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Tiptree
Tiptree maps
Historic maps of Tiptree and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Tiptree maps
Tiptree area books
Displaying 1 of 18 books about Tiptree and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Tiptree
Displaying a selection of personal
memories of Tiptree.
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Homes Boy
I entered White's Children's Home and Mission (known as CH&M) in June of 1945 having come from Surbiton, Surrey. I was 9 years old. The home was situated in Church Rd opposite "The Pond", it is now a CO-OP supermarket. There was a large Georgian house named "The Grove" and a Hall with other buildings, we had a large field to play in, there was also a farm there. There were about 56 children there then, boys and girls. We went to Tiptree Heath School, and the Congregrational Church in (I think) Chapel Rd, now the Reformed Church. We used to be marched two-by-two to school and church. The home was founded in 1899 by Mr Herbert White at South Woodford. Tiptree was the holiday premises and because of the war they had to stay at Tiptree from September 1939 till Easter 1947, when most of the children were moved back to South Woodford. The premises were sold in 1954. When I was there Mr White and his wife with... Read more
Essex memories
My Granddad Stevens
Years ago my grandad had a small garage and workshop at the side of the Du-Cane Arms. My dad was born there and went to scool at Great Tottom. My grandad is buried in Great Braxted Church and my nanna is there too. In the last few years dad (Anthony Percy Stevens who died in 2005) was buried also in Great Braxted Church, and in 2008 my mum Alfreda Emily Stevens died and she also is burried with my dad in Great Braxted Church. My dad told me that him and his little brother would go into Braxted Park and get mistletoe and sell it on to get themselves a few pennies for Christmas. My eldest sister was christened in Braxted Church. My Aunty Dot and Uncle Cecil Raner lived in Braxted village for years a few doors away from the Du-Cane Arms and they had a green monkey that lived in a large cage in their garden. I would go and stay at my auntie's with one of my... Read more
Freddie Holmes' Garage
I attended the primary school, just down the Maldon Road from the garage in the photo, which was run by Mr Holmes. The sweet-shop behind the pumps was popular with us kids! Headmaster of the primary school was Mr Herbert Lewis, a Welshman known to us as "Pop". He maintained discipline - and our attention! - with a bundle of rulers held together with elastic-bands; when applied to the backside they made you sit up in both ways! But he was a good teacher, joined in with our games and was liked and respected. His wife, Hilda, a formidable lady from Yorkshire, was his deputy.
Then, Arthur Green ran the village post-office from the front room of his house on Staplers Heath, and he delivered on an old, smoky motor-bike. Great Totham Hall farm was owned by Tom Martin, a shrewd man if ever there was one. We actually lived in Great Totham north, in Mountains Cottage, Mountains Road, next to Lt Mountains farm which is still in the ownership... Read more
Evacuation
I along with my sister and mother were evacuated from Ilford to the station master's house at Tolleshant D'arcy. The railway line had three trains in each direction each day and my sister and myself were allowed to open and close the manual level crossing ( we were 6 and 4 at the time!!). The station had a ticket office ( an old carrige on bricks), a black weighing machine, a waiting room and a coal yard.
I attended the local school and sometimes the local milkman would take me in his pony and trap as the station was some way from the village. We were only in Tolleshant D'arcy for some 6 weeks in the early part of the war, but they were memorable and very happy times.
October Gale
High winds and loud crashing in the middle of the night.
Not long after my divorce, moving back to live with my mother and father.
We were woken by crashing of bricks from the gable end of the house. Both mine and my father's cars had been crushed by the bricks. Looking across to Bradwell from the bedroom window, I could see flashes of blue light from the high voltage power cables, as the wind made them clash together.
A very unforgettable night.
A Real English Village
My parents moved to Wickham Bishops in 1948 to help friends run the village Post Office Stores which sold everything - stamps, paraffin (you brought your own can and it was filled from a barrel at the back), vinegar (as for the parafin, it came from a barrel out back), cheese portions cut from huge cheeses wrapped in linen, and loose flour and pulses which even as a five year old I was allowed to put into blue sugar-paper bags to be weighed. Sweets where still rationed and broken biscuits were popular. My mother and her friend went once a year to order skirts, blouses, frocks and underwear from the London warehouses. Toys that came in for Christmas were not in plastic so I got the first go with them! There was a village pantomime every year in which all the local characters took part, glamorous in fish-net tights as Dandini or hideous in wigs and false chests as the ugly sisters. There was also a Christmas party for everyone... Read more
Wickham Bishops Born And Bred
In 1950 I was born on a cold winter's night to my mother Rosemary Jesse, at 'The Black Houses', Kelvedon Road, Wickham Bishops, built by architect, designer and socio-economic theorist Arthur Heygate Macmurdo. I had an older brother Neil and a sister, Christine. My mother had lived her childhood at Goldhanger, another delightfully unique part of Essex, bringing forth many joyful memories of childhood. My father Chris like me was born in Wickham Bishops, his father Joe walked into the village at the tender age of 11 with another lad from who knows where and were taken in and raised by a couple of families in the village, hence no record of our ancestry on that that side of the family.
My mother worked at the local primary school for endless years, firstly as the dinner lady then the dinner and lunchtime playground lady. Luckily for us kids my mum had a wonderful sense of play, the only downfall for me was that from the moment I could sit... Read more
