, after which he worked for the Museum of London Archaeology Service and the Essex County Field Unit between 1995 and 2002. During this time he gained his masters degree in public archaeology at UCL. For the next four years Chris worked on various excavations and community archaeology projects including ‘The Dig’ for the Museum of London, and ‘The Big Dig’ for Time Team/Channel 4 among many others. Moving to Dorset in 2006, he continued in archaeology and, inter alia established the ‘Dorset Diggers Community Archaeology Group’ to bring people closer to their local archaeological heritage. It is in this spirit that he began research for this book in 1997, and his labours have been sustained by his passion for the past of his home borough of Thurrock and of the majestic Thames.