This brewery was situated next to a large house which stood on the site now occupied by Superdrug. (See Heritage Plaque on the side of the Estate Agents)
Crossing over Eastwood Road we come to a row of shops immediately on the South side known as Dollmartons (see date above top centre). Further along is the Police Station, the third one in the last 35 years. Our photograph shows the second Police Station and cottages before the present development took place. The plaque on the wall of the present Police Station indicates that it stands on the site of Peverils, a farm house in the 18th and 19th century and the scene of a barn fire for which James Ewen was found guilty and hanged at Chelmsford Goal.
The Public Library and Social Services Offices opposite the Police Station was built in 1964/65. The previous building on this site housed a library but before the library the building was used as a Billiards Hall. (See Heritage Plaque on the right hand side of the Library entrance commemorating the site of a Carriage Works).
Ladbrooks betting shop and Weatherspoons pub now stand on the site of the girls' school started by the first minister of the Baptist Church, the Rev Pilkington. A few doors along stands the Salvation Army Citadel, previously the premises of the Wesleyan Methodist Church. The building cost £1,000 when built in 1885. Later a school room was built in 1902 at a cost of £500!
Across the road on the south corner of Castle Road and the High Street the offices of a firm of accountants was previously a shop specialising in soft furnishings and haberdashery. Prior to this the building was a public house known as the Elephant and Castle. (See Heritage Plaque over public seat in Castle Road commemorating The Elephant and Castle Inn).
To the south on the same side of the road stands the Baptist Church built in 1798. In November 1975 a survey showed the walls of the building were out of line due to the weight of the roof forcing them outwards. The Church authorities applied for permission to demolish it, but as it was a listed building this was refused. The building was later repaired and a large extension was built on the North side. It is now a fine building tastefully restored both externally and internally. Adjacent to the Church stands a hall which was built in 1863/64 known then as the British School. It was later used as an infants' school.
