Rochford and Blackbox Brewery Essex walk. 31.01.24

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On Wednesday the 31st January 2024 Dan and I caught the train to Rochford Train Station ,Rochford, Essex. Well it was more of an excuse to visit the Blackbox Brewery later. Hence this was a very uninspiring walk to say the least!

We left the station and walked up West Street.

The town is the main settlement in the Rochford district, and takes its name from Rochefort, Old English for "Ford of the Hunting Dogs". The town runs into suburban developments in the parishes of Ashingdon and Hawkwell. Kings Hill, in Rochford, was notable for containing the Lawless Court up until the 19th century.

In 1837 James Banyard (14 November 1800 – 1863) a reformed drunk and Wesleyan preacher and William Bridges (1802–1874) took a lease on the old workhouse at Rochford, which became the first chapel of the Peculiar People, a name taken from Deuteronomy 14:2 and 1 Peter 2:9. The Peculiar People practised a lively form of worship bound by the literal interpretation of the King James Bible, banning both frivolity and medicine. During the two World Wars some were conscientious objectors, believing that war is contrary to the teachings of Jesus Christ. The Peculiar People are nowadays known as the Union of Evangelical Churches.

A superb replica in the Market Place at Rochford, Essex.

Markings: "DONATED BY ADRIAN CHAPMAN 2002".

Manufacturer: It was made by local structural engineer Adrian Chapman, when the town square was reinstated in 2002. He produced the wooden patterns based upon a photograph of the original pump, which was removed in 1902, and had the castings made by the Rayne Foundry in Braintree.

We turn right onto South Street and up to the roundabout junction with Southend Road, where there is the Rochford Village sign.

The new sign has been manufactured by Alpha Signs, of Saffron Walden, and is set in a 15ft oak post sited here in 2004.

Just by the Horse and Groom Pub on Southend Road we take a footpath beside the River Roach.

A random Elephant in garden beside the river.

The River Roach is a river that flows entirely through Essex. It is one of four main streams that originate in the Rayleigh Hills to the west, and flow east. They then flow towards the centre of the Rochford Basin, a circular feature which may have been caused by an asteroid impact in the Late Oligocene or Early Miocene periods. To the east of Rochford, the river becomes tidal, and is governed by the Crouch Harbour Authority. It joins the River Crouch between Wallasea Island and Foulness Island. To the west of Rochford, there is some doubt as to which of the four streams is officially the Roach.

Stambridge Mills in the distance.

At Stambridge, there was a tidal mill from at least the 1500s, although few details are known until it was rebuilt in 1809. A pound was filled by the incoming tide, and was released to drive a water wheel as the tide fell. On spring tides, this gave around 7 hours of operation, which gradually decreased as the tides reduced, and at neap tides, the operation of the mill was entirely dependent on the flow from the upper river. Rankins, the millers, objected to plans by the Great Eastern Railway to build a dam and reservoirs in Rochford, as it would damage their operation, but a single reservoir was authorised in 1904.

The river channels are designated as "heavily modified" from their natural state by the Environment Agency, who measure the water quality. This is moderate for most of the tributaries, and the chemical status has improved since 2013. Charles Darwin's HMS Beagle was moored on the river from 1850 as a Coast Guard watch ship. It was sold for breaking, but an archaeological survey concluded in 2008 that much of it still remains buried beneath the mud near Paglesham. The Paglesham Reach is also significant for its native oysters.

We divert off the river along a path that takes us through then delightful Purdleys Industrial Estate and then out onto Sutton Road. ( I did say at the beginning that this wasn't going to be a spectacular walk!).

At the end of Sutton Road we turn left pass the Anne Boleyn pub onto Southend Road.

Built in 1901, the pub is rumoured to be haunted as Anne Boleyn was from this area. Situated on the main road into Rochford town, opposite Southend Airport, the pub is easy to find. A Greene King Hungry Horse pub .

We walk on along pass Southend Airport and its control tower.

The site opened as a military airfield for the Royal Flying Corps in 1916. It was used during World War One for training airmen and to attempt to intercept German raids on London. In 1919 the airfield was decommissioned and the site reverted to farmland. It reopened in 1935 as a civil airport. In 1939 the airport was once more used as a military airfield, known as RAF Rochford, mainly for fighter units of various nationalities. It was used by 11 Group of the Royal Air Force during the Battle of Britain: this group was the most heavily engaged in that battle. The airfield was still grass surfaced, and was equipped with a mixture of Bellman and Blister aircraft hangars. The airfield was protected by three Pickett Hamilton forts, (a special type of retractable pillbox) one of which survived in 1989 In 1944 it was also for armament practice and as a barrage balloon centre. After World War Two, it was again a civil airport. In 1955-1956 two hard runways were added. In 1995 there was a major programme of refurbishment at the airport, some airport buildings were demolished, and others renovated. In the early years of the 21st century there are plans to expand the airport.

Plenty of boring road walking, no commercial flights took off here while we walked by just light aircraft. Not a busy airport by any means, maybe busier on certain days?

We walk along Eastwoodbury Crescent and Lane, St Lawrence Way right onto Nestuda Way and then onto Eastwoodbury Lane to the church.

St Laurence and All Saints is a Grade I listed medieval church in the parish of Eastwood, Essex, England, near to Southend-on-Sea. Its location adjacent to the perimeter of London Southend Airport has led to the church being threatened by proposals to expand the airport.

The church has been described as "one of the finest and most important small medieval churches in South Essex, and of exceptional architectural, archaeological and historical significance". Notable features include the complex plan form and development, Norman font and doors with original fittings and the medieval woodwork including a priest's room. The site is also of "considerable, possibly exceptional, archaeological significance".

The first known record of the church is in 1100 A.D. when Robert Fitz Suen (Robert d'Essex) gave the chapels of Eastwood, Sutton and Prittlewell to the Prior of Prittlewell. It is evident that there was a church at Eastwood before that date; this was probably the present Norman nave with a small apsidal chancel. The antiquity of the site is borne out by the presence of a sarsen stone built into the walls. There are claims that this is the remains from when the site was used for pagan worship.

The early development of the church is still not completely understood. The nave is 12th-century in origin, with Norman window openings in the north wall. The south aisle was added in the 13th century and the north aisle in the 14th. The chancel is 13th-century, with a 14th-century roof. The nave roof is 15th-century.

The brick south porch was added in the 16th century. There were extensive works within the church in the 1870s when it was thoroughly restored by William White, including new seating. The broach spire was restored in the late 20th century.

The church stands within a large churchyard containing monuments including chest tombs dating back to the 18th century, with 20th-century extensions to the north containing several war graves. The churchyard is a pleasant area of trees, grass and wild flowers, carefully managed for its wildlife value.

The church was popular with gypsies and other members of the travelling community who used it for christenings, marriages and funerals. The so-called "King of the Gypsies", Louis Boswell, was buried at Eastwood church in 1835. In the Burial Register he is described as a "Traveller aged 42" – "This man known as the King of the Gypsies was interred in the presence of a vast concourse of spectators".

We walk on and take Aviation Way onto an industrial estate where we walk onto Blackbox Brewery and its taproom.

An aviation-themed brewery launched at the start of the year and even opened its own a craft beer and ale taproom in September 2022.

We arrive before the 12 o'clock opening time but they come out and invite us in, seems a very friendly taproom and a good community.

We drink our way through the selection. Cloud Cover NEIPA, Ground Speed APA, Lost Luggage ESB, Mild High Club Mild, a taster of Vocation Aoraki Imperial DIPA and finishing with a yummy local brewed Thinking Juice cider.

We leave the brewery and walk on through the estate, trying to find the path we need. We walk down a path that leads nowhere except to a field of horses that ran up to greet us.

We head back pass the brewery, and a member of bar staff looked bemused that we were still walking about after we'd left a while back. We walk on back out onto Aviation Way and onto Cherry Orchard Way. Maybe it was bad navigation or I was just too pissed but anyway we end up with more road walking.

We walk off Hall Road and up to Rochford Hall by the golf course.

Rochford Hall is a manor in Rochford, Essex, England. During the reign of King Henry VIII, it belonged to Thomas Boleyn, who was then Viscount Rochford, and it was the marital home of his daughter Mary Boleyn, sister of Anne Boleyn, and Mary's second husband, Sir William Stafford. It is now privately owned by Rochford Hundred Golf Club where it acts as the clubhouse and is a Grade I listed building.

The manor was originally built in 1216, which is the date carved into an old joist, and some of the arched doorways are original. In its 16th century form Rochford Hall comprised a sprawling turreted manor with a moat and great hall.

Rochford Hall belonged to Sir Thomas Boleyn, father of Anne, as part of his rich inheritance from his mother Margaret Butler. Sir Thomas was created Viscount Rochford in 1525 and Earl of Wiltshire and Ormonde 1529 and his title derived from his ownership of Rochford Hall. Following the second marriage of Anne's elder sister Mary to William Stafford in 1534, Rochford Hall was given to the couple as their principal residence. In 1550 the Rochford estate was sold to Richard, Lord Rich.

By the late 17th Century Rochford Hall was owned by the Child Family of Wanstead House, Essex, later Earl Tylney. It then descended with the Wanstead Estate to James Tylney-Long, his daughter Catherine Tylney-Long and via the Long-Wellesley Family to Henry Wellesley, 1st Earl Cowley. He sold it to a local gentleman farmer in 1867.

Rochford Hall was usually let, on long leases, or used by the Steward of the Rochford or greater Essex Estates of the Tylney-Long family.

There have been many additions and alterations to the manor over the centuries, not least a catastrophic fire in 1791. The 20-foot-high (6.1 m) stained glass replica window in the main hall consists of three coats-of-arms of previous owners including the crest of Anne Boleyn.

Rochford Hall.

In 1777, the owner of Rochford Hall decided to dissuade travellers from this natural approach to Rochford running past his front door, so he built Hall Road slightly away from his property and included a bridge across the Roach tributary. This road would later become a Turnpike or toll road.

We walk pass St Andrews Church here by the golf course an Rochford Hall.

St Andrew’s church building has its origins in the 13th and 14th centuries, although the list of incumbents lets us know that people were worshipping God on this site much earlier than this. Take a while to look inside at the stained-glass windows and the inscriptions on the tombs.

The 15th/16th century tower is a fine example of Tudor brickwork, featuring interspersed Reigate stone to give a diaper pattern. The tower is built from 15th century brick that came from Rochford brickworks and was built by Thomas Boteler, Earl of Ormond, the maternal great grandfather of Anne Boleyn. Although Sir Richard Rich would later claim the tower’s construction, and indeed may have contributed to its completion in some way, the Ormond coat of arms above the west entrance seems to settle this dispute. To the north is the vestry, a late 16th century brick addition.

Edward Calamy would join the church in the 1630’s and soon caught malaria as a result of living in this area. He would preach all his sermons while sitting at his desk as he became dizzy if he stood up.

In 1862 the interior of the church was restored, by replacing the old pews, raising the ceiling and removing the gallery. The Reverend Benjamin Cotton became rector in 1861, staying for over fifty years and oversaw many of these changes.

Benton, the local farmer and historian, recorded in 1882 that smugglers secretly used the church tower to store gin, tea and other goods brought from France and a cavity below the pulpit was called the magazine!

The Rochford parish memorial to local victims of the Great War of 1914-18 was moved to its present location in the tower in 2005. In the porch, wooden boards list the name of every Rochford resident who served in the war. The Great War caused difficulty for faith groups, especially when conscription became law. The Peculiar People wrestled with this topic – was it right for men to bear arms against each other? Some took on work of national importance, which meant that they could help the war effort without actually fighting, others became conscientious objectors and of this group many would serve hard labour in Dartmoor Jail. The conditions there were hard, food was consistently bad, and anyone caught looking out of his cell window during the day was punished with three days of a bread and water diet.

Today, the church is possibly unique in now being completely surrounded by a golf course.

We walk back onto Hall Lane and back to the Train Station for the journey home. 

Just under eight and a half mile walk and plenty of beer!

Danbury to Beesleigh Falls, Essex 2nd October 2023

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On Monday the 2^nd October 2023 Sean and I drove to Essex Outdoors Centre on Well Lane Danbury.

The aim was to risk assess a 12 mile route I had planned for the Police cadets Duke of Edinburgh Bronze practice.

We parked up and walked up Well Lane onto Main Road and up a footpath that takes us out to Riffhams Lane.

On Riffhams Lane we can see Riffhams Hall.

The estate of which Old Riffhams was a capital messuage was owned by the Clerke family up until 1801. In the late C18 Martha, daughter and heiress of Robert Clerke, married Charles Phillips, who in default of heirs, left the estate to his great-nephew John Robert Spencer. On inheriting in 1809, John took the additional name of Phillips. Instead of altering the old manor house, he chose to build a new mansion on a spectacular site c 600m to the south-west of the old one. He began the house, which he called Riffhams, in 1815, the same year in which Humphry Repton (1752-1818) was called in to give advice on the grounds. Although a Red Book was not prepared, Repton advised on the location of the new house and prepared 'a panoramic sketch of the views from the site proposed for Riffham's Lodge' (Repton watercolour (copy), UEA). In 1836 Wright included an engraving in his History of Essex which shows the early C19 flower gardens and shrubberies. John Spencer died in 1874, aged eighty-seven years. The estate was inherited by his son Major John Charles Spencer-Phillips but was let to a Mrs E Kirk and then to Mr and Mrs Charles Parker in c 1904. During their tenancy the Danbury Flower Show was held in the grounds. In 1928 the house was occupied by Sir Adam and Lady Richie and in 1933 Percy Tyrell Spencer Phillips put it on the market. It was purchased by Sir Follett Holt, a railway engineer. Sir Follett's son sold Riffhams in c 1968 to the Benson family. In 1976 the estate was again put up for sale and the house and park were purchased by the Hindmarch family. The estate remains in single private ownership.

We walk on up Riffhams Lane for a while before taking a footpath into the woods at Lingwood Common.

We emerge from the woods after a uphill stretch and cross the road into Fir Tree Road and follow this road down into woods called Poors Piece.

We follow this path on into Woodham Walter Common. We reach the golf course but we need to turn before this so a short backtrack and we follow a path through the woods and out into Spring Elms Poultry Farm and out to a road at Crossways.

We take a path off the junction here across West Bowers Farm and pass an Ariel Antenna array.

We then take a path that runs diagonally across the farm and pass some horses here, they we had to stop and say hello to.

We turn right onto West Bowers Road and walk a short way up and take another path on our left and follow this across to Little London Lane and up this road to another path and follow this down to Hoe Mill Lock.

The path ahead had been ploughed and rolled and was soft underfoot going across.

We follow the road for a short way before going through a gate and following the footpath towards Hoe Mill.

We walk onto Hoe Mill Lock Road and up to Hoe Mill Lock itself.

Hoe Mill Lock is lock 9 of 12 on the Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation.

The navigation runs from Springfield Basin in Chelmsford to the sea lock at Heybridge Basin near Maldon. It has six bridges and drops 75 feet (23 m) through 12 locks from the basin to the sea. There is also a set of flood gates at Beeleigh, which prevents water from the River Blackwater flooding the cut to Heybridge Basin. The navigation meanders in a broadly west to east direction between Chelmsford and Maldon, through countryside which is largely arable, and although it passes near to a number of villages, all of them are set back some distance from the waterway.

Hoe Mill Lock has the largest drop on the Navigation, at 8 feet and 3 inches. As a result there is a danger of swamping the boats when filling the lock, and so the lock paddles on the upper gates are located in underground side culverts. The lock is named after a corn mill which had existed near the site from Saxon times to 1914 when it was demolished. In 1795, Hoe Mill was bought by Robert Marriage. His sons, Robert and James, inherited the mill. They were both Quakers and deeply opposed to the slave trade.

They decided to build a sugar beet mill on the banks of the canal, believing that locally produced beet sugar would undermine the importation of cane sugar largely produced in the Caribbean using slave labour. Their aim was "a desire to obtain the best information and to promote the abolition of slavery, by producing an article of free labour." The mill was sited half a mile downstream from Hoe Mill, near where this walk first joins the towpath. The mill employed 30 men, women and children. The process of converting beet into sugar consisted of first rasping the sugar beet roots and then crushing the beet to a pulp which was pressed. The resulting liquor was reduced by boiling and then clarified, then finally any remaining liquid was evaporated off and the residue crystallised. The left-over pulp was used as cattle feed. Sadly the mill failed after just 2 years partly, it is believed, through the resistance of various influential businessmen who wished to continue to import from the West Indies.

We now follow the pretty Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation path, the river is very popular with canoes, kayaks, paddleboarders and pleasure boats.

 We stop at a bench by Hoe Mill Lock for lunch before walking on.

We follow the river for quite a way now.

Wild hops growing by the riverside.

We walk under the pipe bridge that carries water from the nearby water pumping station.

We reach the Beeleigh Locks and walk on by.

Beeleigh is home to some of the falls and locks and weir on the Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation.

The Navigation was built in the 1790's to enable transport of goods by horse drawn barge to and from Chelmsford. The town of Maldon had opposed the canal and so the canal had to be cut by hand from here to bypass Maldon and lead to Heybridge Basin on the Blackwater estuary.

The main weir enabled the canal to remain at a constant height when the river was in flood and it is quite a sight when that happens with the water cascading over the weir and into the river Chelmer on it's way to the Estuary via Maldon, passing Fullbridge before reaching the Hythe where it becomes known as the Blackwater.

Here, the rivers Chelmer and Blackwater meet creating a very special environment.

From here, you can walk the old towpath track to Heybridge and further on to Heybridge Basin.

We take a footpath near the lock and walk up to Beeleigh Falls.

The ‘falls’ are certainly not your typical waterfall of outstanding beauty, but there is beauty in the calm river, the sound of the water rushing down the weir into the reeds and the contrast of man-made and natural, all in one place.

We walk on crossing the bridge over the falls and follow a footpath through a wooded path.

          This brings us out to a road called Abbey Turning. Here I now reach Beeleigh Steam Mill.

Beeleigh mill was a large flour mill on the river Chelmer near Maldon, Essex. It had two water wheels driving 10 stones (later 12), to which was added a separate building which housed a steam-powered beam engine driving five millstones. The main building housing the water-powered wheels burnt down in a fire in 1875.

The site, which is Grade II, now comprises the building housing the steam engine and the drive gearing for its millstones, the brick housing for one of the waterwheels, and the two adjacent brick-lined barge docks used for loading flour for shipment to London.

The steam mill is divided into 2 rooms, separated by a brick partition. The smaller north-western part is full height and contains the complete iron, double-acting Wentworth compound steam beam engine which was installed in 1845. Alongside is an ‘Elephant’ boiler with 2 safety valves and firebox. It is the only surviving example of this type of boiler in England, though it was more popular in France and Belgium.

The ground floor of the larger room contains the drive gears including a circular-plan iron hurst with an iron upright shaft with great spur wheel, which drives each of the five pairs of stones.

The upper floor has the emplacements for the stones. The drive shafts are in place, but the stones themselves are no longer there.

Although not currently visible, a hide-out was built during WW2 under the floor of the steam mill for an auxiliary unit to hide should the enemy invade. Access was from a trapdoor in the building, with an escape route which came out in the tail-race tunnel from the nearer mill-race. After the war, this hide-out was filled in by the army.

Now we pass Kingfisher Cottage on my right, surrounded by water. No kingfisher today, not what I could see anyway!

I take a footpath across the fields of Beeleigh Grange Farm.

We pass an amazing property at Woodlands.

We follow along Hop Gardens Lane.

At the end of the Lane we cross over onto a footpath opposite.

We follow a footpath over Whitehouse Farm and over into some woods called The Wilderness.

Sean and I are really out in the Wilderness now ha ha! 

We emerge out onto The Street and to the Bell Pub.

Sadly the pub is closed and we walk on with a major thirst.

We walk through the woods pass Warren Lodges Holiday Park.

We are now out onto The Warren Golf Club. As usual as per most golf courses there are very little in the way of footpath signs, other than look out for stray golf balls.

We find our way across the golf course and out onto a place called Twitty Fee.

We follow this back into Poors Piece and is now a steep climb back uphill. I thought the cadets will love this climb after a long walk.

We follow the path back out onto Main Road and we walk this back towards Danbury.

We pass the War memorial on my left by Elm Green.

The aftermath of the First World War saw the biggest single wave of public commemoration ever with tens of thousands of memorials erected across England. This was the result of both the huge impact on communities of the loss of three quarters of a million British lives, and also the official policy of not repatriating the dead which meant that the memorials provided the main focus of the grief felt at this great loss.

One such memorial was raised at Danbury as a permanent testament to the sacrifice made by 24 members of the local community who lost their lives in the First World War.

Danbury War Memorial was unveiled on 31 July 1920 by Field Marshal Sir WR Robertson. It was built to the Cross of Sacrifice design which was devised in 1919 by Sir Reginald Blomfield (1856-1942) for war cemeteries abroad, although it was also widely adopted in Britain.

The memorial consists of a c 7.3m high Portland stone Latin cross rising from an octagonal plinth on a four-stepped base. A bronze Sword of Sacrifice is fixed to the south face of the cross.

The south face of the plinth bears the incised inscription IN THANKFULNESS TO GOD/AND IN MEMORY OF THE MEN OF DANBURY WHO FELL IN THE GREAT WAR MDCCCCXIV MDCCCCXVII. The names of the 24 First World War fallen are recorded on the north, east and west faces of the plinth.

We walk on and reach The Bell Pub where we stop for a drink before walking back to the car for the drive home.