Lowering the High St/London Rd 1928

Series of photos donated by George Chambers

This series of photos of the lowering of the counter-wall (which formed the base of the original Canvey High St) were amongst a wealth of Canvey memorabilia made available to the Archive by George Chambers recently. We are looking forward to publishing several more items from this source shortly. The pictures are obviously professionally produced by a London firm ‘ Photo Press’ and dated on the reverse ‘Nov 28’. Possibly they were used for press or local government use.

Chambers’ Dairies first shop at Small Gains. A young Freda Hall walks the gang-plank carrying a jug of milk or maybe it’s tea for the workmen!

Question; In the photo below of the corner of Arcadia Rd the building that was Chambers and Attwells shops still remains to this day as a house but does anybody have any info on the shop in the foreground which must have been pulled down shortly after the picture was taken and replaced by Greens’ Stores?

Comments about this page

  • I recognised the man swinging the sledge hammer as my father in law Walter ( Bill) Blackmore who worked on that road works and the man who owned the Hootons store Mr Tutt in his later years married Miss Hawes who had a shop called “The Drug stores” on the corner of the high street Hanut Rd which is now called Hope Road.

    By Derek Hardy (13/02/2013)
  • Derek, I always knew the drugstore as Tutts Stores.in the late 40s and 50s. I remember the two ladies who ran it. They always seemed very old to me. At the side of the shop lived Dick Oughton and his family. He was a rag and bone man or second hand dealer. The family emigrated to Australia in the late 40s or early fifties and I still have an old book he gave me.

    By Maureen Buckmaster (14/02/2013)
  • Hi Maureen, In one of our earliest pages, the memoires of my cousin once removed, Doris Scullard, she actually mentions Mrs Hawes change of name by her marriage to Mr Tutt. Coincidentally the only comment on the page is a very kind one from you about my Auntie Blossom. Re the Houghtons I remember Mr Houghton being a mate of Billy Wells and think he was the proprietor of the the landau that used to carry holidaymakers from the Haystack Corner to the seafront. Funnily enough the land where their bungalow/shop stood is still a vacant building plot today.

    By Graham Stevens (15/02/2013)
  • Hallo Graham My father & myself done work for your Grandfather Oliver Stevens in his house that was in Winterswyke Ave I remember there was a well ouside on the East side of the house where first they got their water from, my father in dipping a bucket in to get water for wall paper paste he dropped his cigarette lighter which was made out of a bullet case, in I told this story to your Uncle Ray some years ago after he redeveloped the property, he did not think I was old enough to remember the old place mention my name to your sister she knows me.also the black Landau you spoke of was the Crow brothers who lived on the corner of Yamburg High street in a bungalow called ‘The Crows Nest;

    By Derek Hardy (01/03/2013)
  • Derek did your father in law live near the corner of Hassell and Yamburg Road? I can remember Sheila Blackmore lived there in the forties and early fifties. Any relation?

    By Maureen Buckmaster (01/03/2013)
  • Hi Derek, Well, well, well, I remember that well very well. I wouldn’t be surprised if your Dad’s lighter was amongst a variety of items that ended up in there. Fortunately I don’t think they included any human-beings which is quite surprising as most of the time,as I recall, it was only covered by a rusty piece of plate-iron which had split in half. There are photos of ‘Reliance Cottage’ on the website in the afore-mentioned ‘Doris Scullard memoires’ and also in ‘A shopping basket of memories pt 1’ I have passed on your regards to my sister Jenny Stacey and Uncle Ray, now in his early 90s is still going strong. We also remember your younger brother Alan ,the architect, who I think used to work for Mr Selby. Regards, Graham.

    By Graham Stevens (05/03/2013)
  • Hallo Maureen ,Yes my father in law did live there 1st in Hassel Lodge and then Cariarma and Sheila Blackmore was my wife an as you may know she pass away back in 1999,. at first a could not work out were, you was but it come to me that you where Maureen Thorpe living in Lime Road I think and had a brother Brian

    By Derek Hardy (16/03/2013)
  • Hi Graham,you are right about the the lid on the well I was going to try getting the lighter back but my father said don,t go there

    By Derek Hardy (16/03/2013)
  • I’m so sorry,Derek, I didn’t know Sheila had died. I left Canvey in 1988. Yes, my brother was Brian. We lived at the top of Wamburg near Gifhorn, but my sister Sheila and her husband lived in Lime. My friend Denise, who lived in Gifhorn, and I walked up Wamburg and into Yamburg and Westerland then back through Lime a couple of years ago. Only a very few of the old bungalows left now. I have very happy memories of my life there.

    By Maureen Buckmaster (18/03/2013)
  • The building in question was possibly my grandfathers green grocers shop. He opened this shop and put my grandmother Lizzie in there to run it whilst he went to work on the new roads. They were paying good money for workmen. My father took over the running of this shop on his return to Canvey after his demob in 1945. Shortly after that it was pulled down and the new parade of shops were built, including Green Stores, Bishops and Zena’s hair dressers.

    By Joan Liddiard (Bishop) (05/04/2013)
  • This was taken opposite my grandfathers greengrocers shop. He actually worked on these roads at the time. The money was good so he put my grandmother in the shop to run it while he worked on putting the roads in.

    By Joan liddiard (29/04/2014)
  • The building in between the Clockhouse and the white fencing was where Express Laundry was run by Mr Byron and his daughter Gladys. The white fencing was the opening of Voorburg Road. Mr Byron lived at the end of this road, at least he accessed his bungalow and horse sheds from this road. He lived in Westerland Road.

    By Joan liddiard (29/04/2014)
  • We have been informed by Alan Hardy that his older brother Derek, who has commented on this page, has sadly passed away. Alan asked us to pass on the news.

    By Janet Penn (30/06/2015)
  • My condolences to Alan and his family. We had a nice chat at the last Archive meeting and it is sad to hear of his brother’s passing so soon after that occasion. Although I had not seen Derek for many years, as can seen from above we had an interesting exchange of memories on this page and I believe he made valuable comments on other pages. Graham.

    By Graham Stevens (01/07/2015)
  • Hi Janet,

    I have just come across the various earlier comments made to the site by my brother Derek and appreciate the responses from yourself and Graham Stevens.

    I had not realized that he had contributed so much .

    I hope to be able to come to the meeting  the end of the month and perhaps will be able to speak then.

    Regards

    Alan Hardy

    By Alan Hardy (04/01/2016)
  • I think the shop in the foreground at the top of Arcadia Road may have been Bond’s Stores.
    Mr Bond lived in the house behind the shop in Arcadia Road.
    His house can be seen in the photo “looking towards Small Gains Corner”.
    My Gran lived next door to Mr Bond at”Ivanhoe” in Arcadia Road.

    By Lorraine Davis (07/05/2021)

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