IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Norman Close, HALSTEAD, CO9 3FH

The station referred to in the name of the road is the former Sible and Castle Hedingham one on the former Colne Valley Railway. The railway crossed the road here and the abutment of the bridge can be seen on the right. Passenger services on the railway here lasted exactly 100 years from 1861 to 1961. The actual station site, which is off to the left, is now an industrial estate, but the station itself was dismantled and rebuilt brick by brick on the preserved section of the railway here Image

This pub is on Swan Street, to the right, at the junction with Rectory Road to the left. Historically it has always been known as The Sugar Loaves, as evidenced by old Ordnance Survey maps, but by 1953 when this photograph http://www.francisfrith.com/sible-hedingham/photos/ye-olde-sugar-loaves-1953_S276005/ was taken by Francis Frith, it had been rusticated into Ye Olde Sugar Loaves. Since then the old timber framing has been exposed again and the name changed back to the original. At one time Swan Street boasted six public houses but this is the sole survivor. The 1881 Census lists the following occupants of The Sugar Loaves: Elizabeth Foreman, head of the household, widow, aged 60, born in Longdon, Worcestershire, a publican Harriet Ryland, boarder, widow, aged 80, born in Longdon, Worcestershire, formerly a post mistress Albert Joseph Ryland, grandson of Elizabeth Foreman, aged 6, born in Graham Tower, New Zealand, a scholar Sarah Ann Smith, unmarried, aged 16, born in Gestingthorp, Essex, a general servant & domestic In past times sugar did not come in granules supplied in packets or in cubes, but instead in the form of a cone called a sugar loaf. The sugar would be broken off the loaf with a small chopper which looked like a meat cleaver. Metal sugar snippers would then be used to cut the sugar into smaller pieces. These lumps would then be placed in a basin for putting into tea or other hot drinks.

This triple arch skewed bridge takes the road between Castle Hedingham and Sible Hedingham over the River Colne. Although the bridge is nearer Sible Hedingham it is inside the boundary of the civil parish of Castle Hedingham. Merely a trickle of water was flowing over the concrete apron of the bridge on the day.

These are the upstream waters of the River Colne which eventually flows through Colchester and out to the North Sea.

Carved stone post by the A1017, in parish of Sible Hedingham (Braintree District), Swan Street, by No. 186 , in recess of concrete retainment for domestic garden bank, on East side of road. Essex facets, erected by the Chelmsford (Division of Essex First District) turnpike trust in the 19th century. Inscription once read:- : (Braintree / 8) : : (Haverhill / 11) : Milestone Society National ID: EX_CHSB48