Wickford Animal Market

Opposite the Castle Public House

It has been suggested that this photograph was taken in the 1920s, but the clothing might indicate a different decade. If you remember the cattle market, can you date this photograph?

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  • Both of my grandfathers attended Wickford Cattle Market.

    Alf Fance, Rochford butcher, was a Grader there during the years all livestock was purchased by The Ministry of Food, during rationing.

    Jack Manning was a Cattle Dealer from Blounts Farm, Hockley.

    After closure, the Monday Auction was transferred to Chelmsford, but still often referred to as Wickford Market.

    By Graham Lewis (16/08/2020)
  • I vaguely remember the livestock market in the 60s near the Community Centre. I remember seeing the pigs having their ears clipped. I also remember the old market behind it. You used to get to it by turning up a path between the railway bridge and Martins Bank (maybe it was the Midland Bank?).

    By Kevin Mears (05/05/2019)
  • This picture is how I remember the cattle market in the 1940s. And the cattle pens at the railway station where the cattle were unloaded from the trains and driven round to the market.

    By Arthur Cox (04/10/2018)
  • As a very young boy, both I and my neighbour, same age as myself, visited the livestock market on several occasions. We would cycle from Laindon with a cardboard box tied to our handlebars, and a few pennies (old ones) in our pockets. On each visit we bought day old chicks for 1d each, these we transported home in the cardboard boxes. On one visit we even bought young rabbits, we must have had a good bit more money to spend. The market was a bustling place and as you might imagine was a source of great excitement, adventure and pleasure to two young lads. I seem to recall we were about 10 or 11, different days back then, never to return. 

    By Don Joy (09/09/2015)
  • This looks like when it was the area opposite what is now Barclays Bank, after the second world war. The poultry market was next to The Castle pub, where Aldi is, with Layland and Thorne the auctioneers. I remember at school we had to get letter from mum to say we could be out of school at dinner times to go to the market. Many a time cows or the  odd bullock would get loose and run through the High Street or the school surrounding fields. The indoor market was in a compound surrounded by a corrugated fence alongside the railway line, behind what is now Boots etc.

    By bob croot (09/12/2014)

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