A Rochford view of June 1989
I hope it's still there?
By Robert Hallmann
I found this Rochford image of only 22 years ago among my old negatives. I haven't been to Rochford lately and wonder if the scene has changed? It looks marvellous in my view, like it's been forgotten by time and progress, except for the TV aerials, of course, and the double-yellow lines. At the time an old smithy had been pulled down, I think in North Street, and I was approached by a stranger who was heartbroken at the thought of losing such an icon from the past. At the time I wished I'd passed there before the destruction. Commuting to London in those days, an architect friend confided they had redesigned a cottage in North Street and found a priest's hideout behind a fireplace. Or it might have been a smuggler's den? Is there any truth to that story?
Somewhere in Rochford in 1989
Robert Hallmann