Memories of Little Baddow

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 there but we just lost the ability to perceive her. I have never forgotten the experience, which I don't think was particularly frightening. I read Gemma's contribution with great interest and did not previously know about any reports of hauntings, so my experience was quite naive in that sense.

I have seen other ghosts since then, but this was the first one, I think.

Heather Chaplin, Somerest, UK.

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!