Black Heath is shown on the 1777 Chapman & Andre Historic Map, located to the south of Colchester. The heath is shown on this map to be an irregular square shape, with thin, linear extensions to the north and south along Mersea Road. The heath has an area of c.38ha. The map shows a small number of buildings on the edge of the heath.<1>

Black Heath is then shown on the County Series at 1:2500 Scale Epoch 1 Historic Map (1874-1887), which shows the heath to be a lot smaller and a different shape compared to what it used to be. More recently, the heath seems to disappear completely, as the urbanisation from Berechurch takes over the land. <2>