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| Basildon Stories | |||||
| Langdon Hills Memories 1943 - 1971 | |||||
| by Gilbert Ager | |||||
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| Early Days I was born at home on 24th October 1943, the youngest of six children, to my parents Jack and Florence Ager. My three brothers being Norman, Clifford and Malcolm, and my two sisters Margaret and Barbara. At the time of my birth Great Britain was at war with Germany, but I was too young to remember any of it. My mum later told me that after I was born a bomb came down nearby which nearly caused her to drop me. My parents had met and married years earlier, and lived near Norsey Wood in Billericay before moving to Langdon Hills. My Grandfather lived in Vowler Road. My dad was quite a character and well liked by everyone. He kept a horse and one of my earliest memories is of him riding off to work sitting astride the horse. Our Bungalow We all lived in a detached bungalow built by my dad and my grandfather sometime in the 1920s or early 1930s, and named Albmar, a combination of Albert and Margaret. It stood on the left side of Alexander Road between Berry Lane and Lincewood Park Drive. My father was a local bricklayer and had worked on many houses in Langdon Hills so knew a thing about house construction, and between them they made a very good job of this one. Its structure comprised of a series of brick built piers about 1½ feet tall, onto which was built the wooden framework and floor joists. The timber framework was treated with wood preservative, and sheets of asbestos were used to define the rooms, which as expected, all had wooden floorboards. Other than the brick piers and two chimney stacks there was nothing below the floor. On the exterior, and from the foundations up, was a course of bricks about a foot high with various air vents to the front, back and sides. The walls up to the roofline were completed in halflap cladding, which was creosoted on the sides and painted at the front. Entrance was either by way of a side door, or the back door to the garden, both of which had a small set of steps. The side door was rarely used, except by the postman as it housed the letterbox, and I think in later years kept permanently locked. Within the bungalow was the scullery, parlour and two bedrooms, though my father later created a small third room which my sisters slept in. For heating there was a fireplace in the parlour and in my parents bedroom. The property was connected to the main gas and electricity supply, and I am almost certain we had shilling meters installed for both of them. I can remember our plug sockets were the old round pin, 5 and 15 amp type, before we had them converted to 13 amp in the 1960s. In the scullery was a large white glazed Butler type sink, and a gas boiler in a copper casing. We used this to heat all our water. Outside in the garden and built against the house was the toilet. This had to be emptied and buried down the garden as the house wasn't connected to the main sewer and we didn't have a cesspool. This was not unusual for those times, as few properties, if any, in our vicinity had their own cesspool. We had a tin bath and the water had to be heated up first as there was no bathroom in the bungalow. Given the size of our family the bungalow was quite small, but we all made the best of it and I can't say I had any complaints. The front garden was quite small, probably about 20 foot across, with a hedge on the right side and chain link fence on the left, garden gate and small pathway to the side door. My mum liked to tend the lawn which also went either side of the bungalow. She kept the grass short and grew all kinds of different flowers. The back garden was much bigger, somewhere in the region of 60 or 70 foot long and wider than the property. In the back garden were a few trees including an elderberry and a large vegetable patch. My father used to be in charge of that and he grew everything from carrots, turnips, potatoes, runner and broad beans, brussels and cabbages. We never went short of vegetables. We also kept chickens and my father built a large chicken house and run, and we often offered the free range eggs for sale to the locals. Across the garden went a small ditch, which I think started on higher ground at the cow fields. This ran through all the gardens in Alexander Road and eventually came out in Berry Lane. You had to cross it by a small wooden bridge to get to our vegetable patch. We also had a pigeon house built over the old anderson air raid shelter. Against the house and next to the toilet was the coal shed. We used to get our coal from Hall's coal merchants who had a yard down at Laindon station, and I quite often used to gather up branches and kindling from the woods around our bungalow. The milk came from Firman's Dairies, who I remember were a local firm based somewhere further up Langdon Hills. I think we also used to use Whife, and then Whife and Sloper when they went in together. Beyond our back garden was thick woodland. My father owned a large piece of land there, but this was never developed and I think he sold it off when I was still fairly young. Being so close to the woods meant there was always an abundance of wildlife. Squirrels used to come down from the trees and feed in the garden. Foxes, badgers and hedgehogs were often sighted, as well as frogs and toads, small rodents like shrews, mice, voles, moles, and even lizards and the odd adder. Alexander Road Alexander Road was an unmade road for its entire length. Separating the properties from the road on our side was a two foot wide concrete path. There was no path on the other side and the main track was often in poor condition, particularly during the winter months with ruts that would fill up with water making travel very difficult. There was some street lighting, which I think originally was gas lit. The road itself actually begins off the High Road; almost opposite the school, for a short distance to Berry Lane. It's flat along this part, and also unmade at that time, with a line of bungalows on either side. The main stretch then continued over Berry Lane, still flat before gently rising to a crossway with Lincewood Park Drive. Beyond that was Woodlands Avenue which took you to the top of the recreation ground. Alexander Road was typical of the type of terrain you came to expect if you lived in Langdon Hills during that time. None of the roads beyond Alexander were made up. Some were nothing more than a grass track, while others, like ours, had a concrete path on one side. The High Road, Berry Lane, Vowler Road and Samuel Road were the exception from what I can remember, even St. David's and Emanuel Road, which linked to the High Road had yet to be made up. Being an unmade road made it difficult for the rubbish collection, and I can remember in the winter the ambulance crew having to bring someone past on a sleigh as they obviously couldn't navigate through the thick mud. There were twelve or so other bungalows in the road, but only one two storey house on the other side to us nearer Berry Lane. Everyone had a large garden and quite a lot of us grew our own vegetables. Near to us and virtually opposite St. George's Road was a large nursery with a number of greenhouses. They grew flowers, tomato plants, cucumber and lettuce and ran it as a business. | |||||
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