Goldhanger Lost

O Cricket in the park	O Barns Lost
O Blacksmiths	O Wesleyan Chapel
O Tithe barn & Glebe farm	O British Legion Hall
O The Mill	O Parish Rooms
O Alehouses	O Village School
O Cottages lost	O Petrol Station
O Shops lost	O Pit Cottages
O The Chapel near Chappel Farm

Cricket in the park

The cricket field was was located behind the Rectory, now called Goldhanger House and beside the Maldon Road. It was always known as “The Park”. Tea was usually provided in the garden of the Cricketers Inn. The first recorded landlord of the Cricketers was in 1848, so presumably the cricket pitch dates from at least that time.

The June 1919 Parish magazine reported:

20 men attended a meeting to form a Goldhanger & District Cricket Club covering the parishes of Goldhanger, Little Totham, Beckingham and Osea Island. Subscription 5/- and upwards for playing members. Mr. Pinhey was appointed Captain and the Curate, Rev B.H. Durrant-Field Vice-Captain. Practice nights will be on Tuesday and Thursday, and matches to be played away until after hay time.

Before the Second World War cattle were grazed in the park and iron hurdles with wheels were used to fence off the cricket square from the animals, and for many years a concrete strip was used as the pitch, over which coconut matting was stretched and pegged into place. A hard cork ball without a seam was used.

The concrete cricket strip

Other activities also took place in the field during this period, such as WI organised sports days. During the second world war the park and the pitch were used by a searchlight battery stationed in the village.

The cricket team in 1930

After WW-2 declining support made it increasingly difficult to pay the ground rent and in 1952 when the farmer disposed of his milking herd the lease for the cricket square was given up and all of the park was converted to arable land.

Blacksmiths

On the Tithe map of 1841 the blacksmiths shop is shown on the south side of Head St. adjacent to The Square. The 1880 Ordinance Survey map shows a “Smiths” adjacent to The Square on the north side. William Bentall, inventor of the Goldhanger plough and founder of Bentalls Agricultural Engineers, had his original models of the plough built at the Goldhanger blacksmiths before creating his own foundry and workshops in 1795.

An early photograph shows the blacksmiths and a post office opposite the Cricketers Inn in Church St. and we know Shire horses from Bounds Farm were led up through the village to the blacksmiths shop for re-shoeing.

Three generations of the Emeny family were blacksmiths and farriers in the first half on the 20th century. George Emeny developed the business into general agricultural engineering between the 1950s & 60s. In an article published in the Essex Chronicle in 1962 Harold Emeny recalled that the business closed down in the 1932 recession. Later he said there was a time when there was so much business that horsemen frequently passed the time in the Cricketers Inn opposite waiting for their horses to be re-shoed, and by the early 1960s the trade was “down to one or two shoes a day”.

In 1962 a full page article appeared in the local press about how the Blacksmiths and forge had changed over the years...

The article can be seen full screen at... Blacksmith's article. (use the zoom facility to read all of the text)

Tithe barn and Glebe farm

The village tithe barn was located in Church Street next the Church and is shown on the 1841Tithe map. In the first half of the 20th century the barn was part of the Glebe otherwise known as Church Farm belonging to the Page family. The barn was a low timber framed building, with gabled entrances just large enough for horse draw carts to load and unload in the dry.

The barn was demolished as recently as the1970s just after the photo on the left above was taken and when it was in a bad state of repair. The early postcard photo (on the right) taken from the Church tower clearly shows the shape of the barn. It was unusually symmetrical with four gables. One reason for the entrances being placed opposite each other in this way was to create draught for “winnowing” the chaff in the days before any form of mechanised drying existed. See also… Barns Lost

Judging from early photographs and postcards taken in the first half of the 20^th century Church Farm or Old Rectory Farm, appears to have been a prosperous and successful farming enterprise…

Between the 1920s to the 50s Charles Page and the Page family maintained extensive fruit orchards on the land to the east side of the village and for a time produced jam in the farm buildings on their land which, together with their D’arcy Spice apples, were sold all over the country.

Common Market policy resulted in the orchards being taken out in the early 1970s and the fields were became arable land and merged into Highams Farm. By 1974 the tithe barn was in a poor state of repair and it was demolished.

The Mill

The mill and maltings stood on the east side of Fish Street a few yards south of The Chequers Inn. For much of its life it was a steam driven and then diesel driven mill and finally ceased to operate in the late 1920s. It is identified and described in Essex Windmills, Millers & Millwrights written by Kenneth Farries and published in 1985.

Although in the past there was some doubt amongst locals as to whether it ever was a windmill, records now available confirm that it was originally operated by wind power. The 1880 OS map shows a “Goldhanger Windmill (Corn)” and the windmill was noted insurance records of 1823 in the Maldon offices of the Essex and Suffolk Insurance Company as being valued at £200 a month: “The Malting on which Mr Jacob Belsham's Wind Mill is built”. The wooden tower that appears on several early postcards clearly looks as if it was once the base of a windmill. However, steam was introduced comparatively early in 1837, so no photograph of the tower with sails is likely to exist.

Marine maps of the Blackwater Estuary in 1800s give the “Goldhanger Mill chimney with the Church tower adjacent” as a navigation landmark and early postcards label what is now called Fish St as Mill Lane. In 1850 Edward Quy insured a steam-driven flour mill in the parish. Cyril Southgate recorded in his memoirs “My father as a young single man had arrived in Goldhanger about 1910-1911, he was a millwright by trade, and stone dresser, and was employed by the then owners of Goldhanger mill.

The business was listed in 1926 Kelly's directory as “Oliver Daniel and Lewis Belsham, Millers (Steam)”, and the tower and chimney are clearly visible in the background of a photograph taken in The Square of the 1937 Coronation Children’s parade, see… Early group photos. It was a stone grinding mill until the end and is now converted into houses.

Artist’s impression of the windmill in Fish St view of the mill from the Church tower

The red brick warehouse building shown in these photographs remains as a pair of cottages

Alehouses

In the past there were several alehouses in the village as well as the Chequers and the Cricketers Inns. They were probably not licensed. The locations included:

The Bird in Hand at 15 Fish St

The Dolphin at 10 Fish St

2 Fish St (more recently the bakery)

The Black Bull at 1 Church St (the site of the garage of No.2 Head St. and is referred to on old Deeds of this property).

Bird in Hand The Dolphin 2 Fish St

Several reasons for having so many alehouses in a village the size of Goldhanger have been given:

o In the 18th century there was a period when a licence was not required to brew and sell low alcohol beer so as to discourage people from drinking smuggled spirits. This was the period when Hogarth recorded scenes of alcoholism in London Streets. So the alehouses were not necessarily breaking the law at the time.

o The Methodist community also encouraged their wealthier supported to open alehouses for the same reason. This probably accounts for why the Bird in Hand was one of the ale houses, as the Alexander family who owned it were heavily involved in the Wesleyan Chapel in head St.

o Because the low alcohol ale made in small batches on the premises, it didn’t keep for very long, and it was offered for only a short period from each alehouse on a rotor basis. A sprig of broom was hung outside the alehouse to indicate that ale was available. So it was unlikely the businesses would all be selling ale at the same time.

o Maldon fishermen were said to spend time at Goldhanger waiting for the tide and were willing and captive customers.

o There was ready supply of smuggled spirits passing up Fish St. from the Creek before the coastguards arrived in the village in 1820.

There are many reports of past incidents and criminal activity associated with the local alehouses in the Early court and newspaper reports. The last newspaper reference to the Bird-in-Hand was in October 1900, which referred to the “surrender of the licence”. The roadside cottages in Fish St and Church St had shutters on the ground floor windows, said to be there to protect the residents from the drunken fishermen returning from the alehouses to their boats. The shutters can be seen on these early postcards. . .

Cottages with shutters on the road in Church St.

Cottages lost

In the early 1950s over thirty cottages were demolished in the village. They were mainly tenanted or tied properties in a very bad state of repair and were condemned by Maldon Council as unfit for habitation. Ironically, some belonged at the time to the incumbent Rector and families of past Rectors which had came into their possession as part of acquiring the Benefice. Many of the owners did not live in, or even, near the village. New council houses were built on the Maldon Road to provide accommodation for those living in the condemned properties that were demolished.

As early as 1938 newspaper articles were reporting that the council recognised that 23 cottages in the village were in a poor state of repair and needed to be demolished, but a temporary reprieve was granted in response to opposition from the tenants and the second world war deferred action for a further 15 years. It made worldwide news…

select articles to enlarge

Although the cottages were picturesque, they were described by the tenants who had lived in them as "damp, cold with very low ceilings and little or no sanitation". By modern standard these cottages were poorly constructed softwood timbers and lath & plaster walls. Most did not have gutters and down-pipes. Some were built of a soft porous red brick and had no damp courses of cavities. The 1820 Tithe map lists 48 cottages in the village as "tenements", and the number of owner/occupied as just 9, most of these being the shops.

Most, if not all of the demolished cottages appeared on these 20 old postcard scenes of the village. The cottages shown with ground floor shutters in Church St above were some of them, as were these…

Shops lost

Before the arrival of the automobile and the omnibus, in the days when a pony and trap and horse drawn wagon were the means of getting to Maldon on market day, the village was largely self sufficient with many shops. Many different shops have been identified from old trade directories, although they weren’t all in business at the same time.

Select to enlarge

Shops from the past…

General store in the Square cycle shop Head St. pork butcher Fish St. butcher

Over the years the post office has been located in at least six different places, but there was probably no more than one at any given time. Several general stores have been identified and they may well have been two of these operating at a time, one doubling up as the post office. There was also known to be three butchers shops, but only two at the same time, one specialising in pork. Here is a summary list (as of 2018)…

Street	Address	Approx. Dates	Past & Present Business
Church St	1	early 1700s	Black Bull ale house
	1	late 1700s	Blacksmiths & butchers
	1	1920s to 2004	Petrol & service Station
west side	3	1920s - 1980s	General Store, newspapers, hairdressers
	5	1500s?- 1990s	Hall Farm -sold fresh dairy produce at gate
	31	1880s	Bakers
	31	1800s	Shoemakers
	31	early 1900s	Fish & Chip shop (north end lean-to)
	33	1800 - 1870	Wheelwrights (in the thatched barn)
	33	1848 - 1970	Public house & bakers
	33	1848 to present	The Cricketers Inn
	47	1980 to present	Agricultural Museum
east side	Church Fm	1900-1950	Fruit growers, Jam makers
	School	1850 - 1977	Church of England School
	School	1977 - 1998	London borough study centre
	School	1998 to present	Wheatlands / Goldhanger Community Nursery
	4	1890s -1960s	Blacksmiths & Farrier
	4	1910 - 1920s	Post Office & telephone exchange
	4	1940s - 1950s	Doctors Surgery
	4	1960s - 1980s	Agricultural engineers
	14A, Coach Hs	1960s	Pan Signs, graphic design & sign writers
The Square		1575 to present	The Chequers Inn
Fish St	1	1890s - 1900	General Store & Post Office
east side	1	1970s - 1980s	Doctors Surgery
	3	1700s - 1930s	Mill owners house & Malters
	9-11	1700s - 1870	Windmill
	9-11	1870 - 1930s	Steam driven mill
	15	1860s - 1899	Bird in Hand, Ale house
	15	1860s - 1899	Malters
	15	1880s - 1900s	Grocer & Baker
	29	1900s - 1950s	Butchers
	Bounds Fm	500BC - 1840	Salt Makers & Traders
	Bounds Fm	1924 - 1946	Dog & Chicken breeder
	Bounds Fm	1920s - present	Fruit growers
west side	2	1900 - 1972	Bakers
	2	1700 - 1800s	The Dolphin Ale house
	10	1700 - 1800s	The Dolphin ale house?
	14	1800s	Cake & sweet shop
	30	1930s - 1940s	Butchers
	30	1940s - 1970s	Taxi service
Head St	1	1830s - 1870s	Blacksmiths, Farrier & Wheelwrights
south side	3	1930s	Pork Butchers
	3	1940s	TV & radio shop
	15	1920s	General Store & Post Office
north side	2	1760s	Clockmaker & whitesmith
(in The Square)	2	1900s - 1970s	General Store & Post Office
“	6	1800s - 1930s	Wheelwrights, bicycle shop
“	6	1900s - 1920s	Petrol station
“	6	1920s - 1980s	Undertakers, carpenters, builders
“	6	2013 - 2016	Salty Dogs, tearooms & gallery
	10	1840s - 1940s?	Police house
	8	1840s - 1940s?	School headteacher’s accommodation
	8	1990s - present	Homeopath’s surgery
	12	1800s	Blacksmiths & Farrier
	12	1850s	Carpenters & saw pit
	12	1910 - 1990s	The Parish Rooms
Lt Totham Rd		1970s to present	Farm co-operative - North Maldon Growers
	Follyfaunts Fm	1300s - 1920s	Farm
	Follyfaunts	1960s to 2007	Verine Products, Fireplace wholesalers
	Falcons Hall	1300s - 1950s	Farm
	Fruitfields Fm	1920s To present	Apple & pear growers
Maldon Rd	40	1930s - 2000	General Store & Post Office
	34	2001 - 2005	Post Office
	45	1900 - 1920	General store & tobacconist

Barns Lost

As well as the Tithe barn several other ancient timber framed barns have been lost in the village for to a variety of reasons…

Falcons Hall had a large timber framed barn which was demolished in the 1940s as it was in a poor state and unsafe. It was replaced just after WW-2 with a redundant semi-circular corrugated iron structure.

Wheelwrights barn next to the Cricketers Inn in Church St. was burn down in the 1970s. It just appears on two of the early postcards of Church Street. A private house was built on the site.

Hall Farm barn was sold, dismantled and move to Tiptree heath in the 1960s, where it remains as a private house.

The Tithe Barn was demolished as recently as the1970s. Photos exist. Two private houses were built on the site. The beams and roof tiles were sold on.

Scotts & Motts the barn seems to have fallen down in the 1980s but some remains are still there. A photograph of an aircraft crash on the Maldon Road during WW-2 (shown below) clearly shows several buildings in the background that were Scott & Motts farm.

Bounds Farm barn caught fire due to an electrical fault, probably in the 1990s, and has been replaces with a modern structure.