Wickford is an old market town based to the north-east of the borough. The town used to host a cattle market as well as a cinema before the new town was built.  The building work was held responsible for the River Crouch, which runs through the town, bursting its banks in the late 1950's and flooding the town.  The works done to stop the river flooding is still very visible today.

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Wicfort is listed in the Domesday Book of 1086 in the Barstable Hundred.  The area has been inhabited since the prehistoric times as the Britonic tribe known as the Trinovantes left evidence of their existance in the area.

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The Carter Family of Wickford can trace their family history back to the late 1550’s with the birth of Richard Carter around 1585.  He was listed in the St. Catherine records as Richard Reade during 1611 and as ‘Richard Read alias Carter’ when his burial was recorded during January 1615.

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St. Catherine’s church in Wickford is within the parish of Wickford and Runwell.  The current church was rebuilt in the 1870’s and is based on its original 15th Century design.

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This church is on Southend Road, between Mount Road and Brunswick Close, on the way to Shotgate.

 

Southend Road is off of Golden Jubilee Way, though it used to continue through to Wickford High Street via what is now Lower Southend Road on The Broadway.

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The churchyard is now closed to new burials.  It doesn’t cover a large area but it is now full.  A lot of the graves have seen far better days, becoming over grown, covered it plant matter from maintenance work and even a few no longer marked.

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The chancel roof and decorative screen behind the alter were moved from other churches and incorporated in to the rebuilding of St. Catherines.  With these and St. Catherine's being an 'example of mid-Victorian church building' this church was Grade II listed in 1955.

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Outside the church is the lychgate, which was built in the 1949.  In the last few years the gate has required repair.  The repairs were finally completed in July 2015.

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The village of Shotgate is to the east of Wickford and the west of Rawreth.  The village is part of Wickford and is to the far east of the borough.

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In the late 1800's what is now Shotgate was not much more than farmland.  Shot Farm and Shotage Farm still exist today, both have listed structures on their land.

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The village sign is made up of a number of images, perhaps the most interesting is a Hawker Hurricane.  

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In May 1940 a RAF Hawker Hurricane, flown by New Zealander William Hodgson was hit and caught fire whilst fighting enemy aircraft. 

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Pilot Officer Hodgson attempted to make his way back to RAF Debden, near Saffron Walden.  It became apparent that the aircraft would not manage the journey so William crash landed in fields near Shotgate rather than bail out and risk the Hurricane crashing in to a populated area.

William Hodgson was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his actions and has since had the Hodgsons Way Industrial Estate named after him.

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