Wakering Camp was constructed potentially around June 1944 as a ‘Diver’ battery – a late-war heavy anti-aircraft 3.7-inch gun battery of at least eight guns, established to defend against V-1 flying bombs. It was one of two in Great Wakering, with another four at Foulness. There were at least 43 huts, and in July 1944…
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At Hampstead Heath in North London lies Kenwood House. Constructed across the 17th and 18th centuries, the house now stands as a symbol of traditional British elite culture. However, only across the road lies the enormous manors built by a new elite class, decaying in a state of neglect. Nicknamed Billionaires Row, this busy road…
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Whilst exploring the site of Rochford Airfield, extending around the current London-Southend Airport, we came across what appeared to be an overgrown Anderson shelter used as a shed – seemingly abandoned. Thanks to guest Jack Swestun for spotting the structure. The curved corrugated iron sections looked old enough to make it an Anderson, but the…
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Victoria Avenue in Southend began to be developed in the post-war period as a centre for tall brutalist offices and civic buildings. These remained largely undeveloped until the mid-2010s when work began to revitalise the ugly structures. Liam remembers having his driving theory exam in Baryta House further down the road in 2015, only to…
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Behind Fairleigh Court in Leigh on Sea remains an impressive set of six Anderson shelters. Anderson shelters were issued free to all householders earning £5 a week, and cost £7 for those earning more. They were issued from February 1939 prior to British declaration of war, and throughout the Second World War. When the war…
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Cooling Castle is a 14th-century castle situated 6 miles north of Rochester. The castle was built in the 1380’s by the Cobham family to protect the Thames from the threat of invasion from the French. The castle has an unusual layout, comprising two walled wards of unequal size next to each other, surrounded by moats and…
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German bombing during the Second World War left London heavily damaged to this very day. At 4.18 in the video below filmed in 2013 – albeit an early amateur production, we catch a glimpse at a large bombsite in Whitechapel which has remained undeveloped and left to become overgrown since the war. it is thought…
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Southchurch Hall is a moated house, clearly rather grand, dating back to the Middle Ages (14th Century) with extensions added in the Tudor era and 1930s. The de Southchurch family were the original residents of the house, and its great hall was likely to have been built on the site of a Saxon hall. Solars…
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Why is Paycocke’s House nationally important? Paycocke’s House in Coggleshall is not simply an old house; it actually reflects some of the national changes to the design of houses that were occurring in the 17th Century. The Great Rebuilding is a phenomenon occurring said to arguably have occurred between 1570 and 1640 in the south,…
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In the early 17th century, Canvey Island was inhabited by a community of Dutch settlers who whilst living both alongside and at times at loggerheads with the locals helped to shape the islanders topography today. Two houses built in a contemporary Dutch cylindrical shape survive to this day at Northwick seen below, and at Canvey…
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