Canvey Island Archive | Characters | Goddard Bungalow 1925 | Old Leigh Beck. A Railway Carriage Retreat.

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Goddard Bungalow 1925

Old Leigh Beck. A Railway Carriage Retreat.

By Graham Stevens

This photo shows a very young George Chambers with his mother Doris visiting her friends the Goddard family at their very ornate bungalow at Leigh Beck. George's mother had become friendly with the family when they were customers at Chambers' shop at Small Gains so George believes the property was fairly close by. Apparently the Goddards were the owners of a successful antique dealers/pawnbrokers in London and this was their week-end/holiday retreat on Canvey. In point of fact it wasn't a bungalow but a well-appointed, one could say, salubrious, ex railway carriage.

There were reputed to be several re-vamped carriages like this on the Island prior to the building of the bridge, just imagine the fun they must have had getting them to their destinations. I don't know if anyone else can back me up on this but I do have vague recollections of the remains of one in Gifhorn Rd. Perhaps this could have been the ''Goddard's Bungalow''.

Photo: Illustrative image for the 'Goddard Bungalow 1925' page

This page was added by Graham Stevens on 05/05/2010.

Comments about this page

I don't remember the one shown being in Gifhorn Road There was definitely a railway carriage in a garden on Small Gains Avenue between Gifhorn Road and the dam, Graham. I remember it well. I think there were quite a few scattered about Canvey at one time and used as weekend homes.

By Maureen Buckmaster
On 05/05/2010

A lovely surprise! The Goddards shown standing are my maternal grandparents, Charles and Elizabeth Goddard. I remember the property well, it was called 'Gildenhurst' and was on the east side of Yamburg Road just over a small bridge which spanned the drainage ditch; origin of the name? I have no idea. My Mother Julia (nee Goddard) is seated in front of her Mother, and her sister Nellie with 'Bill' Hayman (husband)are far right. My memory is of two/three pantechnicons side by side with the veranda linking the ends. My Grandfather had earlier been a Coal Merchant/Furniture Remover in Shepherds Bush, London but had horses taken for the 1914/18 War. I remember the Chambers Farm/Dairy and bungalow both in Furtherwick Road and the annual spectacle of Dutch? tulips massed in colours covering the whole of the very large front garden, a real tourist attraction! I was born on the Island in 1931 and now live in Wickford.

By David Williams
On 30/10/2011