Category Archives: Uncategorized

Of tombs and parish registers: sailing into the afterlife!

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Edward Harris, Customer Service Team Lead, together with Neil Wiffen, Archive Assistant and “Tintinophile” (Though he prefers Asterix) have been exploring the connections between newly listed tombs at St Clements, Leigh on Sea and Hegré’s salty sea-dog Captain Haddock.

Here at the Essex Record Office, we all love the history of our county, and are always on the lookout for further research. We were pleased to hear recently news about the listing by Historic England, of the chest tomb dedicated to Mary Anna Haddock (neé Goodlad, c.1610-1688), mother of Sir Richard Haddock (c.1629-1715), in the churchyard of St Clement, Leigh-on-Sea (https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1481879).

Engraving of Leigh Church (St Clement) I/Mb 220/1/6

Leigh Church (St Clement) – I/Mb 220/1/6

An added attraction was the suggestion of a connection with Hergé’s Captain Haddock, Tintin’s nautical sidekick.

Historic England state that the tomb ‘is relatively unusual as a single memorial to a named women of this date’ and that it is ‘an exceptional early example of a churchyard memorial … for the craftsmanship evident in the carved panels, posts, and tomb slab.’ How interesting and what might the Record Office have on Mary Anna Haddock and her important tomb?

While we do not focus on physical monuments in themselves, we do look after parish registers of baptisms, marriages and burials for the Diocese of Chelmsford (under which St Clement falls) so, ‘do we have Mary Anna’s burial entry’ in the archive? If we do, it’s always nice to then share it with our followers – simple really. Well, no! As is so often the case when undertaking historical research.

Historic England’s listing informs us that Mary Anna died on January 6th 1688, so taking a look at the relevant register (D/P 284/1/1), there is an entry for a burial taking place on January 13, 1688 (which seems right for arrangements to be made for burial from the time of death) for ‘Mrs [mistress – presumably stressing that she was elderly and respectable] Hannah Haddocke’ but not ‘Mary Anna Haddock’. Our interest was piqued!

Hannah Haddock burial 1688 - D/P 284/1/1

Hannah Haddock burial 1688 – D/P 284/1/1

A couple of obvious answers, as to why there are differences, might be that the names ‘Hannah’ and ‘Anna’ were interchangeable in the period, or that she was simply known by ‘pet’ or preferred name as opposed to the name given to her at birth. The incumbent could have also made a mistake, especially if he was writing up the ‘official’ burial entry later than when the burial took place. What else can we find out though?

We initially went, as is normal, to the relevant volume of the monumental inscriptions produced by our friends at the Essex Society for Family History. That for St Clement being T/Z 151/89 (which is indexed and contains a great plan of the church yard). Due to weathering of inscriptions, they pointed us towards John Bundock’s 1978 Leigh Parish Church of St. Clement: a historical description:

There are two tombs to members of the Haddock family … [one] a large altar tomb with only the top inscribed. Part of it is not very legible. For this and most of the churchyard monuments described here the author has reproduced the readings of earlier copyists. (p.54)

For an ‘earlier copyist’, when the inscription must have been legible, we consulted Philip Benton:

This tombe was erected by Sir Richard Haddock, Kt, in memory of his Grandfather, Capt Richard Haddock who died 22 May, 1660, aged 79 years. As also his father, Capt William Haddock, who died 22 September, 1667, aged 60 years. And his mother, Anna Haddock, who died 6 January, A.D. 1688, in the 78 year of her age, who all lie underneath in the vault. Also the body of Dame Eliz. Haddock, wife of Sir Richard Haddock, who died 26 Feby, 1709-10 aged 59 years. As also the body of Sir Richard Haddock, Comptroller of his Majesties Navy who died 26 January, 1714-15, aged 85 years. (P. Benton, The History of the Rochford Hundred, 1 (Rochford, 1867), p.352.)

Sir Engraving of Richard Haddock I/Pb 8/2/2

Sir Richard Haddock I/Pb 8/2/2

An early twentieth century publication, when the tomb might still have been legible, describes the tomb thus:

In churchyard – E. end … to Capt. Richard Haddock, (1660?), Capt. William Haddock, 166-, Anna Haddock, 1688, Elizabeth Haddock, 1709, and Sir Richard Haddock, 1714, Controller of the Navy, table-tomb. (Royal Commission on Historical Monuments, Essex, 4 (London, 1923), p.83.)

So, it is clear that the tomb contained several members of both sexes of the Haddock family and that Anna/Hannah was one of them. We have not found a sniff of a ‘Mary Anna Haddock’, the nearest we have got is the burial entry to ‘Mrs Hannah Haddocke’. As the tomb in question, and several others around it, are so weathered now as to be illegible, we must rely on previous authors and, of course, what is written in the burial register. We just hope that we are talking about the same tomb and burial as Historic England. Unfortunately, the Leigh parish register that we have consulted is the earliest still extant. Any earlier registers, dating back to 1538, do not survive so we cannot check baptism or marriage entries for the Haddock family, which might have made clearer some of the family connections.

We did however find an entry in the burial register of St Olave, Hart Street 1684-1805, held by The London Archive saying that ‘Mrs Anna Haddocke wid[ow] was caryed to be buryed at Leigh in the County of Essex.’ So this must have been where the funeral service took place, but still not, Mary Anna Haddock! (P69/OLA1/A/010/MS28870 – The London Archive)

As to the Tintin connection, like physical monuments this is not one of our areas of expertise, but a quick look at the online ‘go to’ place for answers, Wikipedia, states that:

Haddock’s name was suggested by Hergé’s wife, who noted that haddock was a ‘sad English fish’ over a fish dinner. Hergé then utilised the name for the English captain he’d just introduced … Although it has not been suggested that Hergé based Haddock on any historical persons, it transpired that there were several Haddocks who had served in the navy. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Haddock)

Tintin.com (a fantastic website for the avid Tintinophile) does add:

As for his family, we know that he is the descendant of the knight François de Hadoque, a navy captain who served under Louis XIV. The king of France entrusted François de Hadoque with the command of the frigate “The Unicorn” which the latter lost under circumstances which were revealed in The Secret of the Unicorn. (https://www.tintin.com/en/characters/captain-haddock#)

The original french language version has the The Unicorn in the background flying a Bourbon Flag, interestingly, the English translation shows it flying a union flag only adopted in 1801, 86 years after the death of Louis XIV. The English translation also has François Hadoque become Francis Haddock who sailed in the English Navy in the reign of Charles II. Coincidentally (as Tintin’s Unicorn is fictional with the art based on a model of the French second rate ship of the line Brilliant) our Captain Richard Haddock commanded the HMS Unicorn from 1648 -1652.

Blistering barnacles, what do you think?

So often with historical research, things are not clear cut and very rarely is there a definitive answer. However, that’s the joy of looking at archives. If you would like to look at the images of parish registers held by the Record Office, further details can be found at: https://www.essexarchivesonline.co.uk/ParishRegisters.aspx

What will you discover?

World Digital Preservation Day 2024

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As well as making 1000 years’ worth of historical documents available to present day researchers, Essex Record Office also has a role in preserving current information for researchers of the future to access. As it is World Digital Preservation Day, we thought we would share some of the work we have been doing on the latter, preserving digital records for future generations.

A minidisc, CD-R, mini-DV tape, and floppy disk laid flat on a yellow background.

Types of media in the archive: clockwise from top left – minidisc, CD-R, floppy disk and mini-DV tape

Digital preservation is defined as ‘the activities necessary to ensure the continued access to digital materials as long as necessary….beyond the limits of media failure or technological and organisational change’. (Definition taken from the Handbook: Digital Preservation Handbook, 2nd Edition, https://www.dpconline.org/handbook, Digital Preservation Coalition © 2015, accessed on 29 August 2024). It encompasses documents and files that are created and only exist digitally, known as born-digital; scans of paper records that have been destroyed, known as digitised records; and digital copies of existing paper and analogue records, known as digital surrogates.

Essex Record Office does not have many digitised records, but we do have a considerable number of digital surrogates and a growing number of born-digital records in our collections. Put together, we have over 83 terabytes of digital records, up from 64 terabytes in 2021. 97% of these are digital surrogates e.g. images of parish registers and wills. Only 3% are born-digital, but these include Word-processed documents, images, and sound and video recordings that form part of the Essex Sound and Video Archive.

Looking after digital records poses some challenges that are very different to looking after paper and parchment. Risks to the survival of digital records come from the fact that software is needed to view them, which can become obsolete; and hardware is sometimes needed to view them, which has the same problem. For example, we have quite a number of floppy disks in our collections. How many people have computers that still have floppy disk drives? Some risks are however similar to those faced with physical documents. Just as paper can decay through high acidity levels or the effect of moist environments, digital records can decay electronically, often when being copied from one file location to another.

We have been looking at the risks our digital holdings face and how we can mitigate against them, and have been benchmarking our activities against various digital preservation standards that have been devised by the National Digital Stewardship Alliance and the Digital Preservation Coalition. The risk to the holdings has been assessed against a framework provided by the UK National Archives. This was first done in 2022, and revisiting the framework this year has shown that we have made significant progress in lowering the risk of the records becoming inaccessible. This is largely owing to the fact that in 2022, our digital holdings were not particularly well documented, particularly in terms of technical information. We now have a lot more information about the digital records that we hold, which means that it is easier to establish where vulnerabilities exist. This means for example that we can transfer the content kept on file types most at risk of obsolescence onto file types with more longevity.

We are also making progress against the standards, partly through the extra information we now have, but also because we have been busy copying all the files kept on CDs, floppy disks and other portable media onto the cloud. This reduces the risk that this information will become inaccessible because the hardware can no longer be read, either because readers are not kept or maintained, or because the CDs or floppy disks themselves have degraded.

We have also invested in a dedicated computer to carry out digital preservation work, and with it, some specialist software to help. When we have any digital records deposited, we now check it to see what file formats are included and what size they are. File formats are also checked against the National Archive’s PRONOM directory, which helps us see how much longevity they have and if we therefore need to move anything to a new format. If we move records from one file location to another, we now always use a piece of software to check that the transfer has completed successfully and not caused any damage to the files.

We are additionally trying to plan for the types of records that we are likely to receive in the future to make sure we can take them when offered them. Two examples of this are websites and emails. We have a system that can capture copies of websites and present them offline as they would have looked. Consequently, if anyone runs a website of Essex interest that they feel should be preserved, please contact us on ero.enquiry@essex.gov.uk to discuss giving to us to look after. This is particularly pertinent if it can no longer be maintained, but a copy of it is wanted for posterity. Emails are particularly complicated as there can be replies from multiple people, they can include attachments and links and they are littered with personal information. We now have software that allows quite a sophisticated search function for email collections. Names of people and keywords can be searched for as well as labels that we can allocate to an email or groups of emails. It also allows personal information to be identified and redacted and access restrictions to be put on emails where necessary. We can currently only accept email mailboxes in mbox format, which limits it to people with Hotmail or Gmail email addresses, but we would certainly welcome deposits of email mailboxes from these accounts.

A VHS tape, reel-to-reel tape, cartridge, and cassette tape laid flat on a green background.

More media: clockwise from top left – VHS tape, reel-to-reel tape, cassette tape and cartridge

Much more work needs to be done here in the area of digital preservation, particularly relating to how we provide access to these records. Furthermore, even the cloud is not infallible and back-up copies need to made of the information kept on it in case of disaster. We also need to develop our email preservation to include outlook mailboxes. Importantly, we are beginning to work on a long-term plan for digital preservation activities alongside how our records are presented online generally.

Digital Preservation is going to become ever more relevant with increasing quantities of information now being digital only. It is incredibly likely for example that people will now have collections of digital rather than printed photographs, and we have done a lot of preparation to make sure that we are ready to accept these types of collections. This is a rapidly developing area and one with many future uncertainties, but it is one we feel we can tackle and advise on.

The Digital Preservation Coalition are launching a toolkit for community archives today, so if this article has prompted questions about how you safeguard your own digital records for the future or those of an organisation you are part of, please feel free to make use of this, or ask us for guidance. More details can be found at https://www.dpconline.org/.

Cydonia Oblonga – the Quince

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Neil Wiffen HeadshotIn his latest blog on fruits and vegetables, ERO Archive Assistant and Orchard Authority Neil Wiffen, considers quinces.

Cydonia Oblonga – the Quince

The autumn is when the English apple and pear season really gets in its stride. What a delight that the D’Arcy Spice is soon to be back in season, the Ribston Pippin on the shelves, a Doyenné du Comice pear slowly ripening in the fruit bowl. A poor relation to these well-known orchard fruits is the quince. Such a jolly, good-looking fruit, glowing all gold and yellow among the foliage but as hard as iron!

Yellow quinces in a wicker basket.

Yellow quinces in a wicker basket.

The quince is not native to Britain, it probably originated far to the east, in Turkestan and Transcaucasia. It was known on Crete at an early stage, and it was from here that it derives its name, Cydonia, from the city of Cydonea, now known as Canea. It appears that it was not introduced into Britian until after the Norman Conquest, and it is recorded that Edward I had some in 1275. (F.A. Roach, Cultivated Fruits of Britain: Their Origin and History (1985), pp.221-223).

Possibly the quince was generally a fruit of the gentry and aristocracy as being hard and gritty it must be cooked, often with wine, sugar and honey. Quince jelly and quince cheese perhaps have their origins here. Philip Miller, in The Gardener’s Dictionary (1731), goes as far as to say that ‘the fruit is sour and astringent’ (ERO, D/DU 588/1). The recipe ‘To p[re]serve Quinces’ (ERO, D/DBy Z1) uses a lot of sugar along with rose water and cinnamon – all expensive ingredients in early modern England.

Extract from D/DBy Z1 a recipe for preserving quinces.

Extract from D/DBy Z1 a recipe for preserving quinces.

It can also be used in savoury dishes, so perhaps this is where it would have found a role in most households. However, in the first half of the eighteenth century, someone decided to note down a recipe for quince wine (ERO, D/DRe Z5, c.1725), another way to make use of them, although with you still needed ‘3 pound of sugar’ to ‘every gallon of licker’.

Extract from D/DRe Z5 a recipe for quince wine

Extract from D/DRe Z5 a recipe for quince wine

It is generally a very good ‘keeper’; it would have found a welcome shelf in the fruit store to help provide a supply over winter in an age before refrigeration and imports from around the globe. Mixed in with apples, it makes a wonderful crumble, bringing a lovely, distinctive taste and colour. I can imagine that it was ‘valued’, as an addition to the diet, but possibly not loved.

1st ed 25inch OS 1873-4 Blackmore

Quince Hall in Blackmore 1st ed 25 inch OS 1873-4

The quince has left little in the way of records, the odd place-name, such as Quince Hall in Blackmore, and Quince Tree Farm in South Ockendon – perhaps both named after a distinctive and unusual quince tree in their gardens? The quince as a landscape feature.

Quince Tree Farm 1st ed 25inch OS c.1875

Quince Tree Farm 1st ed 25inch OS c.1875

If you want to find out more about apple days and all things celebrated around orchard fruits see: https://www.commonground.org.uk/apple-day/

If you want to see how the ERO got on ‘p[re]serve[ing] Quinces’ or how the c.1725 quince wine recipe came out then take a look at our video.

You can download the recipes here:

Preserved Quinces Recipe – Transcription

Quince Wine Recipe – Transcription

If you would like to see the quince recipe in D/DBy Z1, it will be on display in the ERO Searchroom until the end of November.

Take a trip to your local farm shop to hunt out a quince – let’s put it back on the menu!

New art collective Care Contractors visit Essex Record Office to research Pilot Basildon Public Art Trail

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Back in August, we were delighted to welcome the Care Contractors to the ERO Searchroom to explore the records of the Basildon Development Corporation. In this guest post, they tell us about their work and how the archives have helped them.

We are a newly formed art collective called Care Contractors, interested in public art, its maintenance, commissioning, and fabrication. Our members are Emma Edmondson (sculptor, educator and organiser), Lu Williams (artist, publisher), Shaun C. Badham (sculpture, artist, technician) and Laura Whiting (designer, researcher). Our first project commissioned by Creative Basildon is to develop a pilot cultural trail and community engagement for public art in Basildon that will take place this autumn.

Publicity photograph, opening ceremony of Wendy Taylor’s Armillary Sundial (1989) part of the Roundacre Improvement Scheme. Wendy Taylor is shown standing in front of the stainless steel sculpture with Harry Bacon and Gordon Roberts from the Commission for New Towns (catalogue ref: A8287 box 4)

As part of our research we want to understand how early public artworks were commissioned by the Basildon Development Corporation, what funds were allocated and how conversations between artists and government officers unfolded. To prepare for our visit to Essex Record Office, we were introduced by Alina Congreve of New Jerusalems to archivist Victoria West for an initial video call. This helped to plan our research day, as the collection features an enormous 1,065 boxes of Basildon Development Corporation material.

One box (from accession A8287 box 4) containing letters, papers and publicity material from the administrative department proved really useful for our research: photos of the iconic Mother and Child (1962) fountain being built in Maurice Lambert’s studio (that for a time was also the Basildon logo); photographs of the bronze Homer (1961) by Frederick Edward William in Brooke House, now sadly missing; along with photos of the opening ceremony of Wendy Taylors’ Armillary Sundial (1989) attended proudly by the Commission for New Towns officials Harry Bacon and Gordon Roberts. As we looked through the materials some common questions arrived – what plans were put in place for maintenance? Who is responsible for this work? And what might be a sustainable vehicle to undertake this today?

From looking through promotional brochures in A8389 box 3 the role public art played in attracting new business, residents and shoppers was very apparent. Basildon produced its own district guides, commonly featuring well-loved artworks such as Pussiewillow III (1981) by Rowland Emett outside Savacentre (now ASDA) on its cover. We wondered what would be the equivalent today? And the contemporary role public art plays in promoting the town.

Booklet: Welcome to the District, published by Basildon Council, No date, estimate 1982, cover featuring a crowd admiring the newly installed Pussywillow III sculpture (catalogue ref: A9389 Box 3)

Booklet: Welcome to the District, published by Basildon Council, No date, estimate 1982, aspirational quote set against photograph of Mother and Child Fountain (1962) Maurice Lambert, and Keay House (now Southgate House) in the Background before remodelling (catalogue ref: A9389 Box 3)

With our project we had already decided to focus on the work of Wendy Taylor for its hybrid approach to public realm design. Still innovative today, Taylor’s approach was feminist, pedestrian and cycle focused; her designs wove together a series of roundabouts and underpasses at the Eastern and Western gateways to the town centre. Commissioned by the Development Corporation, The Roundacre Improvement Scheme Underpasses (1985-90) were designed to increase safety with curved walls that prevented attackers from pressing their victims up against the sides, and coloured patterned tiles specified for their light reflective qualities, as seen with The Avenue of Trees underpasses. Since 2013, these underpasses have been left with half the tiles removed after the installation of new lighting. Now under the care of Essex County Highways, since the disbanding of the Development Corporation, advocating for their repair is a more complex task. 

Amongst the archive photos, we rediscovered the currently overgrown sculptural letters of Taylor’s Compass Bowl (1980) at Southernhay / Long Riding. Understanding the original intention of these environmental works could, for example, inform instructions given to gardening teams today, and reinject the meaning to this unique outdoor sunken ‘room for contemplation’. We also found photos of another currently underloved artwork – Taylor’s Animal Fesco Underpass, completed in Phase II of the Roundacre improvement works connecting Gloucester Park and what was previously a boating lake and public swimming pool. Its sloped sides are just steep enough to climb if you have good shoes, it encourages you to scramble over the silhouettes of life size animals cast with dyed concrete. Common across public art in New Towns is its availability to be climbed and played on, and intentionally or not, concrete of all textures has proved useful over time, which might not be the most ecological material choice today, but is nonetheless easy to maintain.

As Basildon reaches its 75th year, we can reflect on the generosity, co-ordination and ambition of the late stages of the Development Corporation projects. With new redevelopment plans afoot, what opportunities may arise for thoughtful and sensitive new infrastructure? How will public art be integrated, and most importantly who will care for, clean and curate it? Through our project we will be establishing conversations with residents, council officers, shoppers, festival goers, artists and commissioners with what new forms of artworks are relevant today, and who does the work of care in a time and cash poor society? 

Photograph, year unknown, Wendy Taylor’s Compass Bowl (1980) at Southernhay / Long Riding roundabout showing directional floor paving and angular raised planters and stylised compass letters (catalogue ref: A8287)

Colour photograph showing present day Compass Bowl conditions, resurfaced floor, and abundant vegetation that obscures stylized lettering. Members of Care Contractors Art Collective Lu Williams, Poly (dog) and Shaun C. Badham in the mouth of the tunnel (credit Emma Edmonsdson, 2024)

You can follow the Care Contractors on Instagram here: www.instagram.com/care_contractors/

For full list of public activities and events please see: creativebasildon.co.uk/care-contractors/

You can find our more about the New Jerusalems project here: www.newjerusalems.info/ and follow on Instagram here: www.instagram.com/new.jerusalems/

Essex Record Office has two guides to the Basildon and Harlow Development Corporations records: Guide to help you start exploring the New Town Development Corporation Records and Harlow and Basildon in the Essex Sound and Video Archive

 

 

Geraldine and Martin – Can you help?

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In this blog post Archive Assistant and B-26 Marauder fan, Neil Wiffen, seeks assistance with some research.

For years I have known a story about Geraldine and Martin who lived in the vicinity of Great Sailing. ‘And who were they?’ I hear you ask. Well, in Roger Freeman’s B-26 Marauder at War (Shepperton, 1978 – copy in ERO Library) there’s a picture (p. 109)Cover of publication called B-26 Marauder at war by Roger Freeman of a crashed B-26 Marauder named Geraldine, with some of the crew that flew it, and the following caption: ‘Wake over Geraldine … Parents of the real Geraldine returned the naming gesture by having their baby son christened Martin!’ This marauder was part of the 322nd bomb Group based at Andrewsfield near Braintree.

‘Interesting’ I thought, and I stored that piece of information away. Fast forward almost 40 years (really!) and in preparing for the forthcoming Welcome to Essex: remembering the USAAF mini-conference, I was looking through the picture resources at the National Archives of America (National Archives NextGen Catalog) and I came across the photo mentioned above, along with another of the actual Geraldine which, with information from it, enlarges on the story of the naming.

Geraldine examining “her” B-26
(US National Archives reference 342-FH-3A45703-52864AC)

Text that accompanies the photograph:

Little Miss Geraldine, pretty British youngster who lives next door to a 9th Air Force base in rural England, watches a ground crew Sgt. [Sergeant] paint the 80th bomb on the fuselage of “her” B-26 Marauder. Geraldine almost daily inspects the bomber bearing her name, watches from her bedroom window each time it takes off on missions. Geraldine’s baby brother carries out the bombing motif – he was christened “Martin”, for the Glenn L. Martin Company in Baltimore, M[arylan]d., builders of B-26 Marauder medium bombers.

Now, a couple of us at the Record Office have had a look to see if we can find a relevant birth for a Geraldine (not at all a common name in the 1940s) with a brother Martin, who lived in the vicinity of Andrewfield, and failed! Not having a surname doesn’t help but, knowing how many of you are out there working away on family trees and research across the county, can you help? We’d love to hear from you if you have any further information.

And not only on this, if you would like to share any memories you may have of when the Americans were over ‘ere then please do get in contact. And, perhaps we’ll see you on the 27th April as well – tickets are selling fast.

Over to you!

Neil

Just who is St Cedd? Essex Day 2023

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The 26th October is St Cedd’s day. It is also known as Essex Day as St Cedd is Essex’s very own patron saint. Bur who is St Cedd? And why is he held in such high esteem in Essex? Archive Assistant, Robert Lee takes a look at the life of St Cedd.

St Cedd – A Hagiography

Icon of St Cedd

Cedd’s life began in the Kingdom of Northumbria under the tutelage of Saint Aidan of Lindisfarne. The oldest of four brothers (Chad, Cynibil & Caelin), Cedd in particular would be unwavering to the Celtic Rite imbued to him by Aidan. Cedd’s introduction to Christianity was anti-diocesan: not liturgical and parochial, but peripatetic and abstinent. In one of very few sources on Cedd, the Venerable Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People, emphasis is made on both Cedd and Chad’s devotion to Saint Aidan; such that four years after Aidan’s death in 651, Cedd is said to have been consecrated by the hands of his successor, Saint Finan of Lindisfarne.

Cedd’s reputation in Christendom had much to do with his proselytizing. In 653, at the behest of King Oswiu of Northumbria, Cedd journeyed into the Midlands with three other priests in order to evangelise the “Middle Angles”: an ethnic group predominantly living in Mercia. By Bede’s account, Cedd was greatly persuasive, with masses coming forward to listen to his preaching and receive baptism. Cedd’s enthusiasm would even sway the opinion of King Penda of Mercia, a long committed pagan. Later in the same year, Cedd would be recalled from Mercia and sent into Essex to aid King Sigeberht of the East Saxons. Again Cedd’s evangelism was highly successful, and Essex was thoroughly Christianised. For his efforts Cedd was ordained Bishop of the East Saxons.

Cedd attended the Synod of Whitby in 664 as a vigilant mediator between Iona (followers of the Celtic Rite) and those who followed the Roman Rite. Roman missionaries were arguing for their own computation of the calendar day of Easter, to which the predominantly Celtic northern English initially disagreed. Uncharacteristically, Cedd was won over by the catholic system, and converted to the Alexandrian computus of Easter Sunday. Following the Synod, Cedd returned to Northumbria to supervise the foundation of a monastery, but the Kingdom had been overwhelmed by the yellow plague, which would bring about Cedd’s death.

St Peters-on-the-wall in November with clear skies

St Peters-on-the-wall in November (Copyright Edward Harris)

Perhaps appropriately, Cedd is remembered far more for his itinerant sainthood than for government of the East Saxon Church. The chapel of Saint-Peter-on-the-Wall in Bradwell-on-Sea is said to have been built by Saint Cedd after his ordination. Having gone through several phases of disuse and ruination, the chapel still stands as testimony to Cedd; to God’s glory and the humility of man.

His role in converting the East Saxons and role as their bishop is the reason that Essex now claims Cedd as their patron saint.

If you would like to visit the Chapel of St Peter yourself it can be reached by taking East End Road from the brick built church in Bradwell-on-Sea for about one and a half miles, until you can see the carpark ahead of you, from there it is a ten minute walk to the Chapel. It is open all year and is well worth a visit!

All Along the Church Tower

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Archive Assistant Robert Lee takes a look at one of the many small interactions that went into the creation and updating of the Ordnance Survey maps that we know and love.

I/Mb 6/1/1 - Ardleigh Church from the South.
I/Mb 6/1/1 – Ardleigh Church from the South.

Between 1791 and 1845, The Board of Ordnance had commissioned a mass triangulation survey of Great Britain; endeavouring to produce a “grand meridian line, thro’ the whole extent of the Island” (Roy). Such an endeavour would fine tune the latitudes and longitudes of the country, and allow for more accurate mapping. Approximately 300 obelisks, all ostensibly placed on some high point, like hills and mountains, were plonked around Britain, upon which triangulation would be undertaken. Not all of these points were natural, however.

I have uncovered a letter (D/P 263/6/26), sent on behalf of the Ordnance Survey Office, to a church in Ardleigh, Essex. The letter warns vehemently, yet with a hint of irony and sympathy, of the need to occupy the church’s roof once more for a re-triangulation survey in 1938. “[I]t will be necessary”, the correspondent expounds, “to carry out most of the observations by night from and to small electric projectors”.

There is something beautifully modernist about the vignette of several Ordnance Surveyors perched atop a church tower in a small county parish, operating a heavy laser projector between old stone pinnacles. No more apparent is the imminent crossover between old-time religion and contemporary science.

New Series Ordnance Survey map Sheet 29.5 1923 - Ardleigh Church sporting a triangular mark on it's tower signifying the "Trig-point" or "Triangulation point" at the top of it's tower. These triangular marks can be seen all over Ordnance Survey maps, but always somewhere high up.
New Series Ordnance Survey map Sheet 29.5 1923 – Ardleigh Church sporting a triangular mark on it’s tower signifying the “Trig-point” or “Triangulation point” at the top of it’s tower. These triangular marks can be seen all over Ordnance Survey maps, but always somewhere high up.

Playing to the Whistle: The Holden F5 Project

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There are still tickets left for our forthcoming conference, Playing to the Whistle: the Railways of Essex and East Anglia, which is being held on Saturday 1st April. This will cover several aspects of the history of railways in our area along with a talk on how to make a steam engine in the 21st century. Graham Rowlands of the Holden F5 Steam Locomotive Trust, who will be speaking at our conference, shares some information about the project:

One of the last surviving F5's GER No. 789
One of the last surviving F5’s GER No. 789.

“The Holden F5 Steam Locomotive Trust was formed in 2003 with the objective of constructing a replica of the Great Eastern Railway’s M15R (latterly LNER/BR F5) Class of locomotives. With examples to be seen throughout East London and East Anglia, the last members of this type were withdrawn and scrapped by 1958. In their last years of service, they became synonymous with the Epping to Ongar branch where they operated push-pull services until November 1957. 

The Holden F5 under construction in 2022.
The Holden F5 under construction in 2022.

The Holden F5 Steam Locomotive Trust was a spin-off from a preservation group, who had the aim of preserving the Ongar branch in Essex, after the realisation that suitable locomotives from the Eastern region barely existed. Whilst not the grandest of locomotives, upon completion the engine will be well-suited to the needs of many heritage lines; with modern engineering practices and design work being coupled with original drawings, GER 789 will be more than capable of all but the heaviest loads.

To date, The Holden F5 Steam Locomotive Trust has had a number of components manufactured including: cylinder block, smokebox, chimney, machined wheels, plus much more besides. The main frames have been assembled at the Tyseley Locomotive Works in Birmingham and support the finished coal bunker and smokebox. Major progress WILL be made in 2023.”

For details of the running order of the day, and how to book, please visit: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/playing-to-the-whistle-the-railways-of-essex-and-east-anglia-tickets-503455969357. Don’t forget, the ticket price includes lunch and tea/coffee.

We look forward to seeing you at what should be an extremely interesting day.

‘The Great Tide’ remembered

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Arial Photograph of Tilbury (D/Z 35/15) (Photo: Southend Standard)
Arial Photograph of Tilbury (D/Z 35/15) (Photo: Southend Standard)

On the night of Saturday 31 January 1953, a severe storm coincided with a high spring tide in the North Sea. The resulting tidal surge caused devastation along the east coast of England. 307 people were killed, 120 of them from Essex. The worst hit communities in the county were Canvey Island, where 58 people died, and Jaywick, where 37 people lost their lives.

October 2018 seems like a long time ago. Our events team was busy planning our ERO Presents series of monthly talks. As our attention turned to booking in a talk from Janet Walden from the Canvey Community Archive about the 1953 floods, we recalled that there had been some local demand to re-print a book called “The Great Tide” – and wouldn’t it be a good idea to ask Janet what she thought, and whether she could find us anywhere to have a small, understated book launch on Canvey.

The ERO team arranged for one of our library copies to be dismantled, scanned, and for the PDFs to be sent to the printers. We were aiming for the book to be launched in the February of 2020. I’m sure that we don’t need to relate what happened next.

In 2022, with the world re-opened, we started planning the launch of “The Great Tide” for February 2023, to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the events that it describes. Alongside that launch, we aimed to commemorate the event more widely with the communities who were at the heart of it.

The new edition of "The Great Tide" by Hilda Grieve alongside the original 1959 edition.
The new edition of “The Great Tide” by Hilda Grieve alongside the original 1959 edition.

But what is so important about this book, “The Great Tide”?

“The Great Tide” was written and researched by Hilda Grieve, then Senior Assistant Archivist at the Essex Record Office. It was commissioned by Essex County Council shortly after the flood, with the intention of documenting the “complete story” of the disaster. Essentially this would be Essex County Council’s official report into the floods, but in the writing, it became so much more.

Published in 1959, “The Great Tide” told the story of the county’s relationship to the sea, the meteorological conditions preceding the flood, the events of 31 January and 1 February, and the subsequent rescue, relief, and restoration efforts in meticulous detail, drawn from six years of careful, patient research. It has since been described by the writer Ken Worpole as “one of the great works of twentieth century English social history”.

'Hilda afloat' (A14391) On Shrublands Close in Chelmsford during a river flood in the late 50s.
‘Hilda afloat’ (A14391) On Shrublands Close in Chelmsford during a river flood in the late 50s.

The Essex Record Office is privileged to hold Hilda’s original notes and early manuscripts, along with many of the documents that she would have had access to. Robert, one of our Archive Assistants, has pulled together a selection of these documents to display in our Searchroom.

As he found, there is substantially more in the archive than can be displayed. Hilda’s typescript itself comprises about eleven or twelve foolscap folders, full to capacity with her timetables and diagrams, all hammered out by typewriter and then reorganized in scraps on the page – the original Word formatting. Also illuminating were the more exacting records of people who lived through the flood. Still beautifully preserved in the collection of the South Benfleet branch of the Women’s Royal Voluntary Service are their case cards of missing persons, evacuees, primary school children, all meticulously accounted for, along with the faded newsprint clippings and telegrams of thanks from flood victims.

  • First page of Hilda’s manuscript
  • Hilda’s manuscript with amendments

Since the publication of “The Great Tide”, the Essex Record Office as well as our partners like Canvey Community Archive and Harwich Museum have continued to collect material to add to the wealth of knowledge about the events of the evening of 31 January 1953, including photographs, radio broadcasts, and oral histories.

As we’ve explored in another blog post (as well as previous blog posts, here and here), the reminiscences of people who survived the flood and took part in the rescue effort across the county are particularly moving. You can listen to recordings preserved in the Essex Sound and Video Archive at the listening post in our Searchroom.

Listening post with headphones and touchscreen. On the touchscreen is a map of the areas affected by the flood.

And so, to the events we have planned for February 2023.

Wednesday 1st February: We will be at Canvey Library alongside the Canvey Community Archive, the Town Council, and representatives from the Environment Agency, Essex County Council and the National Coastwatch to commemorate the 70th anniversary. We will have a display with us including audio, video and maps of the area at the time of the flood. As part of the commemoration, a new plaque will be unveiled in memory of the victims at 2:00pm. We will also have copies of our re-print of “The Great Tide” available for sale for the first time at a special launch price of £15.00.

Thursday 2nd February: We are inviting pupils of the primary schools on Canvey to visit us at the library to view the displays and to talk to members of the Community Archive team. All of the schools on Canvey have been provided with a specially produced education pack looking at the floods.

Saturday 4th February: We will be taking our display to Harwich Museum for the day, alongside their 1953 exhibition. Local schools have been invited to visit us again on the day and have been provided with their own specially developed education pack. You will also be able to pick up your copy of “The Great Tide” from us on the day.

Copies of “The Great Tide” are available to purchase from our online shop while stock lasts https://museumshops.uk/product/the-great-tide-the-story-of-the-1953-flood-disaster-in-essex/

If you would like to find out more about the 1953 flood disaster and Hilda Grieve’s book ‘The Great Tide’, listen to the recent BBC Radio 4 documentary, Learning from the Great Tide.

Beef for Christmas

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In time for Christmas, Archive Assistant Neil Wiffen looks at a nineteenth century list of gifts of beef.

Christmas is almost upon us; the shops are busy and hopefully everyone’s cupboards and fridges have been provisioned ready for the festive day. Mid-winter, the bleakest, darkest and coldest time of the year has, for at least the past two or so millennia, been a time when people come together to feast and celebrate and to look forward to the return of the sun. Today we’re used to shops full of pallets stacked with tubs of chocolates, boxes of beer and so many mince pies and panettones that’d they probably reach the moon placed end-to-end. However, in a pre-industrial age life was lived very much more precariously.

A wintery scene from the Whitmore family scrapbook D/DWt Z2-12

For instance, a ‘fairly’ recent example of dearth occurred at the end of the eighteenth century. A run of poor harvest in the 1790s caused much unrest and consternation through the kingdom This led to the government surveying agriculture across the country as way of finding out what was being grown and what the forthcoming harvests in 1800 and 1801 might yield. Further spells of bad weather in the late 18-teens saw another series of poor harvests. The spectre of famine was only a poor harvest away.

A home-grown and seasonal diet must have become fairly monotonous, and it is to be assumed that all sorts of pickling and preserving must have gone on to eek out and make more interesting, stored food stuffs. Any form of ‘boost’ was surely very welcome and even more so at Christmas. A gift of some form or other to employees was often received at Christmas and in one of the Record Office collections there are lists covering several years, of the distribution of beef to what must be the agricultural labourers and their family members (the Tabor family of Bocking, D/DTa/A33A).

D/DTa A33A Lists of those who received beef in 1851 and 1881
D/DTa A33A Lists of those who received beef in 1851 and 1881

In 1851 there were 24 doles totalling 135lb of beef, while by 1881 the number of distributions had risen to 26 but the total of beef given had fallen to 96lb. In 1851 the first dole or distribution of beef is to ‘N[?]. Strait, wife & 2 ch[ildren], Jon[athan?] Strait, 7lb’. A family group of five, so just over a pound of beef per person. This could be the family of Nathaniel Straight who was recorded as living in Hall(?) Farm Cottages, Bocking, in the 1851 census (TNA, HO 107/1785, p.39). Nathaniel, the head of the household was listed along with his wife Mary and children Jonathan, Henry, Ann and Elizabeth. They were all locals, each listing Bocking as their place of birth and all, except the girls who worked in the local silk trade, were agricultural labourers.

The entry from the list gives a household of five, but the census shows six. The census was taken in the spring and this list is from the end of the year. Had one of the children left home? If Jonathan was still at home, as suggested above, could it have been Henry, who at 18, might have moved on?

We can perhaps assume that those listed were all employees on the Tabor farms. However, the list from 1881 suggests that this might not have always been the case for a ‘Wid[do]w Rogers is listed having received 3lb of beef. Was she the relict of a now dead employee receiving some form of alms? Does this show compassion on behalf of the Tabor family?

I have just scratched the surface with just these two lists. How much more can be discovered about the lives of those listed – what connections might be uncovered? So, if you’re looking for a project for the New Year, what better than to take up this task. Do you fancy uncovering some ‘lost’ lives? If so, do get in contact for a chat. Also, there are some other documents if you search Essex Archives Online for ‘Christmas’ and ‘beef’, and I’m sure there are many other examples of gifts of food and drink waiting to be found. How about an expanded piece of research for this time next year? You know it makes sense.

For the time being, let us leave the recipients of the Christmas beef in Bocking (and we can only imagine how much they enjoyed their Christmas beef) and look forward to the next few days. Have you decided upon a large fowl, a chicken, duck or goose, a shoulder of lamb or bit o’ mutton, pork, gammon or ham, a plant-based nutty alternative, perhaps a ‘turkey’ made out of tofu (yes, they do exist!), or a meal of roasted root vegetables, sprouts and onion gravy? Whatever it is that you sit down to on December 25th, with family, friends and loved ones, we wish you all a very Happy Christmas and peaceful New Year and look forward to welcoming you to the Record Office in 2023 – maybe even to start research on these lists from Bocking!