The area covered by the archive is the same as that covered by the administrative district of the Rochford District Council. It is, even today, a mixture of large farms, small villages and urban areas, all distinct and unique. The fourteen parishes of the district cover a large area: between Canewdon in the north to the boundary with Southend-on-Sea in the south and from Foulness Island in the east to Rawreth, bordering on Wickford, in the west.
Until the 20th century the roads were mainly poor or non-existant across the district and one village was often separated from the next by rivers and creeks and unpassable muddy tracks. This lead to the development of a collection of separate communities each with its own characteristics. The weekly or occasional livestock markets and fairs held in the two main towns, Rochford and Rayleigh, were the only times when people from the villages were likely to mix.
It is an area steeped in history from neolithic times but many of the older population have always lived in the same place as their ancestors and see themselves as belonging to their village community rather than the district as a whole. The coming of the railway in the late 19th century opened up the towns on its route to wider commerce but the extremes of the area are still only linked by road. Without a car, people are reliant on infrequent buses to leave their villages.
Until recently the RDCA group has consisted of just six members. We are very pleased to have welcomed another three volunteers to join us this year. Currently we are working on a variety of articles, several concentrating on life in the outlying villages of the district. We are also continuing to engage with the various communities on a regular basis, mainly through the libraries. In addition we have displays at fetes and other social functions throughout the district whenever possible.
However, we would like more volunteers to join the group. We are always pleased to receive written memories or offers to talk to any of us to record verbal recollections. Loans of old photographs, or artifacts which can be photographed, are gratefully received. We will scan them for the website and return them within a few days.
Find out more by visiting the ROCHFORD DISTRICT COMMUNITY ARCHIVE website.
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THE ABOVE CATEGORY PANEL AND TEXT ARE INTENDED FOR THE SEECA PORTAL SITE. Image dimensions are 538x110. The flood colour to tie the elements together is slightly blue tinted away from light grey (viz hex colour code #e0e0f0). This colour is intended to complement the SEECA side panel colours.
IMPORTANT NOTE: the SEECA category image for the portal site now has to be wider than this one (at 568 pixels), otherwise there is too much white space on the right side when it is displayed on the SEECA site. The reason is that the left hand amount of white space on the SEECA portal site and the individual SEECA sites now differ.
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This hidden test category on the RDCA site was previously called CATEGORY XX. It was left online sufficiently long to be catalogued by Google.
The single link to this category in About Us was removed on 01/07/12.
So, at some stage the Google entries should disappear due to the break. Here is a record that we will update from time to time:
Google check on "Category XX" 01/07/12. POSITIVE. THREE ENTRIES.
Google check on "Category XX" 09/07/12. POSITIVE. THREE ENTRIES.
Google check on "Category XX" 20/07/12. POSITIVE. TWO ENTRIES.
Google check on "Category XX" 01/08/12. POSITIVE. FOUR ENTRIES.
Google check on "Category XX" 10/08/12. POSITIVE. FIVE ENTRIES.
Google check on "Category XX" 16/08/12. POSITIVE. TWO ENTRIES.
NB ... The Category XX search was included in quotes on 16/08/12. Hits then dropped to two. This means that there are still some links on the site to the category that are not known about OR that the Google index is a lot more persistent than previously thought. Since this category is now renamed it seems the latter supposition is the correct one.
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This test category (TEST CATEGORY XX) will be published into the top level of the site and hidden.
A new hidden page (TEST PAGE XX) will then be published into the XX Category.
A HTTrack mirror will then be taken, Mirror 14.
Mirror 14 did'nt contain a copy of Category XX. Pages XX were are OK. Mirror is repeated, 15. Cause is absence of any link to XX from the visible part of the site. This has been corrected by putting a link into the bottom of About Us.
We will then wait until Google has catalogued Category XX.
The category XX and page XX will then be deleted.
Another mirror will then be taken, Mirror ??.
The two mirrors will then be compared.
The Google behaviour on the deleted category and deleted page will be monitored.
One expects some latency - maybe several weeks.