Hidden away just off of the A12, you wouldn’t have a clue that this was here unless someone told you! Just down the bank from a lay-by is this infantry firing position. During the Second World War, this area would have formed part of the defences of Chelmsford, in addition to the anti-tank blocks and…
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Those of you who travel past West Ham station on the C2C train line will be familiar with the sight of Bromley-by-Bow gas containers. Upon closer inspection, you will see that these ugly industrial monstrosities are in fact works of art from the bygone era of the Industrial Revolution. The first industry known to be…
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Berners Roding is a tiny village in the mid-Essex countryside. In fact, it is barely a village at all. Compared to a 1777 map, the village appears to have hardly changed, perhaps even shrunk. Consisting of a few farm buildings and a row of houses, it may not even be established enough to be classed…
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Situated close to the A12, this immaculately preserved ROC Post hasn’t been touched for years and is pretty much a time capsule. Built in the June of 1959, a month before the one at Hatfield Peverel, the site holds many relics that would have been in the bunker when it was first opened including old bedding,…
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Valence House is an old manor house in Becontree, Dagenham. It is the last survivor of Dagenham’s five manor houses. Whilst the Becontree estate of many miles of houses cropped up almost entirely as a ‘homes for heroes’ housing scheme for Great War veterans and their families in the 1920s, the area was once originally…
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During the early Second World War, Germany bombed British towns, cities, and industries using aircraft. This initially took place in daylight leading up to the Battle of Britain, but when this tactic failed, Hitler decided nighttime bombing would give an advantage. In the Blitz of 1940 and 1941, the daytime was ordinary, but every night…
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The Dragon’s Teeth along the River Wey in Guildford are just one of many examples of surviving Second World War tank defences in the town. Dozens of these small pyramids stretch through the woodland from the river up the edge of the woods. Known as ‘Dragon’s Teeth’ these concrete defences were designed to slow down…
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What is Hadleigh Iron Age Roundhouse? Hadleigh Country Park is open to a whole host of historic sights – from the widely-popular Hadleigh Castle to the hidden remains of a heavy anti-aircraft battery and the Salvation Army home colony. One such tucked away treasure is the replica Iron Age roundhouse located behind the Olympic Park…
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North of Butlers Farm in the Shopland, Sutton rural area north of Southend lies what was once thought to be a Romano-British burial site by local historians. The mound is roughly 5ft x 16ft in size and is similar in shape to other local barrows which exist on Foulness Island and Mersea Island; both dating…
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The D-Day allied invasion of France, 1944, was an enormous logistical project which saw Essex overrun by military preparations to send off thousands of allied troops to the beaches of Normandy. Stansgate Abbey and Stone Point in the St. Lawrence area of the Dengie Peninsula are both sites home to little-known yet surviving ramps constructed in…
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