Claybury Asylum 1908, Woodford Bridge
Claybury Asylum 1908, Woodford Bridge Ref: 60271A
Memories of Claybury Asylum 1908, Woodford Bridge
Claybury Memories.
Both my parents were nurses at Claybury during the 1950s. My dad worked days and my mum worked nights. I can remember her telling me that when she did 'the rounds' during the night she used to ride her bike through the dark corridors crunching over cockroaches! Dad was umpire for the Clabury cricket team and my brother and I spent many a warm sunny Sunday playing in the grounds of the hospital while Mum sat in her deck chair knitting and watching the cricket. I never had the opportunity to see inside the hospital but I was always intrigued by the big tower. I think it was a water tower. The Claybury I remember was much bigger than the picture shown, it had impressive gates with lodge houses on each side. As children, my brother and I and all our friends would go to Toms Wood to pick blackberries, we were always on the look out for 'escaped patients' and imagined anybody we saw was an inmate! Many a... Read more
My Grandmother
I have no actual memory but my mother tells me that when she visited her mother at Claybury, I played on the grounds with my father. We emigrated in 1956 when I was 8 and I finally got to go back in 1983 and saw her for the first and only time. She of course didn't know who I was. I went to the office and did see her records but was so upset I didn't really absorb anything. I cried all the way in, while I was there and all the way out and for hours afterwards. Clara Amelia Lyons was admitted in 1937 at age 44 and died there at, I believe, age 92. Imagine. If your parents or anyone remembers her or has any records of her, I'd appreciate hearing back. Thanks.
Thereas
I was talking to my nan today and she told me she used to be a care assistant, her name's Thereas, she told me all her stories, she didn't tell me when she worked there but she is 65 now so it was a while back.
Memories of Claybury Hospital
My mum worked at Claybury for many years, myself and younger sister were schooled at a Catholic school in Manford Way, due to hours my mother worked we were dropped off at hospital until my mum's shift had finished. I will always remember the gardens where me and my sister would play, so beautifuly kept by the patients, we would spent hours playing, also the peacefulness of these gardens, so many flowers, and all neat. There were many patients who also wandered around these gardens, none of which were a dangerous nature, most not aware of two young girls playing. I remember asking my mum years later why some of patients were in there as I could not understand why they were there, as they seemed so well balanced, and she did tell me some of there people have been here for years and to send them out to llive in the community could cause them distress and I often overheard that some of them of which me and my... Read more
Happy Youthful Days
I was born in 1934 and my first home was 15 Stoneycroft Road. We lived there until 1937 when we moved to 19 Claybury Road. I remember going down the air raid shelter under the Woodford Bridge Green. It was a damp, claustrophobic place comprising a series of concrete tunnels and I have the impression it was always crowded. I remember standing on the top of Millman's Hill or Drapers Hill as it was sometimes called,(it is now a park), with a lot of the neighbours and watching the East End of London burn all around St Pauls. It is now covered in trees but in those days cows grazed in the hill and there was only a small spinney of trees. We used to toboggan down it in winter and for teenage lovers it was a paradise place in summer. It was also used by the Home Guard for training. At the top of Claybury Road was the Bluebell Dell where we used to paint the canvases of... Read more
Claybury Hospital
I was a paper boy for Mr Watkins, in the High Road, and delivered bundles of newspapers to Claybury Hospital seven days a week. There were so many bundles, I could not ride the trades bike as it was all up hill, even up to the hospital from the main gates. On a cold winters morning, it wasn't the place to be, walking up through the grounds of woods and with very little lighting. On one occasion, I was confronted by male nurses in white coats, telling me that a patient had escaped and I was to get back to the gate house without delay!!! Boy, did that bike move down hill, loaded or not. Every other week there was a very nice Postman with the mail in his van, who would put my papers in his van and deliver them to the Hospital, from the gatehouse. I then had to deliver to all the houses in Dr. Barnado's. All this for 3/6d a week. (171/2 pence in today's money. I can just... Read more
Colin King.
I think I must have known Colin King. He would have been a neighbour of Brian Cordell, a very good friend of mine from a very young age till the late 50's. I was born at 21 Highfield Road. Colin would be the same age as my brother and sister, Ted and Mary, and a little younger than Bill. I was born in 1938, so just that bit younger. Yes I remember Drapers Hill, the River Roding etc My first 'fishing trip' was to Pasingford Bridge on the crossbar of Barry Gore's bike. My fishing rod was a 6' can from the garden with line and hook tied to the top - my first fish was a gudgeon. I am still in touch with Derek Pierson, who lived at 33 Highfield Road. He is now a great great grandfather, and is only one month older that me. My mum and dad, sister and brother-in-law and nephew are burried in St Pauls Church. I must get back down there and see the graves... Read more
Woodford Bridge & local memories
Read and share memories of Woodford Bridge and Essex inspired by Frith photos.
The Bridge 40+ Years of Memories
'Mum, did you catch fish in the pond at the Bridge' asked my son when Googling for ponds to fish. 0f course we did, with our home made nets of a piece of material attached to a stick, carrying home the sticklbacks and frogs spawn in a jam jar with its handle of string. Reading the memories days later. Names were familiar, but as most where dated awhile ago, I didn't like to make contact in case they had passed away, but going back occasionally to reread them, Colin King wrote in 2012, I immediately contacted him, we knew each other back in late 1940s. I was Pat Tewksbury when Mum, Dad and I moved to 8 Highfield Road, June 1937, into one of the four houses that Dad helped to build. I married at St. Paul's, June 1957. We bought our own house at South Woodford, backing onto the fields at Charlie Brown's Roundabout. When plans for the M11 to be built at the bottom of our garden... Read more
St Paul's Church And Sunday School
I moved to Woodford Bridge when I was about 4 years old in 1949 and a few years later went regularly to Church and Sunday School at St Paul's Church for several years. The Vicar at that time was Rev Philip Wright. He was well known for his interesting collection of old farm and agricultural tools and had a small museum at his house.
My younger sister and I used to walk up the hill from our house at the bottom of Hazeleigh Gardens on Sunday afternoons and go to our respective classes in the rather dusty Church Hall - the children were divided up by age into several groups and I think we were also separated into boys and girls. The youngest children were in a separate room off to the right, I seem to remember, and in the main hall would be more than one little circle of children with their teacher. I seem to recall one of the Sunday School teachers was Miss Manby who I... Read more
"Any Old Iron"
This photo brings back lots of memories for me as it shows High Road, Woodford Bridge which is where the old-fashioned ironmongers that my family owned was situated. There had been one on the site since the beginning of the 20th Century, but we owned it from 1973 until my Father retired in 1987. Originally it was High Road, Woodford Bridge, but it was renamed Chigwell Road. I particularly remember 1974 as this was when the River Roding, which ran along the rear, burst its banks and flooded the yard. It was under about seven feet of water and the cellar was full up. My Sister and I found it very amusing to sit with the trap door open grabbing things as they floated by.
In later years I worked behind the counter on a Saturday and during school holidays as did my two Sisters. I used to go down there every morning with my Father, help out for fifteen or twenty... Read more
St Johns
My memories of St Johns are that of being slippers every night before bed but I would like to talk to anyone who was there 1955 to 1959. We came from Paddingtion London and I suffered from hearing problems I wait to hear from anyone who remembers me.
Memory
For those of you who read the memories. I would like you to join me in remembering my dear brother William Ernent Bedford who passed away Monday 2nd April 2012, aged 80. Those of you who knew him, I am sure will be saddened by the loss of a fine gentleman of an old Woodford Bridge family.
Any Old Iron
I remember the ironmongers when it was GUNTONS. from 1940s till I moved from the villiage in the late 50s
St Paul's Church
What memories I have of that lovely church and the drive up to it, lined with Horse Chestnut trees, in full bloom in the spring, and bearing all those beautiful conkers in the autumn. I was Christened at the church. My sisters married there, and both my parents are burried there. together with my eldest sister and her hushband, also my nephew. I haven't been back for years, but will never forget it.
Childhood Memories
I remember my father speaking about Woodford Bridge and High Road, Woodford. His name was Clarence Harris Bickers and together with my mother we all lived at 52 St. Ronan's Crescent. When we were bombed my father lost a leg and I was injured, we then moved away to live with the family of my mother's uncle in High Wycombe, Bucks. My father's uncle, William Benjamin Bickers, lived in Snakes Lane, Woodford. Does anyone know who lives at my previous address? Or know any of the Bickers family living in this area? My husband Jack and myself, with our two adult children, live in Western Australia.
St John's Open Air School, Turpins Lane
I was a pupil at St John's Open Air School from April 1958 until December 1961. Most of the boys like myself were boarders from other parts of the country and we have all lost contact with each other until recently when through a website a few of us have made contact again, but none of us have any photos of the school and I have been unsuccsessfull in obtaining any school reports etc. I would like to ask if anyone knows about the convent and if I could contact any of the nuns who may be able to help. I made a visit to the school last year but again no luck with my search. I would be most grateful for any help. Thankyou.
Claybury Hospital
This wonderful picture might show visitors leaving after visiting time, or as I prefer to think, it could be gardeners and other staff leaving after their day's work is done: in which case the tall moustachioed gent in the front row could easily be my grandfather, George Crabb. He worked there in the inter-war years, and retired in about 1941.
Shopping With Nona
As Mum went out to work fulltime, Nan looked after me before the age of 3. She would take me shopping to this row of shops regularly. The shop with the long awning was a chemist's shop. There was also a Post Office, and a greengrocers owned by George and Mona Page who later became our neighbours at Abridge; there was Guntons bicycle shop which sold Matchbox and Dinky cars and miniature railway accesssories for model railway builders, and there was a ladies clothing shop at the end which probably became the aforesaid ironmongers shop at a later date. On the other side of the road was a butchers, a little cafe 'The Village Rest' and a fishmongers. The fishmongers had a tank full of live black eels under the window and they didn't half wriggle! The fishmongers and butchers became empty and fell into disrepair, but were renovated and turned into private houses.
Drapers Dairy
My mum took me to the pond when I was a toddler. There were tiny fish in the pond which facinated me. On the right of the picture is a block of flats. This is where Draper's Dairy previously stood. They sold fresh Hovis there and even miniature Hovis loaves. This bread tasted so good - not like the stuff you buy in the supermarket (supermarkets hadn't at that time been introduced from America). You could go to the dairy and buy direct. They also had a horse and cart delivery service which delivered the milk. Dobbin was their trusty carthorse. I was very fond of Dobbin.
Bankil's Ironmonger
Bankil's of Woodford Bridge was my uncle's shop. The two men in brown coats were 'Hock' and Dick Chinnery. My uncle was John Banks. My father Brian and brother Peter also worked there for short periods of time on Saturdays. My cousin John worked there too until the mid 1960 I think. It was a fantastic business supplying almost anything the trade may have needed.
The Good Old Days
I was an only child and I lived in various addresses in Woodford Green and Woodford Bridge. My first address was in a flat above a Doctors surgery in High Rd, Woodford Bridge and my last address was in Crownhill Road, Woodford Bridge. I went to Ray Lodge School, then Roding Lane Junior School and then St Barnabas Girls school, which half way through changed to a mixed school (much to my utter joy!!)
I left school at 16 and went straight into a job in the west end for Rentokil (Advice Centre). I remember the tube journey with much affection. Squashed together like sardines, having your bum pinched often and just very frantic. I thought nothing of it at 16, now at 50, it would fill me with dread!
I now live in Torquay, Devon , and have done for the last 33yrs, and I still call Woodford "My Roots". It still is home to me, and always will be.
My mum was brought up in Chigwell and... Read more
Ironmongers
I was born in Gaynes Hill Road in 1941. Was the shop you are writing about John Bankils (or similar spelling) oposite Gaynes Hill Road. I can remember going to the shop for my Dad many times, I can almost remember the men that worked there, always in brown coats. One I remember had lots of curly hair, I think he lived in one of the roads off of Gaynes Hill. The shop always smelt of parafin. We last lived in Woodford Bridge in 1982
The Little Shop.
Derek, the little shop by the school is where I would go a buy an OXO for 1/4d farthing. The gravy in the school dinners were so weak and washy I would crumble it into my dinner to give it some flavour. Do you remember the air vent in the end building. We use to try to get tennis balls stuck in the slates.
Ray Lodge School
I lived in Woodford Green from 1945 but went to Ray Lodge School from the age of about 8. Does anyone remember the little shop by the school gates.....I think that it was run by mother who had a daughter whose name I have completely forgotten now.
Happy Days in Woodford Bridge.
I've just come across this site. My memory years are really from 1938 up to 1958, when I married and left Crownhill Road, but I have returned several times recently, as it draws me back to 'home', although we moved there (from Burnley), in Oct.1936, when I was just over 4/years old (I am now 77). I had a brother, (Gervase, now called 'John' ), 3/years older than me. My wife & two sons, have lived in Newport, South Wales, since 1969, but if and when we motor East, I try to go via Woodford, and I am pleased to note that the St Paul's church area is still well kept, this evokes many good memories, as I went to the Sunday School there, and was in the choir, and was also a Sidesman for a while.
Some good times were had, despite the Second World War. We could roam around the fields all day,without parents worrying at all. We had the cricket field at the end of Crownhill... Read more
Garden City
I lived in Britannia House, Garden City from 1962/3-1970. This was one of the Dr Barnado homes inside the Garden City. I went to Roding Lane Infants then Junior school. I then went to St Barnabas Secondary School.
I still look back with great fondness on Woodford Bridge and when able to, I visit. I no longer know anyone in Woodford but do visit all the places I knew and liked. This includes visiting two school friends whom are buried in St Paul's church.
Rackhams Bakery
I think the memory on Drapers Dairy was confused with Rackhams Bakery which was situated near the Crooked Billet pub and has since been demolished to make way for a block of flats. Drapers Dairy was at the bottom of the hill in Roding Lane North. Rackhams delivered bread in the area and we also had deliveries from Rachel the egg lady.
I lived in Crownhill Road from 1937 to 1993 and spent many happy winter hours when snow was on the ground playing on the hill known to all as Drapers Hill.
My Life in Woodford Bridge.
Hi, I have only just found this site though a friend.
I was born in 1938 at 21, Highfield Road. One of 10 children, only 5 of us lived at 21, Bill, Ted and Mary (twins) and Jean and I (also twins). Went to school at Ray Lodge school, then on to Roding Lane Primary, which was a Canadian Fire Station during the war. Then up to St Barnabas. Left school in 1953.
I have wonderful memories of some of my friends, Brian Cordwell, Reggie Clark, Bertie Bladden, Dereck Pierson. Some of the girls also, Rossie Foster, Ann Whitehead, Maureen, Pam Clarke. We played up Millmans Hill during school holidays, as well as playing down the River Roding down by the sewer works , where we would paddle in the trough as it went into the river. Bike rides to Abridge, Passingford Bridge, Lambourne End. and anywhere our fancy took us. Even cycled over to Woolwich Ferry one day (Mum went mad when she found out). Bluebell picking at... Read more
Looking For Old Memories
Both my parents lived in Woodford for most of their childhood. Mum lived in Uplands Road, and Dad lived in Chalford Walk. They got married in Broadmead Baptist Church in 1964.
I'm trying to find any records, memories anything at all that might relate to either of them. Can anyone help?
The Second World War
There was an air raid shelter under the green opposite the Three Jolly Wheelers pub. It comprised a number of concrete passageways. My mother my sister and I would use it on occasions when there was a particularly bad air raid. I remember it as damp and musty with bunks lined up against one wall of each passageway and side passages that contained a small kitchen and first aid areas. These were manned by air raid wardens. At the end of the war a celebration took place on the green and an effigy of Hitler was burned hanging from the tree opposite the Three Jolly Wheelers.
During the war my mother, sister and I lived at 19 Claybury Road, Woodford Bridge. When we were not in the public shelter on the green we would spend the air raids sleeping in a Morrison shelter in the front bedroom. An oil bomb landed in our back garden but did not explode correctly and it left a large oil stain on... Read more
