A potted history of chimneys

Posted on September 4, 2025 by admin

‘There are old men yet dwelling in the village where I remain which have noted…three things too much increased. One is the multitude of chimneys lately erected, whereas in their young days there were not above two or three…but each one made his fire against a reredos in the hall where he dined and dressed his meat’. So wrote William Harris in ‘The Description of England’ in 1587.

But why were chimneys becoming more common in this period, and how did the design and style of the chimney change over time?

Exterior of Chadwell Farm, Birdbrook (I/Ha 19/1/3)

According to the Oxford England Dictionary, the word ‘chimney’ is thought to derive from the latin word ‘caminus’ meaning furnace or oven. Historically, the word ‘stalk’ was used to describe the part of the chimney visible above the roof, with a group of chimney stalks being known as a ‘stack’.

Fires were an essential element of the home from the earliest dwellings, for providing both heat and light, and for the preparation of food. By the medieval period, most houses in Essex would have had the fire in the centre of the home or hall, where the smoke would leave through an opening in the roof. These were not usually that effective, and one can only imagine the smoky atmosphere in living dwellings at this time.

Exterior of Sparrow’s Farm, Terling (I/Ha 196/1/14)

It was during the medieval period that there was a move from fireplaces in the centre of a room to being at a side wall, which would make it easier to channel the resulting smoke through a funnel or hood. These are likely to have initially been made of wood and plaster. This would have been more effective than the simple hole in the roof previously used. As smoke was more successfully removed from the building, rather than much of it remaining in the upper areas of the building, it meant further rooms could become functional closer to the roof giving an increase to a second floor of rooms. The increase of internal walls meant the fireplace(s) would often still be in the centre of the building during this period. By the chimney being placed here it meant the heat would be carried to the rooms on the upper floor, as well as providing a support for the structure. The Chimney shafts visible above the roof during the late medieval period were octagonal or circular and these stylistic fashions can help date chimneys still visible today.

Exterior of Boynton Hall, Finchingfield (I/Ha 83/1/15)

The chimneys in the Tudor period remained in the centre of the building. Brick chimney shafts were being added to high status dwellings by the mid-fifteenth century. These would have been highly decorated in the interior of the house and during the sixteenth century this appears to have extended to outside of the house, leading to some of the beautiful decorative brick chimneys we can still see. Brick was an expensive material during the Tudor period, so if you could display a large and ornate chimney it was a real display of wealth.

Exterior of house at Tindon End, Great Sampford (I/Ha 176/1/3)

After the hearth tax was introduced in 1662, householders were charged 2 shillings per year for every hearth in their property. This further reinforced the importance of the chimney as a visible status symbol. Some houses had chimney stalks that were never even connected to a fireplace, purely for the illusion of housing multiple hearths. The Hearth Tax was incredibly unpopular, and was repealed in 1689 as promised by William of Orange, at the beginning of his reign. By the end of the 17^th century the popular style of chimneys had changed to square chimneys, set ‘diamond-wise’ or concertina style. As the design of larger houses changed to accommodate a central staircase, chimneys began to be placed at the ends of the property.

Exterior of Upper Hall, Matching (I/Ha 133/1/6)

The rise in the prominent use of coal as a fuel for the fire in the 18^th and 19^th centuries led to the need for more efficient channelling of smoke out of the living areas. Chimney pots, which sit on top of the chimney stalk were found to be effective for this by increasing the height of the chimney stalk which enhances the natural draught.

During the Victorian era, with the increase of large quantities of identical terraced housing, there was a desire to personalise property exteriors, especially chimney pots. There are literally thousands of different chimney pot designs, which range from the simple to the truly elaborate; with a variety of shapes and styles.

With the dawn of alternative heating systems such as electricity and gas, the popularity of the traditional chimney declined during the twentieth century. In some cases chimneys were removed entirely. In recent years there has been a resurgence in the chimney once more.

It’s fascinating how the humble chimney is intrinsically entwined with the design of dwellings and that the chimneys that survive to this day give clues as to the date and history of their buildings.

There are many and varied chimneys shown in the photographs of the Hayllar Collection, a collection of more than 2000 photographs, mostly showing architecture and buildings across more than 250 parishes in Essex taken between 1920 and 1950. Throughout this post are a small selection of these showing some truly beautiful and interesting chimneys.

If you’re interested in finding out more about chimneys:

Ferguson, Catherine, Thornton, C. and Wareham, A. (ed) 2012, Essex Hearth Tax (British Record Society)

Edelen, G. (ed) 1994, William Harrison: The Description of England (Folger Shakespeare Library)

Priestley, H. 1970, The English Home (Frederick Muller Ltd.)

www.smithheritagesurveyors.com

Click on each image in this gallery to see the full photograph and caption.

Exterior of Blagden Farm, Hempstead (I/Ha 101/1/7)

International Chess Day, 20 July 2025

Posted on July 20, 2025 by admin

Today happens to be international chess day. Chess is a strategy game with a long and abstract past which is difficult to trace with historical accuracy, though scholars often classify it as a common ancestor of Chaturanga, an Indian strategy game which emerged around the 7^th century. The game spread through the Arab world, eventually finding its way to Europe. Chess has long been practiced on the British Isles: the earliest known surviving chess-sets are the 12^th century Lewis Chessmen, a set of 78 ivory carved pieces found on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland in 1831. English Folklore depicts John, King of England (1199-1216), as a prodigious yet highly emotional chess player, and we know from surviving archives that English monarchs, Charles I and Henry VIII chief among them, personally owned boards and pieces.

In this vein, we turn to a will from our own collections. This is a will from 1557, for a Robert Cocke of Dedham (D/ABW 8/265). His profession is not provided, and the main body of the will follows the standard legal formula, but there are several indications that this is a well-educated man of some wealth. Most interestingly, as we proceed down his list of bequests, something unusual appears.

Item I gyve & bequeathe unto Matthew Cock & Robert Cock my Virgynall* & ____ chesse board & chesse men…

Extract from the will of Robert Cocke “chesse board & chesse men” highlighted with yellow star

It is really interesting to see a chess set mentioned in this context. Clearly it is something of great value, financially and psychologically. Perhaps Robert practiced openings and end game strategies with his two sons in their leisure time, instructing on the values of patience and sacrifice. Were the pieces the work of a carpenter or a stonemason? At what point were they lost? or do fragments of their visage persist in dusty garrets and vaulted tombs?

Close-up of “chesse board & chesse men”

*A Virgynall is a kind of early harpsichord, often embellished with finery and gold trimmings, with a sound characteristic of the Baroque period. Essex’s first county archivist, F.G. Emmison, was a champion of this obscure instrument – more on this will follow in future blog posts…

Defining “Industrial Archaeology”

Posted on March 25, 2025 by admin

Archive Assistant Robert Lee explores the origins of Industrial Archaeology in Essex and the impact of John Booker’s 1974 book Essex and the Industrial Revolution, ahead of our April Mini-Conference “Discovering the Industrial Revolution in Essex”.

In the scheme of things, Industrial Archaeology seems a relatively young discipline. The term first appeared in print in 1955, in an article by Michael Rix in ‘The Amateur Historian’ that explains the previously unexplored influence of the Industrial Revolution on British heritage. Whilst not a widely accepted discipline at the time, Rix does mention a small number of contemporaneous organizations that were pursuing something that resembled it (The Newcomen Society of London, for one, had been promoting the legacy of the Industrial Revolution since its foundation in 1920, particularly the early steam engine).

D/DU 3094/2

Interestingly, Rix fails to mention a 1925 article by Miller Christy in the Essex Review, regarding the need for study and ongoing preservation of early railway stations in the county. Christy’s article seminally begins, “The study of railway stations from the archaeological point of view has not yet become popular… some might even ask whether such a study exists or could exist” (Christy, 1925:146).

Whether this study “exists or could exist”, was an ongoing contention within the school of Industrial Archaeology. The crux of this unease, intimated by Christy, is that “archaeology” is thought to apply to history which precedes the industrial revolution. Archaeology is the study of ancient things, he writes, a classification that apparently excludes industrial relics. But this criticism is based on an arbitrary median between the antique and the modern, separating “the archaeologically approved from the archaeologically disreputable” (Hudson 1976:16). A reluctance to classify industrial monuments as worthy of study, Rix argues, is what has (and still does) lead to the nescient destruction or neglect of significant examples in the country. Importantly, the semantic focus of archaeology (an active noun) signifies the empirical and practical methodology of the school. Industrial Archaeology is not mere industrial history: history suggests a bookish, diligent approach to study, where archaeology suitably describes the investigations of “a researcher collecting evidence in situ” (ibid). An Industrial Archaeologist is as much a fieldworker as an excavator of Roman ruins[1].

Indeed, by the time John Booker’s work was published, Industrial Archaeology was more recognised as a genuine field. Kenneth Hudson had published Industrial Archaeology: An Introduction in 1963 and is said to have introduced the discipline to the United States through his 1967 lecture at The Smithsonian. The North American Society for Industrial Archeology [sic] was subsequently founded in 1971, and the British Association for Industrial Archaeology followed two years later. What is so influential about Booker’s work, however, is the candid representation of industrial history within Essex; a county pigeonholed into its agrarian identity. De-mythologizing the pastoral veneer behind the county’s heritage, Booker systematically wades through individual strands of industrialism, their slow integration and socioeconomic influences. As such his chapters are titled:

The Foundries,
Technology and Agriculture,
Technology and the Traditional Industries
Technology and Communications, I: Roads and Bridges,
Technology and Communications, II: Water and Rail,
Technology and the Public Services
The Perspective of Change

Clearly the work is not the product of a single hand. Much of the work’s subject matter was taken from findings of the Essex Survey of Industrial Archaeology, completed in 1971.

Index card related to the Chelmer Navigation.

T/Z 193/11

The purpose of this survey was to itemize all known surviving industrial monuments, investigate possible monuments attested to by historical sources, and to study contemporary industrial sites. The fruits of this survey, many conclusions of which were not implemented in the final work, survive and are kept by Essex Record Office (in addition to the various historical sources footnoted in Booker’s work, which are available for inspection under their original reference numbers).

Index card related to Hartford End Brewery

T/Z 193/3

The Survey’s materials (catalogued as T/Z 193) comprise index cards naming sources, photograph albums, negatives & slides, site ‘survey cards’, and Booker’s own notebooks. It is somewhat uplifting to see the modicum of contributions made towards this survey: record cards written up by history groups, and long reminiscences told by aged locals.

T/Z 193/9 – Photograph Hartford End Brewery

Such was Booker’s pre-eminence in establishing Essex’s industrial heritage that a subsequent survey, the Comparative Survey of Industrial Sites and Monuments, was begun by Essex County Council in 1996. And in 2013, Essex Industrial Archaeology Group (EIAG) was created as a sub-group of Essex Society for Archaeology and History (ESAH)[2]. During this period we have seen the publication of several more works on Essex’s Industrial Past: A Guide to the Industrial Archaeology of Essex (Crosby: 2012), Discovering Essex wind and water mills (EIAG: 2022), and Chelmsford Industrial Trail (Rev. ed., EIAG: 2018), to name a few.

2024 saw the 50^th anniversary of Essex and The Industrial Revolution. Accordingly, ERO is hosting an event in April 2025 to celebrate this milestone, full details and booking available here: Discovering the Industrial Revolution in Essex

Booker, J. (1974) Essex and The Industrial Revolution. Chelmsford: Essex County Council.

Christy, M. (1925) ‘Some Early Essex Railway Stations’, Essex Review, 34, pp. 146–155.

Hudson, K. (1976) Industrial Archaeology: a new introduction. 3rd edn. London: J. Baker.

Rix, M. (1955) ‘Industrial Archaeology’, The Amateur Historian, 2(8), pp. 225–230.

[1] It is important to reinforce that Industrial Archaeology does not have to be exclusive to post-revolution history. More traditional industries such as brick making, malting, brewing, may also be suitable branches of study, i.e. pre-1750.

[2] EIAG’s newsletters are available digitally via ESAH’s website, and are also preserved physically by Essex Record Office

Of tombs and parish registers: sailing into the afterlife!

Posted on January 17, 2025 by admin

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 Hergé’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).

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 6^th 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 ‘M^rs [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

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 ‘M^rs 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

Posted on November 7, 2024 by admin

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

Posted on October 21, 2024 by admin

In 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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

Posted on October 14, 2024 by admin

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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Posted on March 8, 2024 by admin

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) 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 322^nd 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 9^th Air Force base in rural England, watches a ground crew Sgt. [Sergeant] paint the 80^th 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 27^th April as well – tickets are selling fast.

Over to you!

Neil

Just who is St Cedd? Essex Day 2023

Posted on October 26, 2023 by admin

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

Posted on March 31, 2023 by admin

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.

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