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Little Baddow
Little Baddow photos
Displaying the first of 11 old photos of Little Baddow. View all Little Baddow photos
Little Baddow maps
Historic maps of Little Baddow and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Little Baddow maps
Little Baddow area books
Displaying 1 of 18 books about Little Baddow and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Little Baddow
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Little Baddow.
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Little Baddow, From 1948 to 1966
Hi there folks, Just a little bit of memory, when I was a very young lad of one year old, we moved to Little Baddow from London, to Tofts Farm, there we stayed until 1966, developing the business, to include Tofts Country Club, maybe you were a member. I also remember Mr & Mrs Bromley, Woodlands School, we sometimes all played tennis at our place, not too far to walk, I can remember quite a lot of people around there. Should you read this message, and feel like getting in touch tel / fax 01297 553264 E.mail: swordcrown@rocketmail.com. Look forward to hearing from you, Geoff Bloxcksidge
Woodlands School
From 1961 to 1967 I attended Woodlands School in Oaklands Way, off Postmans Lane, Little Baddow. It was a tiny girls school run single handedly by the late Dorothy Bromley, the classrooms being two white wooden sheds in the garden. There was no playground but there was a grass tennis court that we the pupils had to maintain.
There were times when our court was not up to the job, then we would go and play tennis at The Rodney which I seem to remember belonged to Dr Kerr in those days (not sure about the spelling there).
The tennis court was completely isolated in woodland and a small group of us girls would walk there unsupervised down Postmans Lane, turning left at the end into Spring Elms Lane, up the hill and into The Rodney on the right. Very often Mrs Bromley would send us there to occupy us because she would be away at some political function, her main passion!
Elijah Mecklenburgh of The Old Rodney Pleasure Grounds
Not a memory, but a mention of my ancestor great great great uncle Elijah Mecklenburgh, born 1837 at Bradfield and died 1913 in Maldon. All I know about him was that he lived at Ravens Farmhouse in Woodham Walter in 1871, and that he had connections to the Old Rodney Pleasure grounds. I have no idea what the pleasure grounds were, or even if they still exsist, so seeing this photo with reference to the Rodney was great, but if anyone can add any memories, it would be even better.
Another Ghostly Experience on Grace's Walk
The year is approximate as I was in my teens, so it was somewhere between 1972 and 1974. I had a horse called Shamrock, that I kept in Sandon and I used to ride him through Danbury and Little Baddow all the time. I went down Grace's Walk one day, from the Little Baddow end, alone with the horse, and when we were about level with the house, my horse suddenly froze and snorted. He was normally very calm so I was surprised, and looked down the bridle path, following the direction of his gaze. Down by the stream and the bridge I saw a figure of a woman dressed in black, with a long gown, standing very still looking straight up the track towards us. It certainly was not modern dress, so I knew that this was a strange happening. I stared too, for a minute or so, and then she vanished...not in the magic wand sense of the word, but it was almost as though she was still... Read more
Growing Up 1950s
During the late 1950s my parents moved to live on Bremner's Farm - an apple farm at that time, in Little Baddow.
On getting my first bicycle - a black, woman's bike, I use to cycle all over this area - Riffam's lane, Graces Walk and around Coleman's lane. My brother married a girl from Coleman's lane.
I spent many happy hours wandering through the dense woodland between Bremner's Farm and uptowards Great Baddow/Danbury.
Midnight Ghost Hunt
I was born in Little Baddow and was familiar with the story of Alice Mildmay and Jesse Berridge's book. One summer night three of us rode ponies down Riffhams Chase to Great Graces and down Grace's Walk, arriving at midnight. We crossed the bridge (the one in the photo) and all I can remember after that is that all three ponies turned and galloped back up towards the house. We returned home up Colam Lane, where there is supposed to be another haunting, in the pond at the bend in the road. I think the ponies picked up our midnight ghost hunt tension but it was exciting!
Essex memories
Happy Memories
I remember the Griffin Hotel as the Griffin PH, when as a student nurse I visited it with my elderly grandmother Minnie Grainge on days away from London. She was so proud to be escorted by her eldest granddaughter and as a local woman whose family had come from Woodham Walter was acknowleged by so many as she walked through the door. Our lunchtime treat was the most delicious prawn sandwiches. Is it as lovely now I wonder?
