A little more history of Shotgate.

Just to get the location – Shotgate is a civil parish to the east and adjacent to Wickford. Today it is mainly a housing area and separate industrial estate tucked between the railway lines to Southend and Southminster and the Southend Road. It even includes a little nature reserve called Shotgate Thickets.

The meaning of the name is not certain. One explanation is that it derives from the word sceat, which is a type of an anglo-saxon coin, or, more likely in this case, an area divided into strips of farm land, while the word geat or gata, refers to an entrance through a wall or enclosure.

In the seventeenth century Thomas Dallingood was found not to have cleared the ditches of the road from Wickford Church. Later that century the road leading to the western end of ‘Rawreth Shoot’ was ‘unpasabell’ and the local inhabitants were ordered to repair it. Possibly a reason why it was turned into a Turnpike Road.

In 1921 the area was farmland. The Archer family kept cows, sheep, pigs, and horses on what was now known as Shot Farm. Barley, beans, oats and wheat were the main crops. What is today Fanton Chase and Fanton Walk was a cart track. The area began to develop as part of the plotland settlements common in the Wickford area with establishment of Enfield Road and Oak Avenue. The Archer family sold off some Wickford Barns Farm (which had been incorporated into Shot Farm) for development of what was called the Shotgate Estate in 1927 – Bruce Grove, First to Fifth Avenue and the shopping parades. The original plan is slightly different to what exists today.

Early inhabitants were Pru and Jim Wade and her parents, Mr and Mrs Wheeler, who had bungalows, “The Nest” and “Holmleigh”, in Fifth Avenue. The Geere family moved in in 1929. This account is based on a talk Alice Geere gave to the Women’s Institute and wrote up in 1969. Other people she recalled were Mrs Theedum, (purportedly a descendent of US President Garfield) and Mr Steele, a blind man who maintained his own allotment.

Shotgate was fairly typical of plotland developments in its early days. Houses varied in quality, the roads were often like dirt tracks, with no lights or mains drainage. Cesspools had to be emptied regularly. Dusty in summer, winter rains made the roads muddy. Coal was delivered in the summer because the lorry could get bogged down in winter. If the doctor called he would leave his car on the main road, put on his wellingtons, then walk to the house. London commuters would leave their wellingtons at the newsagents (Mrs Richardson) then catch a bus to the station. Milk came from Archers Farm. A man would bring an urn on his pushbike and ladle it out. There was no electricity or gas to start with. Cooking was done on a kitchen range or a primus stove.

Most of the early cottages have probably gone or been redeveloped. Many of the original buildings were cleared for food production during the war if they appeared not to be used. The estate is still mainly made up of bungalows and ‘chalet’ style houses. Before the roads were made up, Bruce Grove ended in a field. Surrounding lands were farmed, including a large chicken farm owned by Chase Cross Bakeries. Later a small industrial estate was opened off Russell Gardens and Wick Lane. Early factories based there included Poulton, Selfe and Lee, Southwold Foundry, No Sag mattresses, Keilcraft, Stonecraft, Bell Cleaners and Carter and Ward.

There was very little in the way of entertainment. Among groups which were formed around Shotgate were the Allotment Holders and Gardeners Association (a response to the wartime Dig for Victory campaign), a pensioners club which met in the Merley Club, located opposite Fred’s Timber Yard on the Southend Road, and the Women’s Institute, which met in the Baptist Church Hall. The Baptist Church, a corrugated tin and asbestos structure, began in Third Avenue and was later moved on rollers nearer to the main road, in Bruce Grove. A more substantial building was built in 1961.

A small group of local people decided to raise money for a community hall. Whist drives, paper collections and fetes were held to raise money. Adding these funds to a grant from the Ministry of Education enabled land to be purchased from Basildon Urban District Council. The building incorporated second hand materials, including wood panelling from a pub in the East End of London. Some labour was freely given by local volunteers, which kept the construction costs down. The Hall, also in Bruce Grove, eventually opened in November 1958. It has been extended and refurbished several times since and is still very much in use.

Shotgate was greatly expanded by the building of the Hodgson’s Way industrial estate in 1989. Housing was incorporated between Hodgson’s Way and Fanton Chase with industrial units infilling south to the railway line and joining up with the older Russell Gardens estate.

 

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  • I lived in Shotgate some 45 years ago and I remember the Craig family as I was good friend with Peter Craig, the youngest of 2 sons of the Craig family.

    By James (01/12/2021)
  • I was born in 1954 and at that time our family (Bob and Joyce Gulliford, daughter Sandra b. 1951, son Kevin b. 1952, me, Coral b. 1954) lived at Homeleigh, 11 Fanton Walk. My sister Janice came along in 1958. Our neighbours were the Craig family. The Topples were at number 15, I think. I remember the name Terry Mayne, who I believe lived opposite us. I think it was his mother who made net petticoats, and made a mauve one for me costing 10 shillings! There were also the Mitchell family and Mrs Embury and her daughter Judith.
    My Mum’s mum, Ena Solly, lived at ‘Florida’, Beedle Avenue, off Fifth Avenue. Her neighbour was Mr. Metcalf. I believe there was a family by the name of Zimmer, in the avenue.
    We moved into a house which was built for Mum and Dad in Swan Lane, Wickford, in 1962.

    By Coral Pearce (Nee Gulliford) (23/03/2021)
  • I would absolutely love to speak to any of the Archer family still around in the area.
    I am from Benfleet born a “Lazell” but have been researching my family history and found my ancestors were closely related to the ARCHER family who farmed extensively throughout the 1700 – 1800s around the Wickford area. Samuel Archer born 1747 is my GGGG Grandfather. Learning about his eventual marriage to my GGGG Grandmother Martha Lazell has been a critical and key recent ancestry discovery to me and finding out about my GGG Grandfather Edward Lazell’s parents. I have been many years trying to find who he came from. I would absolutely love to speak to any of the Archer family still around in the area. I descend from Samuel and Martha (Archer). I had no idea the Lazells and Archers would be so intertwined. By rights I should be an Archer if old Samuel had married Martha before three baby boys came along! So, I am happy for anyone to contact me via this page. I am aware my email address cannot be published.

    By PAULA JENKINS (19/01/2020)
  • In about 1968 my parents, Len and Win Wilks, my sister Carol, my brother Chris and myself, Barbara, moved to number 14 Fanton Walk. I remember how lovely and quiet it was. At the back of the bungalows, opposite our house, was a huge playing field. I went to Beauchamps Comprehensive School from the second year until the lower sixth. I worked in a French electronics firm making switches, then for Cole Electronics, and also for TT Mouldings, with my mum, Win.
    I eventually moved to Sudbury, Suffolk, in 1981, and regret moving as I really loved living in Shotgate. I married and moved to Second Avenue.

    By Barbara Cheese nee Wilks (02/05/2019)
  • My grandfather, W. Saward, was a ganger for the LNER. He was killed in an accident in 1914 and my cousins had a plaque affixed at Southend airport.

    By M saward (19/03/2019)
  • Simon Boughey sent in this request about a property called ‘Kismet’ in Shotgate:
    “I’m looking into the history of a family ancestor. Her name was Clarice Perry, and she spent a short amount of time living at ‘Kismet’, Fanton Walk, in Shotgate, in 1933. Does anyone know of, or even remember ‘Kismet’? A hairdressers?

    Any info on ‘Kismet’ (where it was, the years it was in business etc.) and anything about Clarice Perry, if anything is known about her. She was 24 when she lived there, but was killed in a car crash in July 1933, on her way to Gainsborough, Lincolnshire.

    By Bob Plimmer (03/03/2019)
  • Editor: These comments are from Kenneth Saward,
    “My grandparents moved from Edmonton, London, to Shotgate in 1924. They lived at 16 Fanton Walk. I believe they sold the house to the Mayne family in the early 1950s.”
    “My grandfather lived at 16 Fanton walk, the Saward family lived at 19 Fanton Walk”.

    By Bob Plimmer (22/01/2019)
  • My Dad grew up at, I believe, 16 Fanton Walk in the 1950s/60s. His name was Terry Mayne and he had a sister Juliet. He would have been messing about with motorbikes!

    By Terri Mayne (06/01/2019)
  • I grew up at 19 Fanton Walk from 1936 to 1959. My wife and I moved to New Zealand. We have both been back several times, the last in 2013. There were two older sisters and one younger. We knew most people and went the church school during the war.

    By k.w.saward (04/01/2019)
  • I was born at Shotgate, and lived in number 19 Fanton Walk. My name is Kenneth Saward, date of birth 16.12.36. I knew most of the families. My wife, daughter and I moved to New Zealand in 1959.

    By k.w.saward (29/12/2018)
  • With reference to the Bobcroot comment, the Billericay Urban District was renamed Basildon Urban District in 1955, so the land for Shotgate Community Hall was probably obtained from Basildon Urban District Council as mentioned by Maurice Wakeham.

    By Ray Prince (21/10/2018)
  • I think you may have got it wrong – it was BILLERICAY urban district council not Basildon urban district council that ran the area then. Basildon only took over when the New Town appeared, it wasn’t heard of before that.

    By bobcroot (24/01/2017)
  • I grew up in Fourth Avenue and attended the Girls Life Brigade at the Baptist Church and Shotgate Community Hall. I remember the new Baptist Church being built and would go and see how it was coming along before our GLB meeting. I also got married in the Baptist Church in 1973.

    By Marion Mellon (Née Carter) (27/01/2015)

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