A Few Sites In Essex. (House, Bunker, Well, Boat, Marsh and more)

[AndrewGrim]

Hi, I just wanted to share a few finds local to me.

Firstly there is an old derelict house in the middle of nowhere, this is what got me interested in derelict places as when I was a kid I could see this house off in the distance from my bedroom window, surrounded by open fields and I always wanted to explore it. A while back I managed to find a route and finally found the house. It looks really old (40's or older perhaps?) and the only thing ive managed to find out about it online is that it was possibly called Fobbing house.
Ive only got a couple of pictures but I did record the inside of the house so have uploaded footage also:

My friend after he finally entered the house after being deterred from entering due to the state of it!

Outside Toilet

Footage inside the house:

[nomedia]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRsGhLE5QHE[/nomedia]

[nomedia]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orPoRELJ1ek[/nomedia]


Behind the House there is an old broken bridge which stretches about halfway across a ditch... with cleverly concealed barbed wire at the end (see below!)

[nomedia]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOhtONOnELs[/nomedia]


Over the bridge there is a incredibly flat Marsh land which stretches out to Coryton Refinery (if you get close enough you can hear the roar of the huge flame from the towering vent)

Also near this house is an old nuclear bunker. (its completely locked up but I have been inside before as they used to due Airsoft games here but is currently closed for repairs)



Nearby there is and a partly demolished church atop a hill which now has a mobile phone mast attached to the top! not much to see here but you get a good view of more marsh lands, Wat Tyler country park and the landfill site!


On the subject of Wat Tyler country park, there used to be a old washed up ship here by the marina creek but i'm not sure if it's still around now. When I was a kid I managed to step across stones in the mud and climb aboard which was pretty good.
I couldn't find any pictures online of it but ill stop by at some point and see if its still there as was pretty interesting.
Also in Wat Tyler is a pill box with stairs outside leading to the roof, loads of bird watching huts overlooking Marsh land, some really old cottages and an old boat museum.

http://www.wattylercountrypark.org.uk/


Nearby is a huge abandoned notorious pub called The Railway (the car
park is now used as a car wash):

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2252/2253050266_11e332c003_z.jpg?zz=1


Another find is this old well which is in some woods called Cash's Well (there's some history online about this) I also heard there was an old lepers hospital near here but I have been unable to find it.

Finally I also went on a trek to find what this structure was:
Fobbing Flood Barrier - http://www.canveyisland.org/page_id__526_path__0p2p18p82p84p.aspx

Not majorly interesting but nearby there is a small shed which has a lot of character. Its a bird watching hut which someone built for their friend, its quite old so im not sure if this person is even alive but inside is a lot of personal things like a note book of birds spotted, books, old tins and some binoculars.

 

[godzilla73]

Very interesting - is the bunker you are talking about the Vange AAOR bunker (I seem to remember this being on the edge of the Wat Tyler park, see
http://www.subbrit.org.uk/rsg/sites/v/vange/
if you think it is.

I also remember that ship! Not sure its there any more, but it is quite a few years since I was back there!
Thanks for sharing
GDZ

 

[AndrewGrim]

Yeah thats the bunker.

 

[LittleMadam]

Thansk for posting! I love Wat Tyler Country Park, since I was a kid I was always fascinated by it, just think there is something more there.

I fell down a really steep hill in a tree area (not really wooded), and there were concrete slabs on the floor in a rather large rectangle. I have no idea what this was or what, but it was just weird how it was surrounded by steep edges. Do you think there is anything else there?

As for the house, you are braver than I am ha ha, looks like if you sneeze it will fall down

Thanks for posting, totally agree with the when you were a kid thing and looking at these buildings with intrigue and fascination. Something that has never left me x

 

[Foxylady]

Nice tour of interesting stuff. I love doing walkabouts like that and just taking pics of odds and ends lying about the countryside.
Cheers Andrew, and welcome to DP.

 

[AndrewGrim]

Yeah I think I recall finding that place over Wat Tyler at some point also!

Don't suppose anyone has got into the old abandoned Robins cinema in Basildon have they?

Am also after any info on the the hatch over Basildon golf course. I remember this was left open once when I was a kid and was a ladder going down into a tunnel but was barred off at the bottom. I remember hearing that it went all the way to Coryton refinery but im no sure how true this is?

 

[LittleMadam]

Yeah I think I recall finding that place over Wat Tyler at some point also!

Don't suppose anyone has got into the old abandoned Robins cinema in Basildon have they?

Am also after any info on the the hatch over Basildon golf course. I remember this was left open once when I was a kid and was a ladder going down into a tunnel but was barred off at the bottom. I remember hearing that it went all the way to Coryton refinery but im no sure how true this is?

Ooh i love things like that. Do you have a link in google maps?

 

[AndrewGrim]

A link to Robins cinema or the Hatch?

 

[LittleMadam]

Just roughly where the hatch was, there might be some clues x

 

[Robbie McRob]

Yeah I think I recall finding that place over Wat Tyler at some point also!

Don't suppose anyone has got into the old abandoned Robins cinema in Basildon have they?

Am also after any info on the the hatch over Basildon golf course. I remember this was left open once when I was a kid and was a ladder going down into a tunnel but was barred off at the bottom. I remember hearing that it went all the way to Coryton refinery but im no sure how true this is?

I was also hoping that someone on here might shed some light on the hatch/tunnel over basildon golf course. I also use to go over there as a kid with my mates,and dared each other to climb down the ladder,touch the floor and come back up. For the life of me i cant remember what was down there,i only remember there being just the one room (which wasnt very big at all).
If anyone has any info on this place that would be cool,as ive never managed to find out anything!

As for the state of it now,unfortunately the council have filled the entrance with concrete so no more going down there

 

[LittleMadam]

That sounds to me like an ROC Post if it was the one room you describe. There are some left still in mint condition as they were built to monitor thr effects of a nuclear bomb I think. Some still have the log books and original loo roll in ha ha

 

[Robbie McRob]

That sounds to me like an ROC Post if it was the one room you describe. There are some left still in mint condition as they were built to monitor thr effects of a nuclear bomb I think. Some still have the log books and original loo roll in ha ha

sorry mate,this is all new to me.............so done a google search on roc post.............and bingo!!
The pics and descriptions i could find match that to a tee. I'll get some pics of the one by me and i'll make it my first proper posting!! lol

 

[Robbie McRob]

d'oh.......i just found this. After all these years im glad i now know what it was made for

http://www.subbrit.org.uk/rsg/roc/db/988303748.037003.html

 

[LittleMadam]

Ha ha, am glad you now know what it is you have been looking at. They are beautiful little things, did you see any pictures of any pristine ones? You could live down there! There was one for sale near me and was sold for about £25000, bargainous if you are not claustrophobic

 

[Robbie McRob]

Ha ha, am glad you now know what it is you have been looking at. They are beautiful little things, did you see any pictures of any pristine ones? You could live down there! There was one for sale near me and was sold for about £25000, bargainous if you are not claustrophobic

Yeh im well chuffed mate

And yeh,i managed to find some pics of others with their furniture and other stuff in them..........sadly i doubt any of them are like that today!

 

[LittleMadam]

Nope, seriously, some are still like that today! All be it a little bit "worn", this one was done in October!

[ame]http://www.derelictplaces.co.uk/main/showthread.php?t=16739[/ame]

You have really got me in the mood for ROC Posts now, they are such gems!

xxx

 

[Robbie McRob]

blimey......that is cool!! Shame it isnt local for me

 

[gibbard]

AndrewGrim, you must be quite local to me?
Regularly visit this site but have never really explored all that much out there in the field. I do have something to contribute though, i think?

Robins Cinema;
If you hunt on Basildon council website under planning applications, not that long ago someone applied to convert part of Robins Cinema into....flats. Obviously Interesting to look at the plans of the place.
I have tried to keep an eye out in case work started so that potentially i could unashamedly ask builders for a tour under the guise of 'student'. I havent checked to see if permission was granted and/or if work began. Might still be an oppurtunity. Would absolutely love to do it, especially as a first proper explore.

In and around Wat Tyler used to be amunitions factory, high explosives actually. Its all here http://www.wattylercountrypark.org.uk/heritage/
Old hardstanding, bits of brick and the strange undulation of the land in wat tyler is all because of the factory that once stood. They used to form earth banks around various bits of the facility incase of explosion, which apparently did happen. Some buildings still remain. Plus 17/18/19th(?) century houses that were moved to wat tyler from their original location when the park first opened.

The old boat in the marsh is still there. bugger to get to though. CCTV from neighbouring landfill site overlooks it, or at least used to.

Im writing all this for the benefit of people who arnt familiar with wat tyler of course.

 

[LittleMadam]

Oooh - thank you for that information Gibbard, that is fascinating, I just knew there was something there. I actually fell down one of these banks as it was so steep as a kid, and really always wondered what the hell was there previously.

Is there nothing remaining there now at all? There has to be something left, although I have revisited and looked on Google maps to no avail.

So tragic it has all gone, I love munitions factories xxx