Great Wakering 1941

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Big Nick
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Great Wakering 1941

Post by Big Nick »

This picture of my great grandfather was taken in 1941 at Great Wakering in Essex. Instantly identifiable by the sign he's leaning on. He lived in the village and owned a cafe there.
The view today has the same houses in the far background.

I wonder when the old sign came down?

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Last edited by Big Nick on Sat Jul 04, 2020 09:58, edited 1 time in total.
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Truvelo
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Re: Great Wakering 1941

Post by Truvelo »

It's hard to judge from the photo but I wonder if the sign was on the near side of the roundabout. The pole behind his head looks like the one in the modern view. The sign looks to be some way in front of that.
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roadtester
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Re: Great Wakering 1941

Post by roadtester »

I used to live in Southend (Thorpe Bay to be precise - 1978-1982) and our local tip was in Great Wakering.

I must have been that way many times back then but just have no memory of the signage, I'm afraid.

Our much-loved family cat of the time came from Great Wakering too.
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Big Nick
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Re: Great Wakering 1941

Post by Big Nick »

Truvelo wrote: Fri Jul 03, 2020 23:19 It's hard to judge from the photo but I wonder if the sign was on the near side of the roundabout. The pole behind his head looks like the one in the modern view. The sign looks to be some way in front of that.
It could well be that the road is behind him. It would have been a simple T-junction back then with the main route being east west on the Southend Road and Star Lane as a minor side road. Today the B1017 curves off down Star Lane.
The phone pole in front dates from 1932 (it has 32 scratched in) so I think the sign is even older.

I just wonder what the occasion was and why they walked all the way down there as the house was a good mile away. Also, weren't all the road signs removed or covered up during the war?
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Re: Great Wakering 1941

Post by WHBM »

I'm surprised the sign was still up in 1941 as they had all been removed nationally at the end of 1939 to thwart any invasion from finding their way, and it was pretty thorough - anything with a place name was removed or painted over.
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Big Nick
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Re: Great Wakering 1941

Post by Big Nick »

WHBM wrote: Sat Jul 04, 2020 12:31 I'm surprised the sign was still up in 1941 as they had all been removed nationally at the end of 1939 to thwart any invasion from finding their way, and it was pretty thorough - anything with a place name was removed or painted over.
I would start by questioning the date. It was handwritten on the photo and peoples memories are not that great. This is part of a family history project being done by a distant relative of mine and he's been given lots of written info. Trouble is that several errors have already been pointed out by others - things like dates, years, names and places.

There's a lot of detail that has been lost over the years. He served in the Great War and stayed in France until 1930 working as a mechanic for the new Imperial War Graves Commission. We can't trace birth records for two of his kids but we know they were born out there.
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Re: Great Wakering 1941

Post by Chris56000 »

Hi!

At the risk of upsetting the applecart, does anyone know what distances were shown to Gt. Wakering and Foulness Island behind the wooden pole, and what point did the distance to Foulness refer to?

Chris Williams
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