Historic Farm Vehicle Planted In Southend

March 8, 2016 by Southend Borough Council

Historic farm vehicle planted in Southend

Tuesday 8th March 2016

A fabulously-restored 1875 farm wagon rolls into Southend on Thursday 10th March to take its place among the borough’s precious artefacts.

The huge vehicle is due to arrive via an even larger trailer, at the Council’s museum store in Tickfield Avenue, Southend at around 10:30am.

It was originally built in Southchurch and was used on farms in Stambridge where it was eventually found derelict by farm history enthusiast Peter Webb.

When he investigated, he discovered via the name plate that it had been made by the Great Grandfather of an old school chum, so he leapt at the chance to add it to his restoration projects.

Peter, who lives in a smallholding at Tolleshunt D’ Arcy, spent around a year returning this quarter lock wagon to its former glory.

He said: “Wagons like this were the biggest expense a farmer would have, and they would last for two or three generations.

“They would be used at harvest time to transport produce to barns for the winter or hay to haystacks, and were nicknamed chariots of gold.

“This is because they would be carrying the goods which would bring in the money for the farmer after their year’s work.

“They would be pulled along by two or four horses.”

To repair the wagon, Peter replaced rotten woodwork with sections of pine, oak and ash, and sought expert wheelwright help to make sure the wheels were authentically restored with traditional wood, capped by metal rims.

He also returned the wagon to its original paint colour – yellow ochre with a red undercarriage.

This was the livery for Essex at the time. Other counties all had different colour schemes.

Executive Councillor for Enterprise, Tourism and Economic Development, Councillor Mary Betson said: “This beautiful wagon is a really exciting addition to the museum, and will complement our existing collection of farm implements.

“In future we would like to feature it in the future new museum we are aiming for, where it can help showcase local farming history.”