Companion post for the Geneageek’s Gems podcast episode:
The Baddow Elopement
(The full story details can be heard on the podcast. This post is to illustrate places featured in the story.)
James and Eliza made their escape from Little Baddow on the morning of 28 September 1872. On the way to Chelmsford, they stopped at the Cock Inn at Boreham ‘for refreshment’.
After unloading their items at Chelmsford Station, James, Eliza, and their driver Thomas Peacock, spent some time at the Fleece Inn on Duke Street.
The map below, although drawn 20 years later than the events in 1872, shows where these places were located in relation to each other:
Unfortunately, we can no longer visit these establishments. The Cock is no longer a pub and has since become a private home. The Fleece Inn, which was situated at 84 Duke Street, was demolished by 1932. A new building was erected which now trades as the Golden Fleece.
Even the Chelmsford Station of James and Eliza’s time is no more. It was originally situated slightly to the north of where the station is today; the present building was constructed (initially) in 1885.
