Old Photographs of Langdon Hills

These are photographs of properties South of the Railway

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  • I also had family living in Dry Street and the Langdon Hills area in the 1700s, including Honour Tinworth and her siblings. I’m keen to learn anything about the Tinworth Family. Then the Hammond family. Honour married Thomas Hammond on 23 November 1809 at St Mary and All Saints church in Langdon Hills. I have my family tree on Ancestry with information about the Tinworths.

    By Sally Hammond (15/10/2022)
  • My Tinworth ancestors had a shoemaking business in Langdon hills in the 1800’s. The census had them living in Dry Street and I wonder if that is where the business was. I would love to see a photo for my family history.
    Dawn – Western Australia.

    By Dawn Leitch (20/04/2020)
  • I have a cutting from the local magazine from Langdon Hills in the 1930s about my grandfather’s death. He had two shops on Nightingale Parade. One was a clothing shop and the other a sweet shop. They were next to Schofield and Martins. His name was Ervin Collison. They had moved out from the East End around 1915.

    By Jan Borges (21/02/2019)
  • I heard a talk last night at my WI.  The speaker said he had heard of the Levy Family who had a smelting work or some such along the railway line at Laindon circa 1900. My father Leslie Levy was born in Laindon and left there with his mother Leah Levy around 1930 when the family business was sold on and they moved to Leyton in the East End of London. She had by then three grown up step children from the first marriage of Helen Smith to Richard Levy and her own son Leslie. Hetty, Rose and Philip had never been to work as the family were prosperous back in the day. My grandmother Leah, now widowed, and with the family money all gone, started a drapery business and the three step children had to go to work. There are three roads in Laindon named after my great uncles, Samuel, David and Emanuel.  The extended family from the Eastend of London used to come to Laindon and stay at a house named Fleetwood for their holidays.

    My great grandfather Isaac Levy laid the memorial stone on a little church in Laindon High Road and this has always puzzled me because the family were Jewish

    Does anyone remember maybe their grandparents knowing the Levy family?

    By Lynne Levy Bamber (13/09/2017)
  • Hello Lynne.   I find this very interesting as a few years ago I put together an article about your Great Grandfather Isaac Levy called ‘Isaac Levy 1851-1922’.  It can be found in the index under the category ‘Noteworthy People’  I am a little confused as the records show that his son Isaac Jnr’s first marriage was to Helen Simmons and they had the three children Rose, Philip and Hetty, whereas you have referred to their parents as Helen and Richard.   Isaac Jnr’s second marriage was to Leah De Young and their son was your father Leslie.  Was Richard perhaps your grandfather’s middle name?

    By Nina Humphrey(née Burton) (13/09/2017)
  • Thank you Nina for your response and post about Glenwood Lodge. I apologise for this late thanks and am absolutely delighted by it. Regards Bob

    By Bob Stewart (14/06/2017)
  • I agree with much of Richard’s comment. We were almost neighbours as we lived at 2 King Edward Terrace (still there) although not at the same time. I also walked to the station every morning to catch the train into the city. I left in 1955. I have been back twice in the last two years and am befuddled by the changes around the station. While Langdon Hills looks quite cheerful, upmarket, and improved, once one crosses the railway bridge heading north the entire High Road strikes me as being rather tasteless and depressing. Did you feel the same Richard?

    By Alan Davies (21/01/2017)
  • Alan Davies, yes I agree with what you are saying about the area north of the railway. The things I miss most are the old shops I was once familiar with. There are two shops at Durham Road still standing, I was trying to rack my brains as to where Archer Clarke had his bicycle and toy shop but it escapes me when I drive there because of the annoying traffic signals which guard the station area. Further down there is a huge open zone with new housing being built far to its left while on the right hand side it looks as if a mad architect had been let loose to cause as much visual intrusion on the area as possible.

    Moving on, the Laindon Shopping Centre should be bulldozed as soon as possible and it is not until we reach the area beyond St Nicholas Lane when things become recognisable again, the sweep of pretty houses on the right with Sabrina and Marilyn proudly still showing their bay windows followed by the creepy house Fair Natal and then Nicholl Road with your own King Edward Terrace on the left hand side.  Going north further the old LHR school has now become a reasonable Bellway housing development and there are still one or two houses on the High Road beyond that which are recognisable, including the one with the weird spider like tree in the front garden. All in all, a bit disappointing for old fellas like us who remember it being better back in the day.

    By Richard Haines (21/01/2017)
  • I had to meet one of my young team at Laindon Station last Monday at 8.00 am. The area around the station is so completely different from how I remember it and it was buzzing with commuters and their cars. Last time I recall going there in 1963 I was 16, now I am 69 so you would expect things to have changed over the years. I recall my Dad walking from Nichol Road up to the station and back every day when he worked in Manor Park in 1957, just after we moved to Laindon. Although much has changed, our house, which was brand new then, is still standing and it is remarkable how close it is to the site of LHR school. Such a short walk every day, and such happy times. In the afternoon on Monday we returned to Laindon for me to drop my colleague off for her return journey to Benfleet. She is only 20 so I wonder what changes she will notice in her lifetime, fascinating to imagine.

    By Richard Haines (20/01/2017)
  • Glenwood Lodge is shown in the above photo (thought to be the third from the left).  There were four almost identical houses.  ‘Midhurst’, ‘Avondale’, ‘Glenwood Lodge” and ‘Rosemary Lodge’.    

    These houses stood on the west side of High Road, Langdon Hills, just before Laindon Station which is located 250 yards to the north.

    The 1911 Census shows the following in residence at ‘Glenwood Lodge’ (8 rooms):- Harry James Sherriff age 36 (described as ‘Civil Engineer’s Assistant’ – Electric Tramways). Rose Sherriff age 37.  Harry Maynard Sherriff age 10.  Clarence King Sherriff age 7.  Clarice Sherriff age 7.  Ruth Sherriff age 5.  Anita Sherriff age 2.

    Ruth was born in Camberwell in 1905 and Anita was born in Billericay in 1908.  Therefore it would appear that the family had moved into ‘Glenwood Lodge’ sometime between those dates.

    The 1929 Electoral Register shows the residents of ‘Glenwood Lodge’ were:- Harry James Sherriff, Harry Maynard Sherriff, Clarence King Sherriff, Clarice Sherriff and Ruth Sherriff.

    Harry James Sherriff married his second wife, Lydia O Nash in Billericay 1935.  He died 04.09.1947.

    The 1949 Electoral Register shows the residents of ‘Glenwood Lodge’ were:-  Lydia O Sherriff, George and Cecilia Ansell plus Harold Skinner,

    The 1962 Electoral Register shows the residents of ‘Glenwood Lodge’ were:- Lydia O Sherriff plus Robert G and Ivy L Nash.

    When these houses were demolished, the road was straightened and a roundabout installed.  

    By Nina Humphrey(née Burton) (19/01/2017)
  • Nina what a fabulous piece of research on this interesting area of Laindon. Fascinating to see how houses can have such a history of people living in them through the years. Shame such beautiful houses had to be demolished.

    By Richard Haines (19/01/2017)
  • Thank you Richard.  I totally agree with you.  Those houses certainly were grand.  Sadly that area is very different now but at least we have some wonderful old photographs to look at.

    By Nina Humphrey(née Burton) (19/01/2017)
  • Does anyone have a photo of Glenwood Lodge that existed in High Road, Langdon Hills until it was demolished before 1974? It was owned by the Sherriffs whose family history I am researching. Bob Stewart N.Z.

    By Bob Stewart (18/01/2017)
  • Did anyone have relatives that knew my grandparents Walter and Adelaide Horth? They lived in a bungalow called Retlaw, in Suffolk Road, 1940s to 1960s.

    By Carol York (03/10/2016)
  • The above picture of Nightingale Parade I think is wrong. My father was born at No. 2 Nightingale Parade in 1911 above Koppit’s Tailors, it was down nearer to Mr Foys post office. The picture above is the off licence opposite the end of Samuel Road…Would anyone recall the name of the road that went up the side of the off licence as i had family living up there in the 1950’s.

    By Peter Martin (07/08/2016)
  • The road that ran alongside the Off Licence was Milton Avenue.  Koppit’s tailor shop wasn’t in Nightingale Parade, but in another parade of shops called Bolsover Terrace which was between Milton Avenue and Osborne Road. There were four shops in the terrace and Mr Koppit’s tailor shop was No. 4.     

    By Nina Humphrey(née Burton) (07/08/2016)
  • It may be a stab in the dark but being new to this site i am finding things out. On the 25th March 2014 Louise Martin stated her grandparents lived in Berry Lane I would love to know who they were because I thought we were the only Martin’s in Berry Lane mind you there is no time given when they were there, my Mum and Dad were there from 1950 until 1978 and my grandparents before that and in the plot lands.

    Peter J Martin 

    By Peter J Martin (02/08/2016)
  • My name is Peter Martin, I lived in Berry Lane. I had a paper round at Peperrels (I think every kid did) I remember so much, going to get mum’s shopping at Mr and Mrs Foys Post Office and I remember the ladies in Coles green grocers were always eating something and I like to think as I did it was the fresh cooked beetroot.

    Mr Lucas had such a wonderful shop for us kids to ponder over and put on our wish list, my sister and her husband Ron and Pam Clark lived up Osbourne Road (very unmade) next to Cottis the bakers. I used to get my haircut at Peters the other side of Osbourne Road, one time when I was in there a man was showing off his air rifle and it went off.  There were screams and shouts (I was scared and just wanted to go home) but the shot hit a boy on his temple in the next chair to me. I never went in there with ease after that.

    I knocked myself out on the very post box outside Foys when riding my bike fast away from a large dog chasing me. I recall Dr Bannister’s voice telling my mum ‘I was back’ as I lay in his surgery, took a long time to like dogs but mum and dad brought me one later who had one eye called ‘Kim’. Since then I have been a breeder of dogs and owned my own Pet Shop in Barking, I left Langdon Hills in 1978 a year after my father passed away and lived in Ilford and returned to live in Pitsea in 2008 with many shocks to the changes…..    

    By Peter Martin (25/07/2016)
  • I was just reading a post from Jan Burton, I knew a Mrs James, a lovely lady, we had a plotland down a mud track opposite where she lived I used to go to the shop (in Berry Lane) for her at the end of her row of bungalows.  She had a lovely big garden as I remember. I used to sit and talk to her and she gave me a cold drink. So sad when I went past her house when I was older and found out she had died.  Our bungalow was compulsory purchased a few years after we moved to Basildon in 1959.

    By Carole Devlin (08/02/2016)
  • Hi Patsy  Thanks for your message it was nice to hear from you again with news of your family. I have tried to find your phone number or address without success. Anyway I will keep trying as I am always interested in past memories.

    Editor’s note:  Alan has supplied his email address but as it is the Archive’s policy not to publish email addresses on the website, it has been forwarded on to Patsy.

    By Alan Rich Wood (19/01/2016)
  • I have only just come across this site and these pictures. I lived in Victoria Avenue from 1939 – 1962.

    Access to Victoria Avenue was alongside the Off Licence shown in one of the pictures (was that Milton Road?). Not shown was the hairdressers and radio shop opposite. Used to get the accumulator charged for the radio there.

    Went to Langdon Hills School I think 1944 to 1951 before going to Palmers Grammar School. Thanks for the photo memories.

    By Gerald Jones (01/03/2015)
  • Hi Richard, so sorry i haven’t looked at these pics for years.  Yes I do remember you, Geoffrey, Derek and your mum Ivy.   I have so many pictures of them when we lived in Suffolk Road (which is not there any more).

    My dad died in 1965, mum died in 1989 then my brother Ken died in 1998 so there’s just me now.  I have pictures of Pat Cannon also a picture of you with my brother from years ago.

    I hope you see this message and hope you are keeping well.  Regards Patsy (Roper).

    By Patsy Spendlove (26/01/2015)
  • My ancestors ran a dolls hospital in a building built by my grandfather, Tom Robinson, in the High Road, Langdon Hills.  One half was the dolls hospital and the other was Wrights Greengrocers, which became a music shop and then a hairdressers.  If anyone remembers this or has a photograph I would be so grateful.  I think it would have been there from about 1910 onwards.  Many thanks.

    By Patricia Hook (22/09/2014)
  • I remember the Primrose Lodge site very well.  We used to use it as a cut through on the way home from school.  I am the youngest of the 5 Sarchet children who lived in West Avenue.  Can anyone remember all our names?

    By Julia Rawlings nee Sarchet (06/09/2014)
  • My grandparents lived in Berry Lane, their surname was Martin.

    By Louise Martin (25/03/2014)
  • Hi Len Smart.  Are you the younger brother of Frank Smart who was best man at the wedding of Cecil Savage and me!  So many memories of youth club, was it your parents who kept a strict eye on us at the Saturday night dance in St Mary hall? Thelma.

    By Thelma Oliver (20/03/2014)
  • I remember it well when Paul & Marie had it. I remember walking there with my mum & nan & getting a mars bar for 6d. Those were the days.

    By Pam McAllister (04/08/2013)
  • Hi again Peter, I have just noticed your comment on this photo, this is Tansy Lee’s it was just on the approach to the Crown Hill on the right going up. The two shops you remember were The Dairy and Smiths, they were down a little further next to Butlers Grove, the bungalows that they lived in are still there, their back gardens were at the back of The Roose. There were four Smith brothers, Jack, Frank, Don and Charlie. Charlie was a batchelor, it was Don that had the two boys I think, Frank had one daughter, Joyce. They lived at the back of the shop, Jack had a couple of children but they didn’t live local as I recall.

    By Ellen English nee Burr (22/06/2013)
  • I’m sure that there were two shops next to each other. One was Smith’s and run by Charlie. He had two sons, one was Nick and a little older than me. We used to take the bus to Fryerns school in Basildon together. When Langdon Hills was redeveloped they moved to a shop in The Knares, Basildon. There was also a Cottis Bakery shop there as well.

    By Peter Moore (15/06/2013)
  • My grandparents took over the ‘Red Cow’ sometime in the 1920’s. They moved up from the ‘5 Bells’ in Vange/Fobbing which they had run from around 1900. 

    My grandmother’s parents (Family name Starr from Saffron Waldren area originally) had the ‘5 Bells’ prior to that. My great grandparents moved to the ‘Half Crown’ in South Benfleet from the ‘5 Bells’. 

    My grandparents remained in Dry Street post office until they died and it was taken over by my Aunt Marie (my Father’s adopted sister) and her husband Paul Lucy. When they gave up the post office, it was turned into a private dwelling. 

    Paul and Aunt Marie set-up a green grocery business in the Triangle shopping centre in Langdon Hills High Road.

    By Chris Chappell (31/05/2013)
  • I also lived just up the hill from here in ‘Glenrosa’. 

    Hello Terry. I still remember fondly the hours I spent building tree houses and underground camps with you, your brother and sister. My mother used to work for Mr Bebington and was apparently engaged to his son. Sadly, he was killed in action in Malta during WWII.

    By Chris Chappell (31/05/2013)
  • I remember Rosie Koppit, she lived in a bungalow right near the school bus stop opposite the school, I used to think how good it would be to live there and not have to get the school bus into Laindon. We moved from Berry Lane to Laindon in 1965,but I still went to Langdon Hills School. I loved it, happy days.

    By Angela Underdown( nee carter) (22/04/2013)
  • I used to live in the 60s/70s slightly further up the hill, opposite Grove Avenue in a bungalow called Lee-Lor My parents had the property built in 1962 after buying a piece of land from the large property ‘Park Lodge’ which was by a builder called Mr Hurley who also lived there. That property had a swimming pool in the back garden which we were invited to use sometimes by his daughter, Barbara. Both the old Park lodge and Lee-Lor have been knocked down now and replaced with new houses.

    By Terry Heard (14/04/2013)
  • I also remember being at school with Rosie Koppit, and you being in my class too, Pam. Long time no see!

    By Jill Thwaites (Rand) (04/03/2013)
  • I knew your mum and dad, Maggie and Monty. I used to play with your brother Ken when you lived in Suffolk Rd. I lived in Somerset Rd with my brothers Geoff and Derek. 

    I remember your parents played violins and I remember seeing them play in a concert “The Mikado” at the Laindon High Rd School. 

    Two old men used to live with them, they were probably your grandfathers and I used to think it strange that they didn’t seem to talk to each other (the grandfathers I mean). One of them spent most of the day in his large workshop in your back yard which to me was a fascinating place filled with all kinds of interesting stuff. 

    Your mum was a really nice lady and was very friendly with my mum Ivy. Your dad always seemed very interested in things your brother did. We lost touch for a while, I can’t really remember why. Maybe your brother was getting interested in girls and I was still only a young kid. 

    Some years later when your family had moved to “Rose Villa” we started hanging out again both having an interest in old cars and motorbikes and things mechanical, we would work in his workshop in your back garden. It was during this time that Ken and his then girlfriend Pat Cannon introduced me to Iris Allen who was to become my wife, we have been together now for 54 years and I have often thought how nice it would be to be able to thank them. I would love to have any news of your brother. Well Patsy I hope you see this message, it would be nice to make contact, regards

    By Rich Wood (23/02/2013)
  • Careful peering at the Licencee’s name painted over the door of the Off Licence shows it to be during the time it was run by T Mole.

    By Len Smart (22/02/2013)
  • Two very nice elderley ladies kept the sweet shop in the 1930s whilst Luff’s became Ayres Boot and Shoe Repairs in the late 1930s. I worked there on Saturdays in 1939 and was taught to make the repairs. That knowledge has come in very useful over the years.

    By Len Smart (22/02/2013)
  • Primrose Lodge was, at one time in the 1930s, a Christmas Cracker Factory. Subsequently in about 1938 this moved to a site on the Arterial Road just east of the Fortune of War. I lived in Lee Chapel Lane at number 3, at least till numbers 5 and 6 were obliterated by a bomb in October 1940.

    By Len Smart (21/02/2013)
  • I grew up in the 60’s and 70’s in the house which is on the opposite side of the road and not shown which was called ” Normanhurst”

    By Stepen Carter (12/02/2013)
  • Yes I remember these shops. Lucas’s the wonder shop I spent many a sixpence in there, and also my new Coronation shilling. When informed by Mr Lucas that it could be a family heirloom, ‘No, no’ I responded, ‘Give us the sweets!’. 

    Next door is the Post Office and grocers. I think it was run by Mr and Mrs Foye. Mr Foye was behind the Post Office counter while Mrs Foye dealt with the grocery. I can visualise her now, petite, in starched white overalls, neat black hair and bright red lipstick, cutting the cheese. 

    The other grocery shops that I remember were the Co-op and was it the Tudor Stores or Morris’s? Anyway, my mum said only the local ‘big pots’ shopped there. I suspect that we shopped at Foye’s because you could get it ‘on the book’. 

    Out of shot is Coles the Greengrocers. I had a job there as a lad. One of my tasks was to deliver the green grocery. I had to use an old fashioned delivery bike that was far too big for me. Terrible on all those unmade roads! Most people didn’t know that their apples and pears had been all over the road before they got them.

    By Brian Cunningham (06/01/2013)
  • The bungalow which is in the centre of the picture stands on the corner of Westley Road. In the fifties the Brook family lived there. Mrs Brook taught at the Primary School down the hill. The building nearest to us I knew as Policeman’s cottage. It was a red bricked building and was demolished to widen the road. Did it happen in the 60s!

    By Brian Cunningham (06/01/2013)
  • In the 1911 Census Summary Books, all the dwellings in Laindon High Road, including The Laindon Hotel are listed as being in Station Road.

    By Nina Humphrey(née Burton) (25/10/2012)
  • I remember the cinder track. I lived in Berry Lane and was born in 1948 and went to LH Primary, have a sister called Nova Cross (nee White) as is my single name. The name of our house was Trecarne and it was on a bend at the top of Samuel Road. Carey’s builders yard was next door but one to us

    By Joan Merchant (24/10/2012)
  • I remember Elsey’s as we called it very well. I used to take the empties back get the money for them then nip round the back and get some more and take them to the shop again. Can’t believe I was so naughty!

    By Joan Merchant (24/10/2012)
  • I believe that Sissinghurst was a nursing home and my sister Nova was born there. She is 75 now

    By Joan Merchant (24/10/2012)
  • Could the building on the right with the two chimney stacks be the nursing home ‘Sissinghurst’? Bebbingtons was on the corner of the High Road where it meets Berry Lane. The original Langdon Hills School was directly opposite on the other side of the High Road, and still is. Apparently the semi-detached house ‘Sissinghurst’ was just a couple of plots along from the school. If so, I might just be looking at the place where my brother Dennis was born in 1930.

    Editor: Nina I am of the same opinion and will be putting some more photographs of the High Road Langdon Hills on the site which may assist with identification.

    By Nina Humphrey (née Burton) (13/10/2012)
  • One entrance to that shop was Pepperells and the other entrance led into a hardware store owned by Mr and Mrs Green.

    By Janet Harper (nee McDonnell) (26/09/2012)
  • This was Nightingale Parade. Mr Ling had a sweet shop there next to the Post Office Stores. I can picture the man who had the shop before Mr ling, but not his name.

    By Janet Harper (nee McDonnell) (26/09/2012)
  • Mr Elsey was the licensee at the Off licence.

    By Janet Harper (nee McDonnell) (26/09/2012)
  • I went to nursery here and just on the right as you look at this photo was a great sweet shop.

    By Georgia Laurie (11/09/2012)
  • I remember the Laindon Hotel being on Station Road, and also that little bit that ran from the entrance to the station car park down to the underpass to Newberryside (1970s) also being referred to as Station Road.

    By Georgia Laurie (11/09/2012)
  • My mother Brenda Bebington (Maiden name) was the youngest daughter of H.E. Bebington who ran the Estate Agents office and remembers the name of the bungalow was called “St Albans”. Her friend with whom she stays in touch with was called Rene and worked in the main Estate Agency office down in Station Approach – Laindon

    By Peter Taylor (27/05/2012)
  • I remember being at Langdon Hills Primary with Rosie Koppit. I think she used to live in a house on the corner of Alexander Road.

    By Pam McAllister (Burr) (05/05/2012)
  • Hi Elaine, Oxford Road/Street is the prior name for Lee Chapel Lane, my father and most of his siblings were born there. On the 1901 census my Great Grandfather, Great Grandmother and six children are living there with mother-in-law and brother-in-law; eight in a very small cottage/shack a wooden building.

    There was a Nightingale Farm and I was born in Nightingale Ave in the very first bungalow at the top end which joined onto Lee Chapel Lane, hope this makes things a little clearer for you,

    By Ellen English nee Burr (11/04/2012)
  • As an add on I didn’t mention that Nightingale Farm adjoined our property, as you went up Lee Chapel Lane the very first turning on the left was Nightingale Ave on going past this turning Nightingale Farm was the next property, when I was a child the family that lived there were named Groves.

    Nightingale Parade was much further down towards Laindon, Nightingale Ave ran parallel with Langdon Hills High Rd from just down from the Crown to Osborne Rd where Cottis’s was on the corner before the station.

    By Ellen English nee Burr (11/04/2012)
  • Hi Mr Diment, no this is not Smiths’ but was known as Tansy Lee’s; it was a newsagent and sold confectionary. On Sunday mornings, we had to go there for a paper for our father. This was just before the final assault on the right hand side of Crown Hill. Smiths’ Stores was a little further down almost opposite the junction with Lee Chapel Lane. There were four brothers, Jack, Charlie, Frank and Don. Charlie lived with his mother in one of the semi-detached bungalows opposite; it is still there today. Frank and his wife and daughter lived within the back rooms of the shop.

    By Ellen English nee Burr (11/04/2012)
  • The building on the right hand side was a semi-detached house, on the side nearest to the Crown Hotel lived a wonderful couple named Mr and Mrs Reynolds.

    Mrs Reynolds used to be the local lady who “Laid Out” the local deceased. My brother-in-law lodged there when he first came to Langdon Hills, he was always uncomfortable with what the kitchen table had been used for.

    By Ellen English nee Burr (11/04/2012)
  • I was in the same LHR class as Geoff Koppit, he was a quiet but friendly boy. Being Jewish he would attend the religious classes specially arranged by the school. His father had the tailors shop on the left going away from the station. His brother Sid was also at LHR, in the year below us. When I lived on the infamous Fryerns estate in 1970-71 Sid and his wife had a maisonette in Chichester Close near us. It was good to see a friendly face in those days and I was always glad to meet Sid now and again. A nice family.

    By Richard Haines (03/03/2012)
  • Mrs James was my nan, her daughter my mum was Kitty who married Ted Burton.

    She also had a son Fred James he lived in Archibald Terrace, Laindon High Road she also had another daughter Gwen but was killed in the war.

    I remember walking along the cinder path with my mum Kit when we used to visit my nan, Happy Days

    By Jan Burton (02/03/2012)
  • I was in the same class as Rachel Koppit – she is married and was living in Wickford Essex

    By Jan Burton (02/03/2012)
  • I beleive Station Road was along side ‘The Winston Social Club’ just before the station, opposite ‘Churchill Johnson’s.

    My Nan & Grandad ran the club, Ted & Rose Burton, then when my Nan & Grandad retired my Mum & Dad took over Kit & Ted Burton.

    Editor: The Road that ran down between the Winston Club and Churchill Johnson’s was Northumberland Avenue. It is believed that Station Road was originally a section of the High Road south of the Railway.

    By Jan Burton (29/02/2012)
  • My great-grandfather was living at Nightingale Farm on Oxford Road at the time of the 1911 census. I believe that the farm was demolished “by accident” by developers but I can’t seem to identify exactly where it was. Does anyone have any ideas please? Wondering if Nightingale Parade could be a clue?

    By Elaine Napier (05/02/2012)
  • But I remember seeing a map from the 1800s showing the railway line and the road crossing it without bends. The road would appear to pass behind Churchill Johnsons, and go across Hall’s coal yard.

    Editor: The railway did not exist until 1886, I am at present looking at a map dated 1876 and the road, which still had not been named, shows a distinct s-bend with a side road going off to ‘Little Gubbins Farm’.  The farm was demolished to build the station and railway towards Pitsea. The road that went down besides ‘Churchill Johnson’ was Northumberland Avenue which was not built until after the railway was complete. The only other road was the entrance to the station and yard. If you click on this link it might throw some more light on the level crossing.

    By Martin Robinson (27/01/2012)
  • This is looking north from just beyond Butlers Grove with Grove Avenue on the left, Park Avenue and Park Lodge on the right, and Primrose Lodge in the centre. What a lovely house that was, and in a fabulous location, with great views of Langdon Hills, Laindon, and beyond.

    By Martin Robinson (26/01/2012)
  • This view is looking north from just beyond Vowler Road, and of a time before Pepperells was built. Also, it must have been before the bridge was built and crossing of the railway line was by level crossing. It would be good to know the year. My father claimed that bridge was built at the same time as the railway, but that clearly was not the case as the configuration of both the northerly and southerly approaches to it were strange to say the least. Also, it was quite obvious from the positioning of the shopping parade of which Peter’s Hairdressers was a part, that that was in fact the original main road, going down towards the level crossing.

    Editor: If you look just between the house and the tree you can see the white post and rail fence that lines the ramp to the bridge. The other road to the side of the bridge went to Salisbury Avenue. The bends in the High Road, by the station, were there before the railway was built, reason yet to Be ascertained.

    By Martin Robinson (26/01/2012)
  • When I was a small boy I remember my mother, Gladys Robinson née Freeman, stopping outside Patsy’s house to speak to her mother, Margaret. And boy, could they talk. I would seem to be stuck there for hours while they chattered. 

    I think Patsy must be about 10 years older than me. 

    I lived in West Avenue, off Grove Avenue.

    By Martin Robinson (23/01/2012)
  • Station Road is what later became the High Road. This is in fact the same view depicted in a couple of the other photographs but at an earlier time. The first property on the left is Bebbingtons.

    Editor: Well spotted I have looked at it on many occasions thinking that there was something familiar.

    By Martin Robinson (23/01/2012)
  • The last bungalow was indeed the home of the Boniface family, I was a friend of Janet all through my school years at Langdon Hills Primary and Laindon High Road and spent many happy hours in their home.

    I lived further along the cinder path just before you got to Lungleys shop. There were 5 bungalows on the left and we lived in “Lilac”. Next door to us was Mrs James and the other side was Mrs Francis and her daughter, next to them lived Josie Barwick and her family, they lived with her grandmother until they moved to King Edward Road when that estate was built. 

    I was born in that bungalow and lived there until I was about 22 when we were compulsory purchased by Basildon Council. My parents then moved to Roberts Road and after a short while I moved away to work and get married.

    I now live in Seaford in East Sussex and I am a widow, but always remember my time growing up in Laindon.

    By Pat White nee Davies (18/01/2012)
  • Just another comment on this photo. Note the total lack of vehicle traffic, for that matter people too, must have been taken early in the morning possibly on a Sunday as well, wonder if you could get such a traffic free shot now??.

    Editor: Your assumption is correct they were taken on a Sunday morning and the photographers have expressed their regrets as it gives the impression of a ghost town.

    By Ken Page (07/01/2012)
  • I bought my first bottle of illegal alcohol there when I was about 14/15, self and another young lad, forgotten who, drank the lot under the wooden steps near the station.

    It was only cider but a quart bottle of it got us both very wobbly and I remember chucking up on the way home, didn’t do it again for quite a while after that.

    By Ken Page (07/01/2012)
  • Was this group of shops near Vowler Rd., and was Shannons dentist practice in between? Nice clear photo.

    Editor: Spot on Ken

    By Ken Page (28/12/2011)
  • I can’t recall your parents Pat, but I do recall you and I being in class together for a couple of years.

    By Brian Baylis (20/12/2011)
  • Thank you Ken for the information. It is really interesting. Will you be doing one of your talks in March?

    Editor: This is the wrong Ken, but I will ensure that we publicise it if he does.

    By Helen Painter (17/12/2011)
  • Thanks Ian, I can see a lot more of my mum and dads house next to the church hall.  It looks to be quite an old picture I would say early 1900s

    Editor: I am told that the curbs in Laindon were installed in the late 20s early 30s and they look new in the photograph.

    By Patsy Spendlove née Roper (07/12/2011)
  • Gday Patsy, thanks for the reply, I started at the primary school in ’49/50, can’t remember exactly which year. My first teacher was Miss Wilkinson I think, Mrs Hayball lived not far from us but I never had her as a teacher. I certainly had Miss Wendon, she was a nice lady, ended up with Mr Hall in my final year. Mr Wiggins was headmaster, I got the cane off him one day for bending spoons in the canteen, what a crime!!! Nice to hear about the two Christines, any ideas about where they are now?

    By Ken Page (28/11/2011)
  • Cottis the bakers would be about where the truck is standing in the photo. Now living in Australia, I can’t get my head round the way you blokes park on the wrong side of the road. I was driving through a town in the Midlands in 2005, keeping to the left when this white van came straight at me on my side of the road and just stopped!!, driver got out went round the back and opened the rear doors. I had to back up into the traffic behind me and pull out round it bloody crazy, what’s the story if you hit one of these characters head on, who’s in the wrong, them or you??

    By Ken Page (28/11/2011)
  • Hi Ken, I used to live at Rose Villa, a house next to the church hall, what they now call the triangle at the bottom of our garden was Berry Lane. I was best friends with Marilyn Honess and Christine’s sister, yes she did marry Peter Short.

    I went to Langdon Hills primary school in 1952 although I don’t remember you, sorry. Do you remember Mrs Hayball, Miss Wilkinson, Mr Woodward and Mrs Wendon?

    By Patsy Spendlove née Roper (26/11/2011)
  • Oh this picture brings back memories, I lived at Langdon Hills High Rd next to the church hall. I used to walk past this shop every day going to Laindon High Road school, when I left the primary school. I remember Peter’s the hair dressers, Cottis the bakers, the off licence, Mr Morris food shop, Koppits the taislor shop and so many more. 

    It would be lovely if someone had a picture of my old house next to the church hall I never thought to take one it was called Rose Villa.

    By Patsy Spendlove née Roper (26/11/2011)
  • I remember these shops so well. Ian have you got any pictures further along the High Road as my house was next to the church hall the Council pulled it down and its now a car park and shops, what a shame I never got a picture of it when we left in 1968 would be so gratefull if you have 🙂

    Editor: I have not as yet come across any so far but I am always looking out for old photographs for the site and If I come across one I will let you know. There were some taken of the top end of the High Road as Bebington had his home near the old Berry Lane Junction.

    By Patsy Spendlove nee Roper (26/11/2011)
  • Thanks Ian, yes I saw that photo and I can see my old house at the end of the picture but can’t see the front. Next to my house is the church hall which is still there. It’s so nice seeing all these pictures, brings back so many happy memories :-).

    By Patsy Spendlove née Roper (26/11/2011)
  • This is the Methodist church I went to Sunday school, brownies and gym here.

    My mum started the Basildon Choral Society here, I still have the program of their first concert and the picture that was in the Laindon Recorder.

    Editor: If you bring them to a memory day we can scan them and add them to the site.

    By Patsy Spendlove née Roper (26/11/2011)
  • I would love to come to a memory day. I have so many pictures and paper clips. If you could let me know where and when thank you:-)

    Editor: The next two memory days are Saturday 10 and Thursday 29 December between 10am and 12noon at Laindon Library.

    By Patsy Spendlove née Roper (26/11/2011)
  • I remember this well as I was living just past here, my old friend Maria O’Neil and Cherry and Pat Walden lived along the side road. Oh memories keep flooding back, good times, well done ian 🙂

    By Patsy Spendlove nee Roper (26/11/2011)
  • Oh this is where I lived the big house at the right on the end, next to Bebintons lived Mr Wester, then Mrs Barker, then Mr & Mrs Hutchinson then my mum and dads house Rose Villa next to the church hall, but you can’t see the hall our big house is blocking the view. Has anybody got a picture of the front of our house would so love to see it? On the opposite side of the road lived 3 judges, Mr Jobson, Mr Pavy and Mr Seaman then further along was my primary school Langdon Hills,  what a long time ago that was. I loved every moment I spent there thank you Ian for putting these pictures on.

    I wonder if any one remembers my mum and dad Monty and Margaret Roper?

    By Patsy Spendlove née Roper (26/11/2011)
  • This has always been called Laindon High Road. There was a road called Station Approach near Peter’s the hair dressers just before Laindon Station.

    By Patsy Spendlove née Roper (26/11/2011)
  • I remember train-spotting from the bridge and steps here, in the days of real trains and steam. One day I was hiding under the steps when a lady walked down them, spotted me and then accused me of trying to look up her skirt. It couldn’t be done, Nor was I.

    By Brian Baylis (20/11/2011)
  • I can remember Cottis’s opposite this shop and to this day, Still waiting for their letter giving me a starting date for my apprenticeship to becoming a baker.

    By Brian Baylis (20/11/2011)
  • I can remember my Mum and Dad sending me to the off-licence here to get Mann’s Brown Ale and Cream Label Stout, plus a bottle of lemonade, and Smith’s crisps.

    By Brian Baylis (20/11/2011)
  • Oh what a Lovely memory of passing here on my bike on the way down from Crown Hill?

    By Brian Baylis (20/11/2011)
  • Hy Helen, this shot is looking towards London over what was called the ‘cinder path’, it came out at the bottom of Berry Lane alongside Lungley’s grocery shop. It was actually bitumen but I guess in its early days it may have consisted of the ashes from the locals fireplaces, there were a few gaslights placed at about 50 yard intervals, didn’t give much light but kept you on the paths general direction on a foggy night. Many’s the time I’ve walked or ridden that path in my time of living in Laindon.

    By Ken Page (15/11/2011)
  • Is this from Laindon Station? And if so, would this be looking towards Basildon?

    By Helen Painter (12/11/2011)
  • Was this owned by a family named Smith? As in my younger days in a group I mixed with socially there was a Jack Smith whose family had a business in Langdon Hills. There was also a striking blonde girl named Winnie Strutt who Jack married but unfortunately died very early.

    By W.H.Diment (19/10/2011)
  • In the last house on the left, looking towards Berry Lane, used to live the Boniface family, I was in the same class as Christine from primary through to the High Rd, she was great pals with Christine Honess who I’m led to believe married Peter Short, anyone else remember them?

    By Ken Page (12/10/2011)
  • Pepperell’s tobacconist and newsagent, look straight ahead takes you down to where Peter and Ivan’s gents hairdressers [NOT BARBERS] was, those blokes were a breath of fresh [h]air to us young blokes that got fed up with the ‘short back and sides’ haircuts that Laindon’s ex army barbers performed. 

    My old man carted me off to Uptons every fortnight for the old army style cut, then at 14 I had my own money from delivering groceries from Lungley’s shop and went to Peter’s shop from then on, semi crewcut with the infamous ‘Boston DA’ that all our fathers seemed to hate, anyone else remember these blokes?

    By Ken Page (12/10/2011)
  • Bebington’s corner where Berry Lane joined the High Road in Langdon Hills. ‘Bebington’ being the name of the estate agent who worked from the shed (office)

    By Bruce Bellamy (09/10/2011)
  • I walk along this many a time it’s was called the cinder track. It started at the bottom of Berry Lane and ended at the wooden steps that lead to the rail way station, if my memory serves me correctly. My brother Harry Card was a train driver, further up the line was Tom Thumb bridge where my brother Michael and I would sit on the bank and wave as he went by.

    By Patricia Cash (nee Card) (04/10/2011)
  • The caption on this picture caught my attention. As far as I can find out, there is no road now in Langdon Hills named “Station Road”. Footstepsphotos website gives a date of c.1908. From the buildings on the right, can anyone identify which road it was? The reason the caption caught my attention is that my great-grandparents, Adam and Eleanor Albert, lived in Station Road, Laindon from 1911 until at least 1915. The 1911 Census gives their address as “Station Road, Laindon”, and Adam appears in the Electoral Registers up to 1914 with that same address. Again, no road in Laindon is currently called “Station Road”. Adam was born in Bavaria. And the Electoral Registers show that there were quite a few families living in Station Road, Laindon with German sounding surnames. My mother would stay with Adam and Eleanor, and from what she said they lived opposite the site of the Laindon Hotel in the High Road – now totally obliterated. So, can anyone say where the Station Roads were?

    Editor: I believe the section of the High Road south of the station heading towards Langdon Hills was known as Station Road initially, but I am sure one of our contributors will confirm or correct this.

    By Eddie Hunt (04/10/2011)
  • What a jog to the old memory, I remember being at school with Zelda Koppit, and also wonder what happened to them all. Having to walk to Langdon Hills School from Sandringham Road, took me past most of the places in these pictures, happy memories in the summertime but not so good in the winter !!

    By Joan Baterip (14/08/2011)
  • I think Koppetts (Koppitts?) the Taylors lived/had their shop up this way too? Their children attended our school – also believe that there were twins? Wonder what happened to that family.

    By Andrea Ash (nee Pinnell) (13/08/2011)

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