Hadleigh Castle And Town c.1963 Onward.

A Memory of Hadleigh.

I purchased my first house at 28 Chapel Lane with my late wife. This lane led down to the Salvation Army Farm where an annual event of motor cycle scrambling took place. The lane was quiet apart from this event and to compensate the organisers gave residents complimentary tickets which we used on several occasions. The castle stood to the east of this area.
Alas our house was pulled down c1971/2 for new ones to be built.
Opposite the end of Chapel Lane at its junction with London Road (A13) stood our "local", a pub called the Wagon and Horses. It was later modernised into a pub/restaurant and then eventually demolished to make way for retirement flats.
Just prior to 1963 the old Kingsway cinema was demolished and its organ is now preserved in a barn at Wakering? A large car showroom and grounds was built in its stead and it too has now closed and moved elsewhere.
I have witnessed many changes to Hadleigh including a dual carriageway between Victoria House Corner and the Fire Station (now moved to a new station at Rayleigh Weir). The demolition of a large car sales where Lidl's store now stands; Iceland built a shop on the plot of an old garage; the old High Street shops and houses have changed in character and now a McDonalds fast food outlet on the site of another garage; Vic House Corner had an old character house"The Dutchy" demolished and was changed from a staggered cross roads to a large roundabout; the closure of "The Crown" pub whose future is uncertain and too many more changes to mention.
Shame but Hadleigh over the years has lost its village charm to become what it is today.
Sometimes, I feel, changes are not for the better.

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