Voices of North and South Ockendon

Cecilia Pyke

• Publisher: The History Press
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9780752499185
• eBook ISBN: 9780750957120
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Social History
• Index: History

This warm and nostalgic collection of memories reveals the fascinating history of North and South Ockendon before, during and after the Second World War. The 1930s saw great change in South Ockendon as London Land Company, London County Council and Essex County Council began buying up land belonging to the Belhus estate and, after the Second World War, rehousing families from London whose homes had been destroyed by the Blitz. Life also changed for the inhabitants of North Ockendon, as the old ways of farming were replaced by modern machinery, with jobs disappearing and village life diminishing. Horses practically vanished from the area and rows of green vegetables were replaced by wheat, barley and rape. Those who live and have lived in the area reminisce about their childhoods, creating a valuable historical record of Ockendon heritage which will bring back poignant memories to all who have connections with the area.

Eight

PLACES AND PEOPLE OF INTEREST

Litte Belhus House

When my wife and I moved into Little Belhus House, our optimism faded a little as we realised the enormity of the task we’d taken on. The house smelled of dust and neglect, while birds fluttered through broken windowpanes. But we loved its character and history. So began a restoration project that lasted for ten years; although with a house dating back to at least 1603, maintenance is ongoing.

We spent every evening and weekend for the next seven years working on the house. One area at a time was restored, making sure everything was in keeping with its age, and I was determined that ‘everything that came out, went back’. The exceptions are the modern kitchen and bathrooms.

We’ve researched the property a lot but don’t know if the house was in the grounds when the original Belhus estate was developed or whether it was encompassed within the estate at a later date. There’s evidence of the latter, as some of Little Belhus seems to be much older than the mansion and is thought to have been used as a hunting lodge. We know there was a footpath from here that led directly to the mansion. Folklore has it that Queen Elizabeth I used to have dalliances here – it’s also claimed she spent the night in the house when she came to address her troops at Tilbury.

We also know the Manning family had the house for a long time – they were tenant farmers and there used to be huge barns in the immediate area.

London County Council bought much of the Belhus estate and surrounding farmland in the 1930s, and the mansion and park were occupied by the army during the Second World War, but the house was neglected and eventually had to be knocked down.

Little Belhus House.

James I plaque, Little Belhus House.

Little Belhus House survived and, when the council took it over, they rebuilt the roof and restored the house to quite a high standard so they could rent it out. It’s said they even furnished the house with antiques before it was let to professional people.

Later they converted the house into three dwellings and used it for social housing but, when the residents left, the house was sold privately as two houses. The smaller lodge is still attached to Little Belhus House.

The house is Grade II* listed and on the wall of the porch is a plaque representing a coat of arms given by James I to a local knight (possibly one of the Barrett-Lennards) in the seventeenth century. It depicts a lion and unicorn, with his royal crest in the centre, and unifies England and Scotland represented by the Tudor rose and thistle. I resited this from a wall in the garden as I felt it had been exposed to the elements for long enough.

The front door is original and of solid wood, obviously aged and extremely heavy. My first job was to completely rebuild the thirteen mullioned and transomed windows. I restored all the wood, alternating between scaffolding towers at the front and rear. This enabled Tina, my wife, to paint the renewed windows, keeping them free from wood dust. We used to laugh and say we only saw each other at weekends.

The timber-framed house is Elizabethan, while much of the restoration work is Georgian. The house underwent a transformation in Georgian times and most of the doors and floorboards are of that period, although the floorboards in one of the bedrooms are thought to be original. We took up each Georgian floorboard and sanded it by hand. There are some fine examples of oak panelling in several of the rooms.

At some point the house was galleried but now has new ceilings, albeit some of them are of reed, and the rooms are light and airy. We used breathable paint to help preserve the walls, and there is some insulation between the plasterboard. There is some lath and plaster.

We made sure every part of the restoration has been accomplished on a like-for-like basis, with replacement timber being sourced from the Belhus estate. I opened up the flu in the dining room and made the fireplace, its only decoration being a Tudor rose which I made from a mould of an original in a bedroom. The drawing room is panelled.

The sixteenth-century friezes over the fireplace in the lounge and the master bedroom are replicas of those to be found in Porters – the mayor’s residence in Southend – and Eastbury Manor in Barking, which is a National Trust property. The fireplaces were designed by the same person and there are only four known examples in Essex, with Little Belhus having two of them.

Interior example of Little Belhus House.

We’ve kept the furnishings in keeping with the age and ambience of the house and there’s a cabinet in the oak-panelled drawing room which displays some artefacts I dug up in the garden. There are some very old glass bottles, a flint Stone-Age tool, a halfpenny dated 1775 and some old clay pipes.

Naturally the woodwork in a house of this age sports carpenters’ signatures, plus notches on the woodwork, thought to be vital in medieval times to ward off witches.

Thurrock Council Heritage monitored the progress of the restoration and were impressed enough to issue us with letters of commendation.

The house is surrounded by half an acre of walled gardens, so we are completely private. To the rear, there is a mulberry tree which is at least 400 years old. Several stately homes around the country are known to have such trees, as King James I imported them from China with a view to building a silk industry. It is said the Chinese took his money but sent us black mulberries, whereas those needed to feed silkworms are white.

The exterior of the house is weatherboarded and we also have a bell tower. The bell, dating back to 1763, is thought to have come from South Ockendon church when the latter obtained a replacement.

Peter King

Domestic Service

My mother, Blanche Rydings (née Turner), was in service at Little Belhus House from 1916 to 1919. Although she was married, she continued to work while my father was serving in the First World War. They met by the ferry at Tilbury, where he was stationed. Mother had taken the ferry from Gravesend where she was in service and dropped the bag of plums she was carrying. Dad picked them up for her and always joked that not only did he pick up her plums – he picked her up too!

At one point Mum’s father was farm bailiff at Great Garlands Farm but the family later moved to Stifford and she’d go by foot from there to South Ockendon. Walking through the adjoining fields, she’d pass Quince Tree Cottage opposite the hospital, then into more open ground to Little Belhus House.

Her sister, Elsie, worked with her too and one night during a Zeppelin air raid, a large globe of the world which stood at the top of the staircase toppled as the house shook from falling bombs. Elsie, who was only about fourteen at the time, ran around the house shouting, ‘the world has fallen over’!

Blanche Rydings (née Turner) in Little Belhus House gardens, around 1917.

Blanche and Elsie Turner at Great Garlands Farm, with their father, early 1900s.

She also told how rats would run along the rafters in the attics where they slept.

There was an army officer who lived in the Belhus mansion at the time, and he offered to look for a nice gift for my father’s birthday. He bought a lovely cut-throat razor which Mum gave to Dad, but sadly it was stolen from his kitbag during the war.

My mother worked at Little Belhus House for the duration of the war but left when my father came home from the army.

Ken Rydings

Mary Magdelene Church, North Ockendon

I held my first service in St Mary Magdalene church, North Ockendon in December 1978.

The incumbent ‘rector,’ the Revd Kenneth Briggs, had died that December so the church was without a priest. I went along to take the Christmas services and continued to help out.

Revd Briggs, who was semi-retired and helping out at North Ockendon alongside the Revd Steel, had his own house in Emerson Park so the rectory had been sold in 1976. The Diocese of Chelmsford suspended the living of North Ockendon, so the parish had no stipend or house to offer a clergyman.

St Mary Magdalene church, North Ockendon.

Poyntz Memorial in St Mary Magdalene church.

I’d been an industrial chaplain in the East End but the industrial chaplains at the Diocese of London decided that, with the closure of the upper docks, there was really no longer the need for one. I was transferred to Chelmsford, in order to retain my stipend, expenses and housing, and eventually it was decided I would do half a day a week and conduct the Sunday services in North Ockendon, whilst carrying on with my own job as industrial chaplain in the Port of London.

Stained-glass window, St Mary Magdalene church.

The local church community were consulted and some were unhappy at not having a full-time priest, but I was appointed priest-in-charge and carried on with my industrial chaplaincy while I lived in Upminster.

The brown-brick rectory, which was rebuilt in 1750, suffered bomb damage in 1944 and in 1958 the top storey of the north wing was taken down while the rest of the floor was converted into a separate flat. The Diocesan Authorities sold the rectory into private hands in 1975.

The church has always been well supported by the local population, as it’s at the heart of the community. In the summer we hold a fête on the rectory meadow, where we have stalls, sideshows, raffles, competitions, etc. and of course, the usual refreshments. We used to have a drama group called The Poyntz Players, and held concerts in the church hall. These events were always packed.

The church school had been rebuilt in 1902 by James Benyon for eighty children but gradually numbers dwindled. When I first went there the school was still in operation for primary and junior pupils, so we had to use the Reading Room for concerts etc. But in 1980, when the number of pupils had dwindled to just sixteen, the government decided it was no longer financially viable and the school closed. The children transferred mainly to Oglethorpe in Cranham, or to Branfil in Upminster.

The Benyon family, who built North Ockendon Church School, were from South Ockendon and fortunately in the deeds it stipulated that, if the school ceased to be used as such, then it was to become the rooms for the North Ockendon church. So, when the school closed, the building wasn’t appropriated by the government and it became our church hall.

We installed some toilets because the schoolchildren had used outside facilities, although ther...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Acknowledgements
• Contents
• Introduction
• One Early Life and Schooldays
• Two Newcomers
• Three The Second World War
• Four Village Life
• Five At Leisure
• Six Farms and Farm Workers
• Seven Professions and Occupations
• Eight Places and People of Interest
• Nine Reflections
• Copyright