Rectory Road is one of the oldest roads in Basildon. It
originally ran from the old A13 High Road to a junction with Burnt Mills Road. Sometime during
the mid 1970s the road was truncated and a large roundabout constructed; in anticipation
of the new housing estates under construction at Felmore and Tyefields. A small section
remains beyond the roundabout, and the last sections have been renamed Mayfair Avenue and
Tenterfields. Direct access for vehicles into Mayfair Avenue from Rectory Road is
restricted. Pitsea Rectory once stood in Rectory Road on the site of St. Gabriel's
Church and was originally Shophouse Farm. W. J. Wager's 'people's dairy' was another feature,
as was a police station, operational until 1967, that stood just beyond Howard Crescent. This
was demolished and years later a new station was built which stands close to the
original. Rectory Road had a wide variety of shops at one time including Papworth's, The
Cabin, Steggles and T.G. Cycles at number 102. Another shop, which would later move to Basildon town centre, was television and
radio specialists Kelley's, who had a shop at number 94 in the 1950s. For the motorist the Rectory Road Motoring Centre
at 87/89 was AA recommended and sold BP Arco petrol and in its later years Total. There are still two small shop parades that predate
the new town. A small reminder of the towns past. | 
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