It was while they were packing to move to Wickford that Mum found my grandmother’s birth certificate. We never knew but Nan was born in Wickford High Street at the weather-boarded houses by the village pump in 1879. This was about where Sid’s butcher shop is now. Her name was May Sarah Emeney. May Sarah lived in Wickford possibly going to the Runwell school which her brothers and sisters also attended. Runwell School was then opposite St. Mary’s Church Runwell, now a private house of dear June and Johnny, where I think many of the adults of Wickford and Runwell today remember going to dance school when they were children.
May Sarah’s father and mother, William and Sarah Emeney, had a boot mender shop and they lived there until 1891. The railway arrived in Wickford around 1887 and must have made a big difference to the town. As my grandmother and her family lived almost next to the line, perhaps they found it too noisy and they then moved to Nevendon, Wickford, leaving one son George Emeney in Wickford as he worked on the railway. Unfortunately poor George was only 22 when, as it said on his death certificate, “He was accidentaly run over by a certain Passenger Engine and train on the Great Eastern Railway there”. He was buried at Wickford.
I have since researched my family tree and found that most of my ancestors on my grandmother’s side came from in and around Wickford and Runwell back to at least 1749 and perhaps even further. So it seems Wickford and Runwell are in my blood and I have come back to my roots.
Comments about this page
Add your own comment
Yes, Denise, I would say that picture of The Wool Shop was late 1950s to mid-1960s as I did my courting in 58 in the Willow Cafe and my wife later bought wool in the wool shop 1962/64 for our first child.
I am not sure Doreen, but there is a Sappers Farm Cottage in Cranfield Park Road, Wickford. It’s a taxi firm now, but on an old map of 1896-1904 there is a Sappers Farm, so perhaps your dad was born in one of the farm cottages.
I have now come across my dad’s birth certificate and found he too lived in Wickford, in a place called Sappers Cottage, but cannot find it. I used to live in South Woodham Ferrers, but have since moved away.
Where in the High Street was the photo clearly showing The Wool Shop taken? And about what date? Judging by the woman walking past it looks to be about 1950s/60s.
I bet their long dresses got muddy in winter in the High Street, as the streets weren’t tarmacked until early 1900s.
Add a comment about this page