Pioneer of Hullbridge ?.

My mother .... was the daughter of Mr Henry John Richard Eveleigh, better known by his business name of Mr Frank Eddie. Grandfather came from Braintree and arrived in Hullbridge in 1922. He established our family connection with the village by having the first building supply depot and commercial petrol pump on the corner of Ferry Road and Lower Road, where Budgens is situated today. These can be seen Postcards Lower Road.

Later grandfather purchased Hanover and Sheepcotes Farms and several large tracts of land. He was a man with an eye for a business opportunity and had the vision to see that some of the famrland would be worth more if it was broken into plots of 100' x 20'which could be sold as singles or multiples for residences. He had several plans drawn up for the plots by F J Mallis an Architect and Surveyor in Rayleigh and he called the plans the Hullbridge Garden Estate. The plan covered the area from Pevensey Gardens to Watery Lane, both sides of Lower Road and Coventry Hill.Included in the plans was shops, one of which was Coventry Corner Stores. The scheme he had in mind was similar to the Goldsmith Estate at Thorpe Bay but a little more exclusive, he did intend to build a river front road but events and things turned against him.

Grandfather realised that to sell the plots his most likely source would be people living in London so he took out adverts in various London newspapers. A copy of an advert including a drawing of the river front road can be found at Hullbridge Library in the "Hullbridge Souvenir Momento" by Cllr Lilian Campbell Daley. A transcript of the advert is found on this website History of the Village 20th Century.

The scheme slowly developed from 1922 to 1936 with most purchasers erecting / installing holiday homes on their plots.

After 10 years of development grandad suffered his first blow to his plans, his trusted estate manager absonded with the proceeds of the sale proceeds. The person was arrested but following the trial he got very little of his money back.

Just as things seemed to turn for the better the second set back happened with the outbreak of the 2^nd World War. Under wartime Emergency Powers much of his property, being farmland, was requisitioned by the Ministry of Food and Fisheries (County Agricultural Executive Committees). The German U-boats were reeking havoc in the Atlantic and North Sea so not much imports of food were getting into the docks so any land suitable for farming was taken over. After the war Mr Atlee and his Labour government paid out minimal compensation for the requisitioning and somehow kept parcels of land. In Hullbridge this included the Lower Road frontages which during the sixties the then governement sold off. That is why areas along Lower Road and Hullbridge Road were unfinished.

In the early days of grandfathers sales & development the village lost its Mission Hall / Chapel (12^th Feb 1938) during a heavy storm when a large tree crashed into roof. Grandad thought having a church on his development would be a good thing so he donated plots 63 and 64 on Lower Road to the village so that they could build a new church and hall, this is where the Hullbridge Freechurch now stands.

Grandad built the Coventry Corner Stores, the one on the north east corner of Ferry Road and Coventry Hill. He, with the help of his 6 daughters ran it as a grocery store and sweet shop which remained in the family approx., 1972 when it was demolished to make way for residential housing.

In grandfathers footsteps.

Mum married Thomas Welsh in 19?? and they lived . I have two brothers Peter Clive Welsh and Thomas Henry Reginald Welsh(Reg),sadly both now deceased. Both were born in Hullbridge 1939 and 1924 respectively. By the time I was born the family had moved to . Dad built his first properties on plots 25-26 of the Hullbridge Garden Estate these were a pair of semi detached bungalows. Brother Peter bought and moved into this property "Alpha" in the latter part of his life, whilst brother Reg moved into a property on Kingsway.