Middleton
Middleton maps (2 available)
Map of Essex
Beautifully hand-drawn and coloured, dating from around 1840
Personalised maps
Create an historic map centred directly on any postcode!
Middleton books (16 available)
Braintree Town and City Memories
Hardback
Chigwell Photographic Memories
Paperback
Chigwell Photographic Memories
Hardback
Middleton memories
Read and share memories of Middleton and Essex inspired by Frith photos
Be the first to add a memory of Middleton.
You can also read memories of nearby places in Essex below.
Essex memories
Where I grew up.
I lived most of my life in Sible Hedingham, as a family we moved there from London in 1962. I was just 2 years old at the time. My father Robert Farren, "Bob" as he was best known and my mother Ivy, took over the licence of The White Lion, Church Street. Growing up I never imagined that I would ever live anywhere but there. My parents retired after 28 years behind the bar.
The White Lion can be seen in picture S276003 of Church Street, it is the second building on the right hand side of the photograph. The first building is, or I should say was a General Store. You could buy just about anything there from linens, ...read more here
A memory of Sible Hedingham contributed by anne elder
blacksmiths
I attended the grammar school 1936-9. Whilst waiting for buses home I used to talk to the local blacksmith. I said to him ,"My granddad uised to be a smith"
When I told him my surname was `King` he asked "Was he Tom King ?" I did not know as my relative had died when I was two but asked "Why?" I was told "All smiths named King were `Tom` Many years later checking the family tree I found it was correct ,three generations of smiths all surnamed King were either named or nicknamed `Tom`.The first was at Aingers Green Gt.Bentley. I then wondered was Dick Turpin`s partner in crime,Tom King a forebear of mine ? It seems NO, ...read more here
A memory of Earls Colne contributed by Peter King
Our wedding
I am originally from St. Helens, Lancashire, and met my husband, Roy, at Burtonwood AFB where I worked. He was stationed at Wethersfield but came on occasion to Burtonwood. When I moved south to be married, I had to live in the neighbourhood for three weeks for the bans to be called out, and my husband's NCOIC was friendly with a lady who lived in the houses directly across from the church. Her name was Ada Stebbing. She took me in for those three weeks and I was married from her house in St. Andrews church. She managed to convince the local retired minister, Harry Jordan, to get permission from the bishop to come out of ...read more here
A memory of Shalford contributed by Anita Watson
Thorogoods in my family tree
This is not a memory as such, however I have been researching my husband's family tree. When speaking to elderly family members I have found that his grandmother's family, the Thorogoods, come from Shalford. I would like to know if there are any Thorogoods still in Shalford. We can't wait to find out more about your village and discover my husband's roots.
A memory of Shalford contributed by Paula Cooke
Extracts From Middleton & Essex books
Colchester was also visited by the Roman
Emperor himself, who considered the capture of
this capital vital to the success of the conquest
from AD43 onwards.
The next appearance on the chart of British
history was less happy. Boudicca, or, as she
used to be known, ‘Boadicea’, queen of the
Iceni and daughter of King Prasutagus, ruled
much of what is now East Anglia and rose in
revolt after being flogged and her daughters
raped by the Romans. The town with its mostly
timber buildings was burnt, though the stone
Temple of Claudius defied the Britons for two
more days. The rebels swept on to burn more
towns before their defeat, and Colchester was
rebuilt and walled in stone. It never fully
recovered; although it remained a prosperous
town, Londinium, the more natural focus
for the province, rapidly outstripped it as the
premier settlement of Britannia.
During the Anglo-Saxon period the town was
occupied at varying degrees of intensity, but the
only physical reminder of these centuries is the
fine west tower of Holy Trinity church, a mid
11th-century landmark. It uses salvaged Roman
bricks, septaria and stone from ruined Roman
buildings, a habit continued by the Normans
after 1066, when the town was a prosperous one
with seven priests. This presumably relates to
the number of churches, including Holy Trinity,
St Botolph’s and St Runwald’s, which was in
the High Street near the town hall and was only
demolished in 1878.
The Norman arrival led, as in other towns
such as Norwich, to wholesale demolition to
accommodate a castle with its baileys within the
town walls. The great castle cleared the north-
east sector of the Roman town.
An extract from from"Colchester Photographic Memories".
The roof and floors had been removed when the upper two storeys
of the keep were demolished after 1683. This view can no longer be
seen, as a new roof and floors were installed in 1932, owing to water
damage to the Roman vaulted basements.
An extract from from"Colchester Photographic Memories".
This view shows the wall
walk, originally passage-
ways in the thickness of
the third storey of the
higher keep. Jumbo can
be seen to the right of
the town hall’s soaring
tower. The lower archway
of the three within the
castle was a fireplace.
An extract from from"Colchester Photographic Memories".
Much of this avenue
survives the outer
bailey, although it is
now bounded by 1920s
low walling, and the
ornate benches have
been replaced by more
utilitarian ones. The
trees have been thinned
and the nicely restored
bandstand is more
visible.
An extract from from"Colchester Photographic Memories".
By 1960 some of the 1890s
trees were fully mature.
Subsequently there has
been much thinning and
opening-up to the benefit
of the castle’s setting. This
view is looking north past
the keep to the start of the
descent from the ramparts
to the River Colne below.
An extract from from"Colchester Photographic Memories".