GWENDOBO
A house on the Hullbridge plotlands
Mike Parsons
Family Group
Click to enlarge
GWENDOBO
Click to enlarge
The first photo is a family group standing in front of a shed. The woman in the tent is my grandmother and the the guy in the waistcoat is my great-grandfather (my grandfather's dad) the guy on the left is Alf who was one of my great uncles.
The second photo is of the ‘shack’ which is quite substantial with a brick chimney stack. Its name ‘GWENDOBO’ is a concatenation of my mother and grandparent's names so it must predate my aunty’s birth. There appears to be a second ‘shack’ on the right and the shed from the first picture is on the left.
There are a number of other pictures of family members working a vegetable plot with shed in background, and a view of a tree lined road entitled "Near Smith’s farm”.
Another view of the by now famous shed is captioned with the critic comment “Alf’s tent is next door”.
The period would be between 1933, when my grandparents married, and 1937, when my aunt was born. 1937/8 is also the time my mother’s family began to migrate north to Merseyside via Birmingham and mid-Wales.
I know there was a movement to rent small holdings to ex-servicemen after WW1 which fell by the wayside in the 30’s. The question is was this such a ‘community’ of veterans (my great-grandfather served in the war) or a more commercial affair of small holdings? Of course it might be we were just squatters! Could we localise the area occupied with a map ref so I can show my mum on Google maps? That would be great. Any other information would also be appreciated.
Thank you in advance, Mike Parsons.
**** RDCA-Admin ****
Hi Mike. I have added a bit extra below. Unfortunately there does not appear to be any lead to "Smith's Farm" on any maps we have looked at - or any street names etc that might localise your property. However, the entire area is quite small. It might be that your "squat" was somewhere between The Drive and the river but that is pure conjecture.
1. Two maps of the plotlands courtesy of NLS (National Library of Scotland). Click here to see two maps on the NLS site and use the transparency slider on the NLS page to fade between them. One map is an OS of Hullbridge 1885-1900 and the other is a modern satellite map with roads marked on it.
2. Here are a few current photos of the plotlands development - Feb 2016. The photos were taken in the area between The Drive and the river. Click on any photo and then use the associated Next/Previous links to move between them.