This is a blast from the past for me. Although l did not live on the island ( l lived in Great Wakering ) l grew up... attended school with many of the children who lived on Foulness...They were bussed into Great Wakering Secondary Modern school once reaching 11 years. Traveling on Foulness Island was far more restricted ,certainly in the fifties and sixties. l don't know when it was opened up more to public access...We, friends and l would pass under the Havengore Creek Bridge. .either to go fishing or sail in the thames Estuary...l suppose the fact it was the AWRE military area saved the Island from being developed more. Lastly, the George and Dragon pub. l cant remember the publicans name now but l do remember he drank a cocktail of whisky and milk !....The small porch entrance at the side was built by me in the mid seventies.(my name and date will be cut into the woodwork)..... .It was a damn noisy place l can tell you... there was battery a short distance away, when fired you could feel the concussion on your ears...Thanks for the short trip of a memory of long ago...Now retired in España....
That was Courts End battery. Born and raised in Gt Wakering. Worked in the Met Office at Shoeburyness was often on Foulness for various trials taking Met observations
@@alejandrayalanbowman367 Yes, l looked on Google maps. It looks like the guns have been removed but the blast/screen walls are still in place...They were the guns that were fired when l worked at the George and Dragon...Living in Wakering 1953 - 1979 l was used to hearing detonations and guns firing..but being close enough to feel the concusion through the air was something new.....
I’ve been to Foulness island two or three times, my interest was because my Grandfather was born in the pub in 1894. The first time I went I got a pint in the pub, and the staff saw me mooching around and opened it up for me and my girlfriend. That would have been in 2000. Sadly, it was abandoned when I took my mother (whose father was born there) and my cousin who is the family historian. We explored the churchyard on each occasion with my family which was far more overgrown than shown here. This film shows many more people visiting than I recall, which I think is good, although I’m sure the MOD would disagree. The island was taken under restrictive control around 1914 (for obvious reasons) and has been kept this way ever since. I guess to guard the Thames estuary and London from attack. Really good to see this and the growing interest in Foulness.
I only ended up on Foulness once about 1960 when a yacht I was delivering ran aground on Foulness Sands. At low tide we walked ashore to make a phone call to get a tow off on the next high tide and were promptly arrested, one of us was left on the sea wall under guard and skipper was taken to the guard hut, questioned and eventually aloud to make the call. We were then told to walk back to the yacht and not come ashore again. We were watched until the launch arrived and towed us up to Burnham on Crouch.
Lived on there for a few months in the late sixties our father was posted to Shoeburyness as he had seven children we lived on the island till we eventually moved to Thorpe Bay.
@ we were various ages from 17 down to 5 there wasn’t much to do there was a youth club.i started work as a junior porter on Southend east railway station it was hard work cycling across the island especially why it was windy.we carried Id cards which we had to show at the main gate.
I've always wondered about how residents get in and out I guess he id cards explain that. But what about visitors I'm guessing residents are allowed visitors?
@ our aunt & uncle from Merseyside came to stay in Southend on Sea for a holiday when the came to the island they were stopped & their car was searched then they had to say who they were visiting before being allowed past the gate.another thing if you were travelling along the road and an alarm went off you had to pull over and stop while they fired shell between two very large radar type posts.luckily it didn’t happen a lot I don’t think they were live I think it was mainly to test the weapons firing them.
I played darts at the Rose Inn in Wakering in the sixties and two of our team worked on Foulness, they used to go out on the mud at low tide to collect the remains of the shells fired during the full tide. So we only saw them every other week. All weathers, they had a rolling work day. I vividly remember one day they came in for a drink after their shift with ice and snow still on their clothes and faces almost blue. They were always cheerful and didn’t seem to care about their working conditions.
There were 2 pubs, the George and Dragon run by Fred and Relda, and the Kings Head at Courtsend run by John Nichol. John was virtually blind and his wife was very deaf. It was in the old skittle alley built on the side of the cottage, when I knew it.
@@bruceknights8330 so many people with so much little known information about the island, I'm starting to think about doing a podcast with some of the people on here get everyone together and talk about foulness, would be a shame if all this information wasn't recorded properly
The old George and Dragon I used to deliver there back in 70s early 80s for Watneys. The old governor was a first world war pilot and flew out of Southend airport and use to run the old flying club bar probably long gone.
So many interesting places along the Essex coastline, including, Burnham on Crouch, Heybridge Basin, Northey Island, Mersea Island, Brightlingsea, Wivenhoe, Frinton on Sea and Harwich (from where you can get a small ferry to Felixstowe)
As I grew up in Essex, I always wondered what Foulness was like - now I know a bit of it! There used to be a regular (if not very frequent) bus service out there, but the timetable made clear it was for authorised people (presumably residents and workers/ MOD personnel) only.
We are going there this weekend (6th). The last time I was there was 40yrs ago, working on a couple of new observation posts. OPX5 and 6. Interesting place to go to. The observation posts were 7 miles from the Landwick Gate. It's a big island. I wonder if the still have all of the old RAF and Navy aircraft there ? They did a lot of work on the Harrier there as well. I think you took a chance wandering off as far as you did. They specifically tell you not to wander around the island.
i worked at AWRE as it was called back then in the 80s as a contractor working on infrastructure not military. interesting place, especially when you had to under cover when a test was being carried out.
In 1972 the goverment reformed many infantry battalions during the height of the NI troubles. The 3rd battalion of the Royal Green Jackets was the first infantry battalion reformened at Shoeburyness barracks. We often trained on the island and some of the married familes were living in married quarters at he time. Big battalions in the day of 950 men unlike today. Hard times then for us young lads but very memorable at this point in time in our history. Bob
Ive spent most my life living in Burnham-on-crouch on the other side of the river to Foulness and can often hear loud bangs that rattle the windows to my house when they are testing things .
I was dragged up in Great Wakering, and I never went there. My Dad went to a pub there once or twice. He had a drink problem. He couldn’t get enough of it. One night my parents had a fancy dress party, and he dressed up in a grass skirt, drank most of a bottle of brandy and chased this woman up the road. It looked to me like she wanted it 😂
I'm surprised he drove to the George & Dragon..bit out of the way... There were four pubs in less than a mile in Great Wakering Highstreet.. plus the Castle on Little Wakering Road...l had my first pub drink in the White Hart in the early sixties...Flo and Len what a great couple they were..turned a blind eye as long as you didn't cause any trouble when you were obviously under age...
i lived in Shoeburyness as a young boy/man back in the 80s, the only way you could get on to foulness if you did not live there was to say you were going to the pub
@@stevenjohnson6082 l worked for a guy who lived at the Pub...thats how l ended up building the entrance porch... Didn't have many customers even then ...mid seventies...
On a different subject - how nice to notice you actually have a car that's RED inside! Why can't you get that on MORE cars? There used to be nice ones, with BLUE inside, too!
Agan so happy we made this video all these historical facts are so valuable, I think they are so important to share so they don't get lost and are always remembered.
The guvnor of the pub published a great book on how they were isolated from the mainland (I know it's still the mainland to all you smart arses out there)
Not sure just tried to look on the map but it does say, there's a lot of people here who know a lot about the island, hopefully someone sees this comment and can let us know
@@thefunkyvinylupcycler looks like it is. Heritage Category: Listed Building Grade: II List Entry Number: 1112639 Date first listed: 13-Jan-1988 List Entry Name: PRIESTWOOD FARMHOUSE Statutory Address: PRIESTWOOD FARMHOUSE, FOULNESS ROAD
Wildfowling , it’s the shooting of game on the foreshore or in the marshes and creeks , mainly ducks or geese usually for personal consumption but once upon a time people made a living doing this ,
It's the ministry of defence land, you will only know what really goes on there if you work there. Not allowed to walk freely there either. I think they test bombs there to as well as firing ranges
This is a blast from the past for me. Although l did not live on the island ( l lived in Great Wakering ) l grew up... attended school with many of the children who lived on Foulness...They were bussed into Great Wakering Secondary Modern school once reaching 11 years. Traveling on Foulness Island was far more restricted ,certainly in the fifties and sixties. l don't know when it was opened up more to public access...We, friends and l would pass under the Havengore Creek Bridge. .either to go fishing or sail in the thames Estuary...l suppose the fact it was the AWRE military area saved the Island from being developed more. Lastly, the George and Dragon pub. l cant remember the publicans name now but l do remember he drank a cocktail of whisky and milk !....The small porch entrance at the side was built by me in the mid seventies.(my name and date will be cut into the woodwork)..... .It was a damn noisy place l can tell you... there was battery a short distance away, when fired you could feel the concussion on your ears...Thanks for the short trip of a memory of long ago...Now retired in España....
Love hearing a little history about this place I've lived near by for about 25 years now and this was my first visit
That was Courts End battery. Born and raised in Gt Wakering. Worked in the Met Office at Shoeburyness was often on Foulness for various trials taking Met observations
@@alejandrayalanbowman367 Yes, l looked on Google maps. It looks like the guns have been removed but the blast/screen walls are still in place...They were the guns that were fired when l worked at the George and Dragon...Living in Wakering 1953 - 1979 l was used to hearing detonations and guns firing..but being close enough to feel the concusion through the air was something new.....
I’ve been to Foulness island two or three times, my interest was because my Grandfather was born in the pub in 1894. The first time I went I got a pint in the pub, and the staff saw me mooching around and opened it up for me and my girlfriend. That would have been in 2000. Sadly, it was abandoned when I took my mother (whose father was born there) and my cousin who is the family historian. We explored the churchyard on each occasion with my family which was far more overgrown than shown here. This film shows many more people visiting than I recall, which I think is good, although I’m sure the MOD would disagree. The island was taken under restrictive control around 1914 (for obvious reasons) and has been kept this way ever since. I guess to guard the Thames estuary and London from attack. Really good to see this and the growing interest in Foulness.
I only ended up on Foulness once about 1960 when a yacht I was delivering ran aground on Foulness Sands. At low tide we walked ashore to make a phone call to get a tow off on the next high tide and were promptly arrested, one of us was left on the sea wall under guard and skipper was taken to the guard hut, questioned and eventually aloud to make the call. We were then told to walk back to the yacht and not come ashore again. We were watched until the launch arrived and towed us up to Burnham on Crouch.
Thanks for sharing, so many stories and information being shared here. Totally amazing responses to this video. Thank you
Lived on there for a few months in the late sixties our father was posted to Shoeburyness as he had seven children we lived on the island till we eventually moved to Thorpe Bay.
How old were yous all when you were on the island, was there much to do for children there then?
@ we were various ages from 17 down to 5 there wasn’t much to do there was a youth club.i started work as a junior porter on Southend east railway station it was hard work cycling across the island especially why it was windy.we carried Id cards which we had to show at the main gate.
I've always wondered about how residents get in and out I guess he id cards explain that. But what about visitors I'm guessing residents are allowed visitors?
@ our aunt & uncle from Merseyside came to stay in Southend on Sea for a holiday when the came to the island they were stopped & their car was searched then they had to say who they were visiting before being allowed past the gate.another thing if you were travelling along the road and an alarm went off you had to pull over and stop while they fired shell between two very large radar type posts.luckily it didn’t happen a lot I don’t think they were live I think it was mainly to test the weapons firing them.
Wow really was a dangerous place to live....and visit!
I played darts at the Rose Inn in Wakering in the sixties and two of our team worked on Foulness, they used to go out on the mud at low tide to collect the remains of the shells fired during the full tide. So we only saw them every other week. All weathers, they had a rolling work day. I vividly remember one day they came in for a drink after their shift with ice and snow still on their clothes and faces almost blue. They were always cheerful and didn’t seem to care about their working conditions.
There were 2 pubs, the George and Dragon run by Fred and Relda, and the Kings Head at Courtsend run by John Nichol. John was virtually blind and his wife was very deaf. It was in the old skittle alley built on the side of the cottage, when I knew it.
@@bruceknights8330 so many people with so much little known information about the island, I'm starting to think about doing a podcast with some of the people on here get everyone together and talk about foulness, would be a shame if all this information wasn't recorded properly
The old George and Dragon I used to deliver there back in 70s early 80s for Watneys. The old governor was a first world war pilot and flew out of Southend airport and use to run the old flying club bar probably long gone.
We're loving all the comments of the history of foulness! So glad we made this video
So many interesting places along the Essex coastline, including, Burnham on Crouch, Heybridge Basin, Northey Island, Mersea Island, Brightlingsea, Wivenhoe, Frinton on Sea and Harwich (from where you can get a small ferry to Felixstowe)
We will be exploring then to, we have also just started another channel with interesting walks and hikes you might be interested in
@@we_on_a_mission The bigger gas mask you briefly looked at is a WW2 baby's mask.
Maldon too is a lovely place. Happy times there.
and a BIG ferry to the Netherlands
As I grew up in Essex, I always wondered what Foulness was like - now I know a bit of it! There used to be a regular (if not very frequent) bus service out there, but the timetable made clear it was for authorised people (presumably residents and workers/ MOD personnel) only.
Ita quite normal for people who live nearby never to have been there,, I was quite amazed how many people haven't been. Maybe I'm just nosey!
We are going there this weekend (6th). The last time I was there was 40yrs ago, working on
a couple of new observation posts. OPX5 and 6. Interesting place to go to. The observation
posts were 7 miles from the Landwick Gate. It's a big island. I wonder if the still have all of
the old RAF and Navy aircraft there ? They did a lot of work on the Harrier there as well.
I think you took a chance wandering off as far as you did. They specifically tell you not to
wander around the island.
I think we may have taken a bit of a chance but there were no signs saying don't go here or there so just had a wander
i worked at AWRE as it was called back then in the 80s as a contractor working on infrastructure not military. interesting place, especially when you had to under cover when a test was being carried out.
In 1972 the goverment reformed many infantry battalions during the height of the NI troubles. The 3rd battalion of the Royal Green Jackets was the first infantry battalion reformened at Shoeburyness barracks. We often trained on the island and some of the married familes were living in married quarters at he time. Big battalions in the day of 950 men unlike today. Hard times then for us young lads but very memorable at this point in time in our history.
Bob
Ive spent most my life living in Burnham-on-crouch on the other side of the river to Foulness and can often hear loud bangs that rattle the windows to my house when they are testing things .
I have heard the bangs, is it bomb testing?
Remember in the Mid -80s, being at Shoeburyness ,hearing the army testing and firing the then, new 122 metre artillery guns on Foulness Island
I'm sure now and again testing can be heard still
I was dragged up in Great Wakering, and I never went there. My Dad went to a pub there once or twice. He had a drink problem. He couldn’t get enough of it. One night my parents had a fancy dress party, and he dressed up in a grass skirt, drank most of a bottle of brandy and chased this woman up the road. It looked to me like she wanted it 😂
😂🤣😂🤣😂
I'm surprised he drove to the George & Dragon..bit out of the way... There were four pubs in less than a mile in Great Wakering Highstreet.. plus the Castle on Little Wakering Road...l had my first pub drink in the White Hart in the early sixties...Flo and Len what a great couple they were..turned a blind eye as long as you didn't cause any trouble when you were obviously under age...
It is only a test range used by Quinetic for ammo testing for howitzers.
Craggy Island looks quite glamorous next to this baron rock. 😂
🤣🤣🤣
i lived in Shoeburyness as a young boy/man back in the 80s, the only way you could get on to foulness if you did not live there was to say you were going to the pub
Was it the pub we visited that's shut down now?
@@we_on_a_mission yes as far as i can remember it was 40 years ago
@@stevenjohnson6082 l worked for a guy who lived at the Pub...thats how l ended up building the entrance porch... Didn't have many customers even then ...mid seventies...
That gas mask with the large window looks like one for a baby which would be sealed inside
On a different subject - how nice to notice you actually have a car that's RED inside! Why can't you get that on MORE cars? There used to be nice ones, with BLUE inside, too!
I do like the red interior, I did many moons ago have one with cream leather and blue piping I loved that was a real nice look
Post office used to be in the greengrocers only place we didn't wear a helmet when delivering cash 😂
Agan so happy we made this video all these historical facts are so valuable, I think they are so important to share so they don't get lost and are always remembered.
The guvnor of the pub published a great book on how they were isolated from the mainland (I know it's still the mainland to all you smart arses out there)
Do you know the name of the book?
@@we_on_a_mission Running a Village Pub under MoD Rules on Foulness Island in Essex. Might struggle to find a copy though
i go on there 4 or 5 times a year and tbh you have seen more than i ever do
Would really like to get inside the old pub, that would be great to see
I guarantee u every person who visits this island is being followed or watched
That's easy for them to do to us, they just need to subscribe to the channel 🤣🤣
What was the farm called please ?
Not sure just tried to look on the map but it does say, there's a lot of people here who know a lot about the island, hopefully someone sees this comment and can let us know
@@we_on_a_missionI believe it s called Priestwood Farm but I need to know this for sure .
@@thefunkyvinylupcycler www.echo-news.co.uk/news/18388522.foulness-ministry-defence-secret-island/
@@thefunkyvinylupcycler looks like it is. Heritage Category: Listed Building
Grade: II
List Entry Number: 1112639
Date first listed: 13-Jan-1988
List Entry Name: PRIESTWOOD FARMHOUSE
Statutory Address: PRIESTWOOD FARMHOUSE, FOULNESS ROAD
A lot more background information here. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foulness_Island
Thank you we will take a look
The actual walk on the sands there is the most dangerous in the whole of the UK
Is that the broomway?
Yes mate@@we_on_a_mission
@@we_on_a_mission Yep, that's the one
Wildfowling , it’s the shooting of game on the foreshore or in the marshes and creeks , mainly ducks or geese usually for personal consumption but once upon a time people made a living doing this ,
Thank you 😊
They can see you
I'm sure they were watching everyone there! We couldn't have done much wrong or I'm sure we would have known about it!
What's so special about this place , just seems to be a Museum and a boring village,
🥱🥱
It's the ministry of defence land, you will only know what really goes on there if you work there. Not allowed to walk freely there either. I think they test bombs there to as well as firing ranges
Things get foul in foulness😅
🤣🤣🤣
It should be spelt, 'fowl', ie, bird