We are in the process of sourcing information, clippings, maps and photos of the original site that was here before Foresthall Park was developed. If you are able to help with this process then please get in touch.
In the meantime, some information in the paperwork passed to buyers of Taylor Wimpey homes states that the earliest historical plans of the area (c 1879) show the site as undeveloped. The only minor change occured in 1937 when rough pasture is shown in the South West corner. By 1960 the records show that the site had been developed as a Tile factory. This remained unchanged until the buildings were demolished in 2006.
According to local sources, the Rochford Nurseries were a main historical feature of the existing Foresthall Park site. The nurseries covered 69 acres, (having 22 acres of greenhouses) and included a railway track originating from Stansted Station bringing coal for the nursery boilers.
At one point, the nurseries employed around 100 of people (mostly local) who mainly grew tomatoes and cucumbers. In fact, the current houses at ‘Stoney Common’, owned by the Rochford family, were provided to some of the workers as “tied cottages”. Wages and conditions for the workers at the nurseries could only be described as poor. Bernard Rochford referred in 1912 to employees working six days a week, ten and a half hours a day, for 20/- shillings a week.
By the early 70′s the site was partially derelect but some of the nursery was built up again by Italian immigrants in the 70′s and 80′s. Apart from the older generation, many residents of Stansted Mountfitchet are not aware of the historical significance of the Rochford Nurseries.
The below image (passed to the Residents’ Association from the Stansted Mounfitchet Local History Society) is of also interest. The photo, taken in 1971, shows the Rochford nurseries and the present London to Cambridge railway in the foreground. You can see the now Stansted international airport runway in the background.
The original site - Rochfords Nurseries
