South Ockendon is a town, former civil parish and Church of England parish within the Thurrock borough in Essex in the East of England, United Kingdom. It is located on the border with Greater London, just outside the M25 motorway. The area to the north is North Ockendon. In 2019 it had an estimated population of 22,303 and in the 2021 United Kingdom census it had a population of 22,442

South Ockendon is an ancient parish. It was a village before the Norman Conquest, had a priest in 1085. is listed in the Domesday Book as “Wocheduna”, conjecturally named after a Saxon chief, Wocca, whose tribe allegedly lived on a hill. The suffix “don” in Old English means a low hill in open country. Until the late 1940s, the village centred on The Village Green, with its Norman church of St. Nicholas of Myra and adjoining “The Royal Oak” a 14th-century tavern with a 17th-century northern extension. North, South and West Roads all converge on The Green. The railway through Ockendon station was built in 1892 as a through line from Tilbury Dock to the Midlands and further via Upminster and Romford and now is a major commuter route between Southend and Fenchurch Street via Barking.