Over the past few weeks I have been working on a timeline wall display for the new owners of Maldon’s former police station.
I must say Pocknells chartered accountants have done a really splendid job converting the station into office accommodation.
They have retained many original features, including (thank goodness) the cells.
In devising the timeline, I got by (as the song goes) “with a little help from my friends”.
Kevin Fuller went through his extensive postcard collection and found some great Edwardian pictures of the building. I also drew on the memories of ex-sergeant Richie Miller, who was stationed there for 11 years, and Nigel Harmer, who actually lived there when his dad, Don, was the inspector.
Then came ex-district commander, expert and collector of all things Essex Police, Alan Cook.
Working with Pocknells partner John Holliday and his efficient PA Mollie Coppola, we plumped for a timeline that starts with the formation of the Maldon Borough Police Force in 1836, absorption into the County Constabulary in 1888, the move from the Moot Hall to the newly built station in West Square in 1912 and progresses through the decades, until eventual closure in 2017 and the start of restoration in 2022, under the expert supervision of Luke Wait, of Wait Edwards Ltd.
In common with other projects I have been involved in, I became immersed in the subject.
Talking with Alan inevitably resulted in “other lines of enquiry”, including looking at a painted truncheon in his collection, inscribed “Latchingdon 1829”.
This, in turn, led to a discussion about the old Latchingdon police station. Located on the corner of the Maldon Road junction with The Street/Cold Norton Road (B1018), it is technically in Purleigh – the parish notorious for the murder of its village Bobby, Adam Eves, in 1893.
The police station no longer serves that purpose (and hasn’t done for many years), but it is nevertheless a fascinating building and, along with its adjacent court house, has a special history.
To passing motorists they are just two red-brick houses with hipped slate-covered roofs. But there is a lot more to them than that.
Although they have since been altered, their original form and design still remains legible. The police station part was one of the first to be built under the Rural Constabulary Act of 1839.
In 1841 the land that it stands on was purchased from Samuel Clift. Mr Haywood, of Colchester, was commissioned to build the station out of bricks sourced from Richard Solly, of Mundon Hall Farm, at nine shillings per thousand (including delivery to the site).
It was completed and formally opened in 1843 and consisted of two cells, a guard room, superintendent's kitchen and parlour, and bedrooms and social rooms for the men stationed at what became the Divisional Headquarters for all of the Dengie Hundred.
In 1850 the complex was extended to include a co-located court house for Petty Sessions. With both buildings in place, in 1851 the residents included 34-year-old Supt Francis Knock, his wife Amelia (34), their seven children, a servant, plus PC William Peacock (31), his wife Susannah (24) and their three children.
By 1867 the Dengie Division was run by Supt George Rutledge, with one inspector and 13 constables. In 1888 a further inspector and three sergeants were added to their number.
However, Edward Arthur Fitch in his ‘History of Maldon and the River Blackwater’, published in 1894, states that the station was an “inconvenient police centre for the Dengie Division”.
And so it came to pass that, in 1902, a new divisional headquarters and magistrates’ court was built at Southminster.
Latchingdon reverted to a residence and office for the local constable (Sgt Brand in 1921) and the building was still in use as such in 1930, with the remainder let to another tenant.
At this time the county council desired to sell the whole property and the standing joint committee determined that the building was no longer fit for police purposes (that sounds familiar!).
Amongst his extensive collection, Alan Cook has a postcard titled ‘Police Station, Latchingdon and Courtlands’.
Posted in 1931 it has annotations on the front showing the old police station along with a garage and stables. The writer of the card states “Here is our house, we moved in on Nov 28th (1931)”, meaning their family must have been one of the first post-police inhabitants – just like Pocknells are today at the Maldon station.
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