Stanford-Le-Hope memories
Here are memories of Stanford-Le-Hope and the local area. You can start now: Add your own Memory of Stanford-Le-Hope or a Stanford-Le-Hope photo.
Vera Waites
My mother-in-law has just passed away and we found this in her papers. My years at Stanford-le-Hope Laundry. I lived in a village where my mum and family had lived for generations. A signpost at the top of our lane said '24 miles to London'. Our house was in the last road on one side of the village before farm land, and almost a mile from the River Thames. It was the last week of our school holidays and my dad told me, when he cam home from his work at the oil refinery, that the next day I was to go to our local laundry and ask for the manageress. I knew this laundry as one of my aunts lived close by, and our best Sunday School dresses had always been sent there because my mum didn't have an ironing table or sleeve board, just the kitchen table. Our dresses were always the same colour for the three of us, and had long sleeves. My young sister had to wear the... Read more
School Days
I grew up in Leigh-on- Sea but because my mother taught at Hassenbrook we drove to Standford every day from the time I was 4 1/2 till I was 9. I attended Standford-le-Hope Infants and then when I turned 7 went across the road to the Junior school. I remember there was a green wooden shack which we called the Tuck Shop which was just outside the back gate of the Junior School where we bought sweets. My best friend in the Junior School was Elaine Bradshaw and I hated living in Leigh because we couldn't play during the holidays. I also was friends with Jane Pierce. Her dad was the Vicar or Rector of the church (St. Margarets I think) and I have great memories of playing in the grounds around the church, they were beautiful and huge. Before I started school I was looked after by a lady I called Aunty Rose. She lived in a thatched cottage that stood between the road and the recreation/playground. There was... Read more
Stanford 1955- 1965
Hello George I lived in Stanford 1947-1971. The house opposite the church was where Dr. Morris lived, I believe. The surgery was round the corner in what felt like old stables. It was a fine house but was later purchased by a pub chain, I am not sure what it is now. I do not recall the site you mention prior to 1960 when Lloyds bank had a branch built there. I lived in King Edward Road down Wharf Road and used to enjoy playing and dog walking on the route to Mucking and the gravel pit area. Also watching the huge steam engines pulling large tanker trains from Shell Haven.
Blacksmith's Yard
My paternal grandmother Annie Cowell came from Stanford and I have always been led to believe that the space on the left of the house in the foreground, where the trees are, was the site of her father's blacksmith's premises. Her husband (or husband to be) Thomas J Mead was also a blacksmith and probably worked there as well, hence the connection, before they moved to Romford and then Wooburn Green in Buckinghamshire. I understand that Mr Cowell was well known in the then village and was also a pillar of the church community.
I spent many of my early years, in the 1940's and 50's, holidaying in Stanford and staying with my auntie Alice King at 14 Salisbury Avenue, and on these occasions joining her in the Mucking Church Choir (to be with my friend Sylvia Hipsey); and remember well the frequent treks down Wharf Road and over the Warren at the weekends. I had my first legal drink in the pub by the Green on Church Hill.
Abbotts Hall Chase Army Huts From 1946-1948
I was four years old when our family moved from Liverpool to squat in one of the army huts. I remember it very well, and the German prisoners of war who made such a fuss of us children. We had no electricity, running water or toilets but a big cast iron stove in the middle of the hut. Often we had nothing to burn in the stove and sat bundled up in our coats to keep warm. We used a kerosene lamp for light and a primus stove to cook on. I started school in Stanford-le-Hope when I was five, and we were moved to requisitioned house in Grays when I was six.
I NEED HELP TO FIND LONG LOST RELATIVES.
Losing my mother and father, I know very little of my family on my mother's side. I do know she worked in her grandfather's shop. He owned 3 shops, a tobacconist, a hairdressers, a store, on the Pavement in Stanford. His name was Mr Henry Arnold, my grandmother was Edith, my aunts were Lillian and Edith. My grandmother was Edith who sadly died many years before I was born. My mother's name was Agnes, my aunt Lillian, known as Cissy, has 1 son, Harry. My eldest sister Elizabeth and I would like to find our relatives from this part of our family. I have photos, but I need more, I have a longing to find a family I was too young to remember and unable to get to know. My great-grandfather died in a car fire on the return from collecting stock for his shop in London some time after the war. I have 2 members of my mothers family left, they are aging, one is nearly 90 and... Read more
Childhood Visits to Stanford Le Hope
My uncle George Boyce lived in a flat-roofed white-painted house on the corner of an unmade side road not far from the church at the 'T' junction at the end of the road. He and my uncle Bill Boyce built the cinema that stood back from the road between the white house and the church and on the same side of the road. I was only 5 - 8 years old when I visited Stanford and cannot remember any other details. My mum and I used to travel there from Pitsea on a double decker bus. Uncle used to take me to the cinema and I was allowed to watch the films showing from the projection room. The cinema was later converted to a Bingo hall after both uncles had emigrated.
Connie Kettle
Hi there Does anyone remember the grocer shop in King Street, Connie Kettle's, also the old pit just behind and to the left of the shop, and the old cottages where if you walked past these you would come out near the top of Church Hill? The pit was a dumping ground for all sorts of things but can anybody tell me what the pit was used for in the first place please? Happy memories to all.
St. Margarets 1914-18 War Dead
There are 5 gentlemen buried in our churchyard along with inscriptions for 2 others, their deaths being associated with the First World War. I have began to research these gentlemen to take away their anonymity for I think they deserve more than that. If anyone has any infomation relating to these gentlemen I would be most grateful if they would contact me via E-mail--geodonovan@hotmail.com There names are-----EDMUND BANKS--GEORGE WEALD--ERNEST BRITTON---ALFRED WILLIS---WALTER J MEAD---PATRICK LOWRY---FRED JACKSON---ALFRED LATTER( d-1941)
Scratton Road
I am trying to compile photos of my ancestors' birthplaces - as they were and are now. Can anyone help in identifying the house number for a property know as Colwyn in Scratton Road, Stanford le Hope, Essex?
Corringham Essex.
My father worked on a construction site at Tilbury I think it was, so our family moved from Thornaby to Corringham. We lived in a trailer on a farm just behind the Bull Inn, right next to a school. There was a lane between our caravan and the school and this trail lead up to Fobbing Hill. I remember the land we sat on was on top of a deep gully, and I mean big deep gully. I used to walk from our caravan along a path beside fields and climb over a style and proceed to the Bull Inn. My dad would usually be sitting at the Bull having a pint. I was all of about 10 years old then.
I had a friend named Christopher Mair who lived close to the Bull. I have since lost track of Chistopher. There was another young lad there named Roland Forester and I have lost track of him too. Would be nice to hear from them or anybody who remembered these... Read more
Memories of Stanford-Le-Hope
I too have many memories of Stanford-le-Hope.
I was born in Orsett hospital. My mother came from South Wales whilst my father came from Ashford in Middlesex. The reason they came to live here was my aunt and uncle already lived here. My uncle had lived here most of his 95 years. His mother used to teach at Stanford Primary School in Corringham Road and he went on to teach at St Chads in Tilbury.
I remember many things from all those years ago. The railway crossing and the man who used to turn the wheel to open and close the gates - I am sure to this day he took great pleasure in closing them early and opening them late. There was the old station kiosk which was at the bottom of a slope where the ticket office is now. My uncle used to run Stanford Photography Service and I can remember him collecting film and returning prints to this kiosk. There was the woods... Read more
A Village to A Town
Born at Orsett hospital in 1950, I remember many things about Stanford. My father was from east London, my mother from rural Essex. They settled at no. 8 Central Road, just round the corner from Barclays bank. Stanford and Corringham were not adjoined then, as they were two villages with an expanse of fields between them, including the old army camp (disused).
I remember the cattle market where the Welcome Club is now and at the corner of Kings Street there used to be a real bakers with a flour mill run by the Kings bakers.
Just behind the cattle market was Thomas Allen, a petroleum delivery company which went on for many years. My brother worked from them after completing National Service.
Coryton and the Shell Houses were about 9 miles down the road, though the children and families were allowed free transport to Stanford via a bus to shuttle them back to the refinery areas as they came to school at either Stanford or... Read more
Memories of Essex
1955 to 1972
I grew up in one of the bungalows at the foot of One Tree Hill and often spent weekends and school holidays with the Keeper's children, Peter and Jonathon Scott. One Tree Hill was a fascinating place to spend our weekends and school holidays. I remember the sand pit and an old spa. There was also a wartime pillbox/gun emplacement placed centrally on the hillside.
My father worked at Cawdor Hall farm at the foot of the hill so I also spent time with the farm children, and if we weren't building straw camps from the bales we were fooling around in the barns. At Guy Fawkes we always had a bonfire which the children mostly built. We used to make a guy using old clothes and straw each year, with the Springfield Cafe being a tremendous source of firework money from "penny for the Guy" sessions.
Photography was a serious hobby of mine and I have several photos from the 1960's and 1970's. I lived there from... Read more
The Old Conker Tree
This photo is taken from outside my grandparents house, Church Cottage, Church Road. This old tree caused some stress to my granddad as every year children would come and throw sticks to bring down the best conkers. I left in 1972 aged 14 to go to New Zealand. But this tree brings back great memories. My Great Aunt lived across the road another of your photos. We lived at 13 Fobbing Road. I may be on the other side of the world but this page has brought so many memories.
Lampits Hill
I was born June 1953 in the white bungalow just to the right of the woman in the photo. It was called "Meadway" and my parents moved there in 1950 when there was just fields opposite where the houses can be seen.
My sister still lives on the plot of land in the house built in 1975 to replace the old bungalow.
Lampits Hill
Even after all the years, it still looks basically the same here!
The Bull
I recall being taken here for my first real drink aged 13 by my uncle. I had to sit outside of course. It soon became my local and I drank there up until the mid 70s.
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