Welcome to our programme brochure for Heritage Open Days 2024 for Chelmsford.
Chelmsford Civic Society have once again been tasked to co-ordinate Heritage Open Days and Chelmsford City Culture have funded and Patch in Grays Yard have kindly sponsored the event for the third year in a row by offering their space free of charge for 5 talks!
We have 35 FREE events for your enjoyment, including 10 virtual video events on our YouTube channel www.youtube.com/c/chelmsfordcivicsociety Please visit www. chelmsfordhod.co.uk to book.
IF AFTER BOOKING A FREE TICKET YOU CANNOT MAKE IT, WE UNDERSTAND THESE THINGS HAPPEN BUT PLEASE CANCEL VIA EVENTBRITE OR EMAIL US HELLO@CHELMSFORDHOD.CO.UK, AS OFTEN EVENTS GET BOOKED UP AND WE HAVE WAITING LISTS AND WE CAN OFFER YOUR TICKET TO SOMEONE ELSE.
After the success of last years photograph competition we have bought it back, this time with the best photographs being displayed in the High Chelmer shopping centre (see page 19 for more details).
We also have another all day event in Tindal Square on Saturday 7th September, from the deedback from last years event we have decided to arrange a 1940s day, expect military vehicles, 1940s music form various local acts and history stalls. Feel free to dress up in a 1940s outfit!
For the first time we are working with Chelmsford Garden Community Council to create a rock snake in Boleyn Gardens, we need your help to make it as long as possible (see the advert on the opposite page).
We have many new events and remember previous films are all still available on our YouTube channel.
We hope you enjoy Heritage Open Days for 2024!
Heritage Open Days Chelmsford Team www.chelmsfordhod.co.uk
Marconi Walk Railway Station to New Street
Date: 6th September
Time: 10am
Venue: Chelmsford Railway Station, Duke St, Chelmsford CM1 1HT
Booking: www.chelmsfordhod.co.uk
This guided circular walk to and from the front of Chelmsford railway station will take us on a tour of the home of the electronic age and the site that was once the world’s first purpose-built wireless factory. It was here that the technical team of the Marconi Company made the transition from Morse Code to Wireless Telephony, a communication we now know as radio, but that was just the start.
In a few short years, the factory was adapted to develop the technology that became radar and soon after the leap into the electronic transmission of moving pictures, the innovation of what we now call television. On our visit, we will see evidence of the Marconi heydays, which will include three historical structures; the Power House, the Water Tower and the magnificent 1912 Administration Building.This walking tour is not only a celebration of Mr Guglielmo Marconi and his great achievements but also a tribute to the thousands of local people, who over the years, have worked for the global organisation that networked the world and was the Marconi Company.
Chelmsford City’s Secret Waterways
Date: Friday 6th September
Time: 2pm
Meet outside Metro Bank, 38 High Street, CM1 1BE
Booking: www.chelmsfordhod.co.uk
Short walk of parts of the Chelmer & Backwater Canal/waterway which are largely unknown by most visitors and residents. A short distance from the hustle and bustle of the City and its feeder roads is a haven of peace and tranquillity, described as Chelmsford hidden gem.
Gently walk from the busy City Centre along the now peaceful waterway which was once the major transport route supplying the then town with heavy goods and which ultimately led to the town becoming a major centre of engineering excellence. See the canoe rollers, the magnificent Essex Records Office, the site of the proposed new lock, the water-meadows, Barnes Mill Lock. The Basin which was once the hub of significant industrial activity and much more!
Galleywood Heritage Centre
Archives Tour
Date: September 6th
Time: 10.30am & 11.30am
Venue: Galleywood Heritage Centre, The Common, Off Margaretting Rd, Galleywood, Chelmsford CM2 8TR
Booking: www.chelmsfordhod.co.uk
Located on Galleywood Common, the Heritage Centre’s main building is a conversion of the 1920s grandstand from the hey days of horse racing. A
listening bench in the ground has stories from yesteryear from Galleywood residents past & present. Just outside the grounds on Galleywood Common, the track of the old racecourse can be seen.
The Untold Story of the First Female Agents of the First World War
Date: 6th September
Time: 7pm
Venue: Patch, 5-6 Grays Yard, CM2 6QR
Booking: www.chelmsfordhod.co.uk
This talk explores the lives and actions of several extraordinary women who faced death by Firing Squad for four long years. Forming networks and connections which crossed countries and borders, they spent their wartime lives in the shadows, one false step or move would cost them their lives. Come along and hear about two Belgian, one French and one Italian woman whose actions were designed to help change the course of the war. Discover some of the spy craft tricks used between 1914 and 1918 and meet the most important spymaster of the war, who just happened to be a spymistress!
1940s Day in Tindal Square
Date: 7th September
Time: 10am-4pm
Tindal Square, Chelmsford CM1 1EH
From feedback from last years Tindal Square day we decided to have a 1940s daya day of entertainment and military vehicles from Essex Historic Military Vehicle Association with stalls from local organisations. There will be music from 12pm-4pm from local choirs and singing groups with songs from the era. Feel free to dress up in 1940s attire.
A Walk in JA Baker Country
Date: 7th September
Time: 2pm
Little Baddow History Centre, Chapel Lane, Little Baddow, CM3 4BE
Booking: www.chelmsfordhod.co.uk
JA Baker’s book The Peregrine (1967) is widely regarded as one of the most outstanding books on nature in the twentieth century. It is set to the east of Chelmsford, with Little Baddow an important location. This walk will visit places associated with Baker, who lived in Chelmsford, in this most attractive part of the Chelmer Valley.
John Alec Baker (1926-1987) was an author who lived his life in Chelmsford, with a Heritage Blue Plaque placed outside his flat in Stansted Close in 2020. His book The Peregrine describes his observations of peregrines, especially in the Chelmer Valley and along the Essex coast. It is regarded as a masterpiece of English non-fiction by many and has been an important influence on many current nature writers. The walk will visit some of the sites identified in the book and those included in his diaries. It will be on minor roads and - possibly muddy - public footpaths.
The walk is run by Chelmer Valley Landscape Group who seek to develop enhanced understanding, conservation, and management of the Chelmer valley landscape.
Springfield Lyons Bronze Age
Enclosure Tours (what3words thus. exact.blues)
Date: September 7th, 8th, 14th and 15th
Time: Tours at 11am, 12pm, 2pm & 3pm
Venue: North-east of Chelmer Village Way, Chelmsford, CM2 5AR
Booking: www.chelmsfordhod.co.uk to book
This is a fantastic opportunity to explore one of the forgotten gems of Chelmsford’s history, a Bronze Age enclosure used as the home of an important chief around 850 BC.
With the help of local historians, visitors will learn what life was like in this special corner of prehistoric Chelmsford, when swords were forged, strange rituals were carried
out and the land was used as a cemetery. Visitors can look at the Bronze Age enclosure itself, which is very well preserved, while enjoying the peaceful oasis of green space sandwiched between commercial and residential areas. Organisers will describe how the site was the home of an important Chelmsford chief towards the end of the Bronze Age, while being part of a Stonehenge-like ritual landscape which included a mortuary enclosure, Neolithic enclosure and nationally-important cursus monument, all now lost.
Local historians will take small groups of visitors on a tour inside the Bronze Age enclosure, teaching them why it was built and what life was like for the inhabitants, before showing them the archaeological pits left from the excavation of the adjacent Anglo-Saxon cemetery. The tour will end with a viewing of a Second World War pillbox, located in peaceful woodland to the east of the enclosure.
Visitors are free to take photos, and while the site is great for picnics, there is a well-stocked café at a nearby Longacre garden centre. What3words location thus.exact. blues. As you leave the roundabout from Cuton Hall Lane to Chelmer Village Way and descend downhill, there is an information board and public footpath sign visible on the left-hand side, you can take this foot path or the next footpath where there will be a temporary sign board.
Stock Windmill Tours
Date: September 8th
Time: 2pm-5pm
Venue: Stock Tower Mill
Mill Lane, Stock, CM4 9NE
Stock Windmill is a Grade II*-listed tower mill, built around 1804. Popular and complete with several floors of machinery, at open days mill guides explain how grain was converted into flour.
The mill has four patent sails, a boatshaped cap, a six-bladed fantail and three pairs of overdrift (operated from above) millstones. It is in working order and is worked occasionally, turning 360 degrees to catch changing winds. You can visit all five floors, and there is room for picnics on the mill’s grounds. Built in the heyday of wheat farming and high corn prices, there were once three mills on this site, run by the village baker.
A steam engine was added to the mill in 1902. The mill used wind power up until and 1930, then ran for a further six years using an internal combustion engine. Essex County Council bought the mill in 1945. Repairs began in 1991, part-funded by English Heritage and involving Friends of Stock Tower Mill, restoring the mill to working order.
History Rock Snake
Date: September 8th 10am-2pm & 15th 12pm-4pm
Venue: Boleyn Gardens, Beaulieu Park, Chelmsford, CM1 6EB
Chelmsford’s first history themed rock snake is going to be created at Boleyn Gardens! Paint your rock with something from history and add it to the snake or join us for one of the two painting sessions.
You can place your rock between 6th and 15th September, the park is open from 7.30am to 8pm. See the advert on page 2
Chelmsford Black History Walk
Date: September 8th
Time: 2pm
Venue: Meet at Anne Knight Building, Duke Street CM1 1LW
Booking: www.chelmsfordhod.co.uk
Meet at the Anne Knight Building for this walk which will take in the Cathedral and points of the High Street along to the non-conformist cemetery in New London Road where Joseph Freeman’s head stone is located, it has recently been given listed status. Learn about notable people from Chelmsford’s past from your guide Winnie.
New Hall, Essex’s Unknown Royal Palace Talk
Date: September 9th
Time: 7pm
Venue: Patch, 5-6 Grays Yard, CM2 6QR
Booking: www.chelmsfordhod.co.uk
Henry VIII was a prolific builder and acquirer of properties, bequeathing 60 more buildings to his successors than he had inherited. Notable among these was Beaulieu Palace, north of Chelmsford, known before that and most of the time since as New Hall. It was one of his first ventures and was ready for occupation in 1520. It was designed to accommodate the whole Royal Court as a centre of government. But why was landlocked Beaulieu so remote from London? Other palaces were strung out accessibly along the Thames from Greenwich to Windsor. A Time Team project in 2009 excavated the former entrance courtyard in front of the remaining Tudor wing of the palace that now constitutes the splendid frontage of New Hall School. The archaeological evidence and observation of surviving Tudor artefacts above ground revealed the dynastic reasons for this remote location and for Beaulieu’s short duration as a centre of royal government.
Porridge Revisited Talk
Date: September 10th
Time: 7pm
Venue: Patch, 5-6 Grays Yard, Chelmsford, CM2 6QR
Booking: www.chelmsfordhod.co.uk
This talk reviews the TV comedy starring Ronnie Barker. It re-acquaints the audience with the programme and its main characters and revisits some of their adventures. It looks at some of the practices shown in Porridge that were later incorporated into the wider regime in UK prisons today. I show clips from the programme which are templates for modern day diversity, equality, and inclusivity (yes really!) by using the strongest tool of them all, humour. You will see why Porridge is just as relevant today as when it was first shown on TV.
Galleywood Common Guided Walk
Date: September 10th
Time: 10.30am
Venue: Galleywood Heritage Centre, The Common, Off Margaretting Rd, Galleywood, Chelmsford CM2 8TR
Booking: www.chelmsfordhod.co.uk
Located on Galleywood Common, the Heritage Centre’s main building is a conversion of the 1920s grandstand from the hey days of horse racing. A listening bench in the ground has stories from yesteryear from the Galleywood residents past & present. Just outside the grounds on Galleywood Common, the track of the old racecourse can be seen. A short walk across the free public car park close by brings visitors to the remains of the Napoleonic era Star Fort earthworks which has an interpretation board. The walk will follow part of the track of the old racecourse and will visit the remains of the earthworks the exterior of St Michael’s Church and more. Sensible shoes and clothing should be worn in case of inclement weather.In the Heritage room there will be various displays, photographs and information about the racecourse and much more.
Galleywood Heritage Centre Archives Talk
Date: September 10th
Time: 2pm
Venue: Galleywood Heritage Centre, The Common, Off Margaretting Rd, Galleywood, Chelmsford CM2 8TR
Booking: www.chelmsfordhod.co.uk
The talk about Galleywood’s History will include photographs from our archives and cover the racecourse, the two windmills, Napoleonic remains and much more. As well as attending the talk, visitors can look around the Heritage Centre Located on Galleywood Common, the Heritage Centre’s main building is a conversion of the 1920s grandstand from the hey days of horse racing. A listening bench in the ground has stories from yesteryear from the Galleywood residents past & present.
Just outside the grounds on Galleywood Common, the track of the old racecourse can be seen. A short walk across the free public car park close by brings visitors to the remains of the Napoleonic era Star Fort earthworks which has an interpretation board. In the Heritage room there will be various displays, photographs and information about the racecourse and much more.The Horseshoe tea room will be open before and after the talk for hot and cold drinks and home made cake.
Curators Tour of Restless Brilliance: The Story of J.A. Baker and The Peregrine
Date: September 11th
Time: 1.30pm
Venue: Chelmsford Museum, Oaklands Park, Moulsham St, Chelmsford CM2 9AQ
Booking: www.chelmsfordhod.co.uk
Join curator Sarah Harvey to explore author JA Baker’s life, writing and love of nature on a tour of the exhibition
Restless Brilliance: The Story of J.A. Baker and The Peregrine at Chelmsford Museum. The exhibition brings the Baker Archive, held by the Albert Sloman Library, University of Essex, back to Baker’s hometown and is the first time that this archive has been on public display.
Author John Alec Baker (1926 – 1987) was born, and lived almost his whole life, in Chelmsford. His best known work, The Peregrine, was first published in 1967 and was an immediate success. Reviews called it a masterpiece of nature writing and it won several awards. Since then, Baker’s unique poetic writing has continued to inspire a new generation of nature writers and naturalists but despite all this success, very little was known about Baker himself. His writing is based on walks and cycle rides around the Blackwater estuary, Danbury Hill and the Chelmsford area. Here he followed and studied peregrine falcons, condensing all his observations into the book The Peregrine.
Mr Marconi and the Birth of Wireless 1890-1922
Date: September 11th
Time: 7pm
Venue: Patch, 5-6 Grays Yard, Chelmsford, CM2 6QR
Booking: www.chelmsfordhod.co.uk
We could not do Heritage Open Days with a theme of Routes, Connections and Networks without mentioning Marconi! Alan Pamphilon takes us back to the early days of Wireless. This true story centres completely around one man from Italy, Senior Guglielmo Marconi, and how his creative thinking influenced the working lives of so many people in the then market town of Chelmsford. The technical and entrepreneurial abilities of this man went on to allow the world to communicate by wireless, later called radio. A wonder at the time, but a technical achievement that is very much today part of our everyday lives. This narrative will take us from the early days of Morse Code to speech over the airwaves and then on to the early days of regular broadcasting from the Essex village of Writtle. All this groundbreaking work directly led to the early days of the BBC.
Staplegrove - The Chelmsford Club Tour
Date: September 12th
Time: 10am, 12pm & 2pm
Venue: 108 New London Rd, Chelmsford, CM2 0RG
Booking: www.chelmsfordhod.co.uk
Staplegrove was built as a 9-bedroom mansion with servant’s quarters, a coach house and stables, in its own estate in the centre of Chelmsford… bought in secret!! How? By whom? And more importantly why?
Role the clock back to Victorian England. Chelmsford had been controlled by the Mildmay family for 300 years after they had been granted ownership by Queen Elizabeth 1 st
In the 1830’s a large piece of the Mildmay estate was released for sale and bought, in secret, by a company of 5 prominent Chelmsford business men. Why in secret?
Your visit will include a tour of the building and grounds, and the secret revealed.
Visitors for the tour will be met at the front door. Parking is available in nearby George Street car park. There is a large sign saying The Chelmsford Club by the entrance, at the corner of New Writtle Street and New London Road.
Chelmsford’s Dark Witch History
Walk
Date: September 12th
Time: 7pm
Venue: Meet in Bell Meadow near the Retail Market
Booking: www.chelmsfordhod.co.uk
Elly your guide will take you on a tour of the city centre and will talk about some of the stories from the witch trials in Chelmsford.
