After last night’s ramblers, here’s a blogger’s account of a drive through parts of our district. The writer is CJ Duffy:
Lower Road reaches a point where the road bends to the left and takes you toward Rayleigh, as it does so another smaller road appears in front of you, an even smaller road than Lower Road; Watery Lane. It is well named and floods regularly during winter months. I Wonder as I wander whether any Highway men travelled these roads, not to hold up stagecoaches but as a means of getting away from pursuers? Maybe, although I doubt it. Dick Turpin of course hailed from Essex but, like so many other rogues, chose to hold up coaches that travelled from Essex into London. It was down these roads that in 1991 a paranormal event took place. A huge dog, described as being the size of a small cow was spotted by a passenger in a car. The creature was roaming the blind black back roads with hunched shoulders and an evil demeanour. A halo, like a faint glow, surrounded the beast. The driver didn?t see a thing but the passenger was apparently ?very shaken?.
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Of course there are pubs; two in fact but Battlesbridge is far more than a pub headcount. It is a veritable treasure trove of exciting finds. It even has a railway station that hides away from the beaten track and is so secluded that rabbits run free over the paltry bit of tarmac that pretends to be a car park. Car park? If having room for three cars warrants the title ?car park? then my drive can keep it company. The line that runs through Battlesbridge links Wickford to North Fambridge and beyond allowing the people who live out where trains fear to roll a means by which to connect to London. There is but one single track and so whatever train heads north has to return south by the same way. It is kind of spooky late at night standing in solitary silence with just the single street lamp to light the area but first thing in the morning the outlook is all the more cheery.