Author Archives: hurdler46

Station Road West and the Branfill Park Estate

Posted on 27/07/2026 by hurdler46

Until the first decade of the nineteenth century, there were no buildings on the west side of what was then called Hall Lane (later Station Road) northwards from what was later known as Chestnuts Corner up to what was the … Continue reading →

Posted in Upminster Buildings & Places | Tagged Branfill Park Estate, British School, Congregational Church, Crumpled Horn Dairy, Dowsing & Davis, Dr John Bletsoe, history, local-history, Roomes Stores, Upminster, Upminster Estates, W P Griggs & Co | Leave a comment

Chestnuts corner – north-west of the main crossroads

Posted on 18/12/2025 by hurdler46

The north-west corner of Upminster’s main crossroads, which was known to many older residents as Burtons Corner and to earlier generations as Chestnuts or Aggiss’s Corner, was developed over a long period.

Posted in Upminster Buildings & Places | Tagged Broadway Stores, Col Brydges Branfill, Dowsing & Davis, Father Michael John Healy, Field Cottage, Frank Norledge, Hoof Hall, local-history, Locksley Villa, Mavisbank Upminster, Millfield, Montague Burton tailors, Rose Cottage, Samuel Hammond, St Joseph's RC Church, Thameside Printing Ltd, The Avenue Cottages, The Chestnuts, Thomas Lewis Wilson, Upminster | Leave a comment

Picturing the Branfill Family – The Final Chapter?

Posted on 12/06/2025 by hurdler46

My last post updated the story of various portraits owned by the Branfill family with the discovery that several of the paintings which hung in Upminster Hall were sold at auction in 2023 and that a family member still owned … Continue reading →

Posted in Upminster People & Events | Tagged art, Branfill, Dublin, ireland, Jacob Lord Astley, Louis Werner artist, Mme Werner photographer, Seaton Delaval Hall, Suter Art Gallery New Zealand, Upminster, Upminster Hall | Leave a comment

Picturing the Branfill Family – Revisited

Posted on 30/05/2024 by hurdler46

Three years ago, in my article “Picturing the Branfill Family” I wrote about an old photo album containing photos, taken in the 1920s or 1930s or earlier, of various portraits of Branfill family members, including several which hung in Upminster … Continue reading →

Posted in Upminster People & Events | Tagged Auction, Benjamin Branfill artist, Branfill, Braund family, Champion slave ship, Rowe Family, Thomas Lewis Wilson, Upminster, Upminster Hall Manor | 3 Comments

Lily Aggiss and her Upminster world

Posted on 06/01/2024 by hurdler46

Autumn 1906 was an important time for Upminster, as W P Griggs launched his company’s scheme to develop the Upminster Garden Suburb on the southern part of the Upminster Hall Estate that he had bought from the Branfill family. It … Continue reading →

Posted in Upminster People & Events | Tagged Aggis family, Chestnuts Upminster, Frances Bardsley, Garden Suburb, Knight Family, Lavender Family, Little Gaynes Cottages, Romford County High School or Girls, Royal Buckinghamshire Hussars, Teacher Education, Upminster, Upminster Board School | 1 Comment

Upminster in Living Memory Revisited

Posted on 02/02/2023 by hurdler46

It’s been over twenty years since the publication in 2000 of Upminster in Living Memory – a collection of eight memoirs of folk born between 1905 and 1933 who grew up or lived in Upminster when it was still very … Continue reading →

Posted in Upminster People & Events | Tagged A D Macgregor, Bassett Confectioners Upminster, Brian Moore, Cranston Park Estate, Emerson Park School, Gaynes School, Gerald Sykes Choirmaster, Great Gaynes, Hacton, Harold Moore Hill Stores, Hilda Halestrap, May Festival, Muriel Sharp, New Place, Park Corner Farm, Rowe Family, Tadlows, Upminster's Bonanza | 4 Comments

Upminster Rectory and the Parish Glebe

Posted on 24/11/2022 by hurdler46

Most Upminster folk know that the building west of St Laurence Church, off Gridiron Place, is the former parish rectory, now used as offices, but many are probably unaware that until 1929 Upminster Park to the south of the church … Continue reading →

Posted in Upminster Buildings & Places | Tagged Glebe, Holden family, Hornchurch Urban District Council, Recreation Ground, Rectory, Rev Samuel Bradshaw, St Laurence Church, Tithe Barn, Tithes, Upminster, Upminster Parish Council | Leave a comment

God’s Acre – St Laurence Churchyard

Posted on 03/04/2022 by hurdler46

By tradition known as “God’s Acre”, the parish churchyard is the place where generations of parishioners found their final resting place. The churchyard of St Laurence is no exception, with some gravestones and tombs dating back over three hundred years … Continue reading →

Posted in Upminster Buildings & Places | Tagged Branfill, Burial Laws, Churchyard vaults, James Knapton, Momento mori, Rev P M Holden, Rev Samuel Bradshaw, Rowe Family, St Laurence Church, T L Wilson, Upminster, Wooden grave boards | 3 Comments

Upminster: St Laurence, Parish Church

Posted on 20/01/2022 by hurdler46

“Among all the impressive objects that happy England can show, none are more interesting and elevating than her village churches”, wrote Upminster’s historian Thomas Lewis Wilson in 1856. Those comments certainly apply to Upminster’s St Laurence Church which, although much … Continue reading →

Posted in Upminster Buildings & Places | Tagged Battiscombe v Eve 1862, Bell tower, Brass rubbings, carved oak screen, Hamlet Clarke, John Kebyll bells, Manor of Gaynes, Ralph Latham, Richard Holdfield bell, Robert "Mouseman" Thompson, Robert Mot bell, Roger Deyncourt, Sir Charles Nicholson, Sir James Esdaile, Sir John Engayne, St Cedd, St Laurence Church, St Mary's Chapel, stained glass, Upminster, William Gibbs Bartleet | 3 Comments

Picturing the Branfill family

Posted on 11/12/2021 by hurdler46

The Branfill family of Upminster Hall were prominent landowners in Upminster for over two hundred years from 1685 but we have had no images to show us what they looked like. Upminster’s historian Thomas Lewis Wilson recorded a long list … Continue reading →

Posted in Upminster Buildings & Places, Upminster People & Events | Tagged Branfill, Braund family, Portraits, Portraits Photo Album Upminster Hall, T L Wilson, Upminster Hall | 6 Comments