History - Parish Perspectives

Have you been inspired by the Rochford District Heritage Tapestry? If so, then we’d love to hear from you, especially with any extra research or photos.

The places on this panel still exist and all have stories to tell, so here’s a challenge for you: can you find them in real life and discover any interesting facts about them?

We’ve added a few ‘tasters’ below. Working clockwise around this tapestry panel from top left, buildings depicted include:

• The Granary & Drying Kiln on the Rawreth side at Battlesbridge.
• Anchor Cottages at Hullbridge.
• The Old Fire Station at Hockley.
• Ashingdon School, founded in 1873. Like many local schools, it opened its doors to WWII evacuees.
• The Canewdon lock-up and stocks.
• The Old Post Office and the Plough & Sail public house at Paglesham.
• A Second World War pillbox on Wallasea Island.
• Ministry of Defence buildings, prevalent on Foulness, Potton, Havengore and New England Islands.
• Great Wakering Community Centre (previously the school).
• A blacksmith’s cottage at Barling.
• Sutton Hall Cottages.
• Stambridge Mill (in its original guise).
• Rochford Hospital chimney, a small remnant of the large (primarily maternity) hospital that evolved out of the workhouse mentioned in Panel 8. Here, in 1956, Sister Jean Ward made observations that led to the development of phototherapy for newborns suffering from jaundice.
• The Old House in Rochford (the oldest secular building in the area, dating back to 1270 and much more recently used as offices for Rochford District Council).
• Rayleigh windmill (dated 1809) and Dutch Cottage (1740: smallest and oldest council house in UK).
• The Bull Inn at Hockley, subject to an intense fire in 2018 but now restored in its original style.
• Swaines or Sweynes Farm in Hawkwell.

The White Hart at Hawkwell is represented by a white hart (a deer) beneath the Bull Inn.

The RSPB reserve at Wallasea Island is also depicted by the sparrowhawk clutching its prey.
	The 1953 floods badly affected Foulness and other coastal areas.

We couldn't hope to include all the landmarks and events across the 14 parishes of the Rochford District. However, we squeezed a few more items into the frieze:

• The water trough and fountain in Fountain Lane, Hockley;
• The South Fambridge tribute to flying-boat experiments in 1914 using Talbot-Quick’s waterplane;
• A bus taking workers to Lesney’s “Matchbox” factory in Rochford;
• The water pump in Rochford Square;
• An 1813 cannon from a locally moored ship, possibly Charles Darwin’s HMS Beagle.
• Finally, there is the rainbow, displayed in windows nationwide during the coronavirus pandemic that locked down the country in 2020. This demonstrated people’s thanks to the NHS and frontline workers, as well as being a symbol of future hope.