LATE SUMMER 2025

I hope you are all enjoying this long hot summer.  Too hot on some days I know, and the garden is increasingly suffering.  Water in water butts is long gone, and still no sign of much rain.

Jacky’s blogs

Jacky has put together a series of blogs for the website, which she then promotes on Facebook. They are receiving a lot of praise and interest, and she has spent a great deal of time on them.

Jacky has explained more about them below:

Nazeing at War – Two Aerodromes and a Dragon’s Tooth

Many of you may have already read our blogs if you visit Facebook, but I know not everyone does this. With the 80th Anniversary of the ending of WW2 and the renewed interest it has instilled, we wanted to share the story of what the residents of Nazeing went through during the last conflict. This period of history has been covered in our book Seventeen Miles From Town, The History of Nazeing Part 2, which we produced as a millennium project. Since then, we have acquired more personal testimonies, either in person or from newspapers or through online projects. In these blogs we wanted to concentrate on the human element, on how national and international events affected those who were living, working and visiting our village of Nazeing at this time of uncertainty. We look at the social, strategic and physical changes brought about by the war. You can read them all via the following link: https://nazeinghistory.org/two-aerodromes-and-a-

dragons-tooth-nazeing-at-war/

We have had a big response with almost 1,000 visitors to the web site during the month of July, that is a 50% increase on our usual activity. If you haven’t already read this story, we hope you enjoy and appreciate how our ancestors coped with the strains of life during war time.

Jacky Cooper

Our Facebook Page

Jacky also deserves credit for the success she has made of the Facebook page.  She also posts on the ‘Memories of Broxbourne and Nazeing’, and ‘Friends of Lowewood’ page. Because of this the visits to our website have increased rapidly.  If you haven’t visited it recently, the address is nazeinghistory.org Just a reminder that you can view parish registers free of charge, read past newsletters and purchase our books.

Sue Brindley

Sue is our newest member, and in the short time we’ve known her, has already been a great help to us.  It’s useful to have fresh pair of eyes looking at our research and offering fresh ideas. I mentioned her in the last newsletter, as she is concerned about the condition of the church and lack of services. She has now written the following:

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

(Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 5)

It’s astonishing to think that when Shakespeare wrote this very well known line, All Saints Church in Nazeing had already been in existence for some 700 hundred years.

 If buildings could speak, All Saints could tell us about the Battle of Hastings, the Domesday Book, the assassination of Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral, the start of the Plague,  the Witchcraft Act, the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the Spanish Armada, the Great Fire of London, the Battle of Waterloo, the tragedy of the Titanic, the First and Second World Wars, the start of the National Health Service as well as legions of Kings, Queens and Prime Ministers. Our great writers, including Shakespeare, artists and musicians appeared on the landscape, The history imbued within this ancient and beautiful church is testament to the wider narrative of the ways in which the UK was shaped and formed.

Its own history, including the earlier 4th century building that stood here, is well documented through the Nazeing History Workshop  and local people have many memories of the part the Church has played in their own lives. It makes all the more welcome then the long interregnum has ended with the appointment of   our Priest-in-Charge The Revd Richard Attew, who is already well known at St. Peter’s Church in Roydon and St. Mary’s Church in Great Parndon.

All Saints now has a regular Sunday Service on the first Sunday of the month at 9.30. It lasts for an hour. The bell ringers will greet you with a glorious peal of bells, and All Saints with its peaceful and welcoming atmosphere will be there for you, still a monument to our shared history

Epping Forest Guardian

The Epping Forest Guardian have asked local historical organisations if they would like to contribute articles to the paper, which would also appear online.  The Workshop have been asked to provide an article every 6 weeks or so.  It will hopefully introduce a whole new audience to Nazeing’s history and the records and photographs we have accumulated over the years.  I’ll let you know when the first article is to appear.

Olive Knight

We have just heard that a long much loved resident of Nazeing, Olive  Knight, has recently died aged 96.  I believe that Olive and her late husband Tommy lived in Nazeing for all their married life, having both been born in Hoddesdon.  Olive belonged to Upper Nazeing WI for many years, and volunteered for Meals on Wheels, and Tommy was treasurer of Nazeing Church.  Please get in touch if you would like the funeral details.

Lowewood Museum

Lowewood Museum also have an exhibition on WW2.   ‘Broxbourne at War, Life in the Borough 1939-1945’ opened quite recently and runs until nearly the end of the year.  It focuses on how the war affected the residents of the Borough of Broxbourne.  It was difficult to condense the vast amount of information, artifacts and photos which the museum holds into the exhibition space available.

I was responsible for two of the boards on voluntary organisations, which include photos of my father in his Home Guard uniform!

100 years ago

A strange article appeared in the Chelmsford Chronicle from 9th October 1925.  The ratepayers of Keysers and Brooklands Estate asked to become an Urban District!  I was confused by the name Brooklands Estate, but have asked David, and he says that the area of Keysers around Green Lane was at one point called Brooklands.

Until next time

Joy