Passing under the railway bridge, and turning right the eye is
drawn to the row of Almshouses, still in good use, belying their
16th/17th century construction by Earl of Warwick in fulfilment of
the Will of Richard Rich, his grandfather. A little further on the
distinctive high roof of the Garage tells us that, before the
advent of cars, coaches were made and repaired there. The railway
was extended from Shenfield a century ago, intended for
agricultural business, running through South East Essex market
towns. The Freight House was the holding “shed” for
livestock from Rochford market. The Rochford Reservoir was
constructed as a water source for the steam trains.
Rochford railway station is situated on the line from Southend
Victoria to London Liverpool Street. It also used to serve London
Southend Airport until the new airport station opened earlier this
year. Passengers used to get a bus to the airport from the
station.
The coordinates above will take you to the railway bridge where
you will need to find some clues to solve the offset
multi-cache.
Most railways numbered their bridges and other structures. In
most cases a number plate was attached to each bridge. British
Railways adopted oval bridge plates. Originally they were steel
castings, but reflective plastic is now used. Look for the number
on the wall and this is answer A.
Also on the wall is a date scratched into a brick. The date is
14/9 and the year XX is the answer B.
To find the cache you will need to go to:
N 51.35.(941-A)
E 000.41.(473+B)
This should take you for a short walk along Ironwell Lane which
is also shown as Byway 11 on some maps. Once you have found the
cache you can extend your walk and look for the Hard Water cache
(GCRHP5) which is one of the oldest caches in the Rochford
area.