Rayleigh, Essex

Smallholding in Eastwood Road

This memory is my mum's - in the 1940s she remembers her dad taking her (on his motorbike with mum in the sidecar) to a smallholding on Eastwood Road in Rayleigh - she thinks probably to buy 'day-old chicks' (her parents kept chickens). We are trying to find out the name of the business or the people who ran... [more]

Cottages

I would like to know if anyone out there has any photos of the row of cottages that were just in the Eastwood Road as you came into Rayleigh High Street, I would be very interested, as they were part of me childhood, I remember sitting upstair on the bus and it always felt if I put my hand out the... [more]

Rayleigh

I too remember this cottage well as I used to walk past it every day going to Sweyne School. I found this site by accident but am glad that I did find it. As I now live in New Zealand it is good to see some photographs of my old home town which I grew up in (getting homesick now). Thank... [more]

Rayleigh Taxis.

My wife's grandfather, Mr Alfred Victor Newman, ran a fleet of Ford V8 taxis from Rayleigh High Street during the 1940s.  He lived and parked the taxis in Hullbridge Road, Rayleigh.  If anyone remembers him, or knew him or has pictures of him or his taxis, I would be pleased to talk to them for family tree purposes.  Mrs T Smith... [more]

Dutch Cottage

I also remember this charming little cottage from my childhood in the 1960's. Was so pleased to see it featured on BBC Breakfast this week & to hear it is open to the public once a week by the young woman who now lives there.

Dutch Cottage

I live 4 doors down from the cotttage and it is still going strong.

1957-1965

I used to walk from way down Eastwood Road to Crown Hill and down to The Sweyne School for many years. I always used to look at the Cottage with awe thinking how old it was and wondering at the history it had seen. I doubt that it exists today, because the vandals would have desecrated anything old in favour of... [more]

small person

As a boy i walked past the Dutch Cottage on my way to the high street , as a child i found it a bit eerie , i saw a small person coming out of there a couple of times which seemed to add to the afect . by the mid 70`s the cottage had lost it`s clean chocolate box cover... [more]

Southend Pocket Album

The Post Office building is solidly built of brick. Further along, on the left of the picture, the Salvation Army Chapel may be seen, with the car close by.The Co-operative Society advertisement proudly boasts that it has more than one thousand service points in London and Southend. The Southend Co-operative was founded in 1890 and later merged with the Stratford Co-operative Society.

Essex - A Second Selection Photographic Memories

Rayleigh has come a long way from the 'wild she-goat clearing' suggested by its name. Here we see one of the town's post-offices. Beyond the row with the Co-op hoarding ('More than a thousand service-points in London & Southend') are the Sunday School (1902) and the Wesleyan church (1885).

Southend Pocket Album

The village street shown in this picture is now a busy part of the town.The two cars, a motor cycle and one bicycle reflect a slower pace of life.The bank, with its solid door, is half hidden by a large tree. In the next building the International Store can be seen.This was a flourishing grocery chain at the time.The Crown Hotel proudly proclaims the sale of Manns Beer. ... [more]