Old Wind Mill

Chelmsford

Hanningford

The name of Hanningfield goes back many centuries - it means a portion of cleared forest land which was once owned by the family Hann or Ham, who was thought to be a Saxon tribal leader. At the Norman conquest the lordship of the manor of Hanningfield was given to the Bishop of Bayeaux and later, in the 16th century, descended through the Montchesney famly to John, the first baron Petre of Writtle, and it has remained in the family to the present day.

Baron Petre (pronounced Peter) of Writtle was created in 1603 for Sir John Petre. He represented Essex in parliament and served as Lord Lieutenant of Essex. Lord Petre was the son of Sir William Petre, Secretary of State to Henry VIII, Mary I, Edward VI and Elizabeth I.

The village was formerly a community where most of the inhabitants worked on the land and allied industries up to the 1940s when the war interrupted its inhabitants’ lifestyle. During the 1950s there was a major upheaval in the village when the Hanningfield Reservoir was constructed, but the village still retains its original appearance.

At the time of the First World War the village consisted of the school, the Windmill public house, the post office and general store, the blacksmith's forge and the parish church of St Peter. 'Bearmains', the big house, was lived in by Mr and Mrs Gray, employing many servants and gardeners, and there was a scattering of cottages mainly occupied by the farmers and their families.

In 1799, Joshua Appleton took the lease on the Windmill Public House for 14 years, and from 1848, William Hunt, described in a census as a Licensed Victualler and Farmer, had the pub. His family took the Windmill on after him and ran it until at least 1925.

The Windmill was a small country pub with a tap room, the floor of which was covered in sawdust, and in the early 20th century it was run by a Mr Tom Hunt and his sister Peg, together with a housekeeper Mrs Aspin. A local resident at the time wrote that all three were very deaf but managed to keep the locals happy, especially in wintertime, with a large fire in the tap room which had seats built in the side of the fireplace. The post office and general stores were run by the Clarence family. You could always purchase lovely hand-cut bacon and cheese, and all perishable goods were kept in a back room with a brick floor, slate shelves and no heat. The blacksmith's forge was run by the two Smith brothers who were kept busy with the farm horses. When anyone wanted the doctor to call from Wickford, a white flag was placed on the smithy's wall and the doctor on his motor-bike used to call there to see where he was wanted (there were no phones in the village until the 1930s). The smith was popular with the children, and made iron hoops to fit the size of the individual child.

When motorized vehicles began to come on the scene the church choir hired a charabanc to take its members to the seaside once a year, mostly to Clacton, Felixstowe, Walton or Margate. The maximum speed of these was 15 mph, so they left early in the morning, arriving home late night, causing much worry and concern to their families. Charabanc outings were particularly popular in the period between the wars.

As the vehicle appears to have solid rubber tyres, I can't believe that the ride would have been particularly comfortable, even on the smoothest of roads. Gradually things began to improve: buses began to get more frequent, lads brought motorbikes, taking the girls on the pillion, water and electricity were laid on and generally life improved until war broke out again in 1939.

On the whole the village escaped lightly. The end of the war was greeted with a huge bonfire and social evening in the village hall and things seemed to be settling down until a huge reservoir was planned and built on many acres of farmland. Completed in 1954, Hanningford Resevoir holds 27 billion litres of water and supplies south Essex - but it completely altered the face of the village. New houses were built, as was a new road linking West to South Hanningfield. The school was demolished and the Windmill public house was re-sited and rebuilt. It has admittedly undergone much extension work but the old charm of the building remains.

Nicholas Horner, Highwayman

In 1718 a wealthy lady was travelling alone on the stagecoach from Colchester to London. When they were in the area, the coachman noticed a suspicious horseman ahead and warned his passenger to conceal her valuables. The lady hid her watch, money and some valuable lace under her seat, at the same time dishevelling her hair.

The coachman's fears were well-founded, as the horseman turned out to be the notorious highwayman Nicholas Horner. He stopped the coach, presented a pistol at the lady and demanded her money. To is astonishment, she opened the coach door and, leaping out, clutched him by the leg and hailed him in a crazy shrieking voice as her long-lost cousin Tom. "Rescue me from this wicked coachman," she implored. "My rogue of a husband is having me sent to Bedlam."

"I am not your cousin," shouted Horner. "Bedlam is the best place for you."

"No, no, cousin Tom. I am coming with you."

Extricating himself from the woman's frantic embrace, Horner told the coachman to be off with the mad woman to the madhouse, and he raced off.

Sometime later, Horner read in the newspaper the story of a lady's lucky escape by feigning madness. The story travelled the country, as did Horner. When he held up another lady in Devon she pretended she was mad but Horner discovered her money under the seat. He insulted and abused the poor woman for "trying to deceive an honest highwayman by pretending to be mad."

"If I was not mad before, I am mad now at such a loss," was her retort.

Samuel Oates

Samuel Oates, the father of the infamous Titus, was once known for his baptisms of naked women at midnight in Essex rivers. He was an anabaptist preacher who had been a New Model Army chaplain during the civil war. He charged up to 10 shillings a time - no small fee in the 17th century. Samuel narrowly escaped hanging when one of his clients drowned during the proceedings, but instead he was ducked in the Chelmer at Dunmow and was chased out of Essex.

Titus Oates was his son. Educated at Caius College, Cambridge, he became an Anglican minister but was dismissed after being charged with "drunken blasphemy". He then became a chaplain on a ship but was dismissed for committing a homosexual act.

1. In 1678 Titus Oates announced that he had discovered a Catholic plot to kill Charles II. Oates claimed that Charles was to be replaced by his Roman Catholic brother, He went on to argue that after James came to the throne Protestants would be massacred in their thousands.

This announcement made Catholics more unpopular than ever, and eighty of them were arrested and accused of taking part in the plot. Several were executed, including Oliver Plunkett, the Archbishop of Armagh, before it was revealed that Titus Oates had been lying.

In 1683 Oates was imprisoned and fined £100,000 for calling James, Duke of York a traitor. In May 1685 Oates was found guilty of perjury he was pilloried, whipped and imprisoned for life. He was released from prison in December, 1688, as a result of the Glorious Revolution, and died in 1705.

Chain Home Radar Tower

Across Hanningfield resevoir can be seen Great Baddow’s “Marconi Tower”.

1. Chain Home was the codename for the ring of coastal radar stations built by the British before and during World War II. The system comprised two types of radar. The Chain Home stations, or AMES Type 1 (Air Ministry Experimental Station), provided long-range detection. The Chain Home Low stations, or AMES Type 2, were shorter-ranged but could detect aircraft flying at lower levels. From May to August 1939, the German Zeppelin LZ130 made flights along Britain's North Sea coast to investigate the 100 m high radio towers the British had erected from Portsmouth to Scapa Flow.

LZ130 performed a series of radiometric tests and took photographs. German sources report the 12 m Chain Home signals were detected and suspected to be radar; however, the chief investigator was not able to prove his suspicions, so Germany went to war uncertain of British radar defenses. Other sources are said to report different results. The Chain Home system was dismantled after the war, but some of the tall steel radar towers remain, converted to new uses. One such 360-foot (110 m)-high transmitter tower can now be sen at the BAE Systems facility at Great Baddow, across the resevoir. It originally stood at Canewdon, and is said to be the only Chain Home tower still in its original, unmodified form.