Our 2015 Halloween documentary brings the horror of everyday life in the 17th Century up to present when the boys travel down to Leigh, Essex to take a look at the site of ‘the Doom Pond’. Supposedly used to drown innocent individuals accused of witchcraft, there is no need to make-believe this Halloween when history…
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Turn back the clock to 1850 and Canvey Island little more than farmland and a small village, much like the Wild West. Only few of these actually remain today, with Brickhouse Farm being one of the only still in operation. So, where did all the rest go? Well, a majority became left abandoned due to…
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Paglesham’s flourishing oyster-farming industry dates back to the late 19th Century. Whilst oysters have been farmed around the Essex coastline as far back as the Roman era, they exploded in popularity nearing the turn of 1900 because they were a cheap source of food for the poor. By the early 20th Century, oyster beds at…
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The history of the garrison dates back to 1849 when the land was first purchased by the Board of Ordanance. Woolwich Common was usually used for testing weapons, although as they became more powerful, they needed a new, larger site. During the Crimean War, the Royal Artillery School of Gunnery was established at Shoeburyness and…
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Seven Victorian tunnel-like magazines were built on the Benfleet waterfront near Jotmans in the late part of the 19th Century. They would have been used for the storage of explosives by barges possibly on the way to London or nearby explosives factories (where is now Wat Tyler Country Park and Coryton Refinery). The Benfleet Community…
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Purfleet Heritage & Military Centre is a museum set up inside Magazine No.5 from the Royal Magazine of Gunpowder. This MOD magazine (which means an explosives and ammunition store) was contracted in 1759, consisting of five buildings, plus a proof house for testing the explosive. Four of the magasines, which would have held up to…
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Known as 1, The Thames – this 19th century fort is situated 500 meters out into the mouth of the River Medway and was built to protect local dockyards from the potential invasion from the French. In 2014 the fort was up for sale and was sold for around £400,000 but the Grade II listed…
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Grain Dummy Battery, originally known as Grain Battery, was built shortly before Grain Fort, completed in 1865 to support two nearby forts; Grain Fort and Grain Wing Battery. Following the usual design for batteries, it consisted of several gun emplacements with magazines below. Unlike other forts, it’s likely that this one was out of service…
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Walking along you wouldn’t bat an eye lid at this rather bollard – that’s unless you knew the history of it. In October 1805 the Battle of Trafalgar took place between the British Navy and joint French & Spanish fleets. Twenty seven British ships were up against 33 of their counterparts and, after a bloody…
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Photographs above are from HadleighHistory.org.uk in an article written by local author and Historian Robert Hallman The oldest house in Benfleet as it has been known was formerly a ‘poorhouse’, which we would interpret as a government-funded structure that would support those in poverty and provide them with housing. Whilst ‘poorhouses’ include the treacherous workhouses…
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