Taken in 2017, we captured the start of demolition of dozens of houses as part of a multi-billion pound regeneration scheme of Canning Town and Custom House, with 10,000 homes set to be built on the site of these now demolished homes. The single storey buildings on Wouldham Road, Chedworth Close, Rathbone Street and Clarkson…
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‘The Essex & Colchester Hospital’ was opened in 1820, following a plan by the Colchester Archdeacon to open a hospital for the poor. Along with seven other men, a plot of land was purchased and one of the country’s first hospitals for the poor was opened. It was funded by subscriptions and gifts from wealthy…
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The refinery c.2014 (BTP) and 2016 (Slayaaaa) prior to the demolition of its many towers The refinery was built over Coryton village (Kynochtown) and Kynoch’s munitions factory (the site of which still remains just north of the refinery – see here). The explosives factory operated from the late 1890s up until 1919 serving through the…
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The artillery battery at Longues-sur-Mer was built as part of the Atlantic Wall coastal fortifications and was built by German Forces in the first half of 1944, being completed within just four months. Constructed on the Normandy clifftop some 60 metres above the sea level, it was built in one of the best positions to…
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The bunker was built in late 1940 as the South East Army Command Brigade Headquarters. It can be presumed that this was unlike most military installations on home ground in that it was not a defensive site for use by defensive forces; like the Home Guard or Territorial Army, but an actual command post for…
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As the world entered the 20th Century, technology was advancing at a rapid rate and communication between the UK and America was already wired with a transatlantic submarine cable. Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi was an expert in radio transmission and developed the first system which allowed wireless transmission from Cornwall to New Foundland, US. Following…
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Prime Minister Winston Churchill was after a location for a new, secret, Army Battle Headquarters and came across the perfect location in Reigate; an old chalk quarry with easy access by car and a vantage vantage point on top of the tunnels that has a view stretching miles. It’s also rumoured that some of the…
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If German forces were successful in invading Britain during the Second World War, the dozens of Zero stations would have come into operation. They were designed so that spies could secretly give information to out stations, before the coded information was passed on via radio to zero stations who would then inform the Special Duties…
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The Anti-Aircraft Command Operations Room in Merstham was built in 1951 as part of Pendell Army Camp, which was demolished to make way for the M23. The Operations Room was saved from demolition, being just metres away from the motorway. The Home Office took ownership of the site in the 1960’s before handing it over…
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Tucked away in an isolated field bordered by the A130 and a railway in Shotgate, near Wickford, Essex, lies two memorials constructed in 1920 to a tragic plane crash which occurred on 7th March 1918 at Dollyman’s Farm. The incident occurred at night when the two young pilots were flying from the RFC Rochford and…
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