Good morning all, I have just found out that a not too close relly but close enough was Polish. I am having difficulty in finding out about her origins because Poland doesn't have a central records repository. However I do know that Marie Pizlock married a Silas Page in 1923 after arriving in England as a 17yr. old circa 1915. As a devout Catholic I am a bit surprised that she was buried in the Sewardstone Rd. cemetery in 1969 which I always believed to be C.of E. / Protestant. So my questions are, is the Cemetery in Sewardstone Rd. multi denominational and where was the catholic church in the '60's? I believe it was the church at the bottom of Monkswood Ave. My brain is a bit like Lawrence's at the mo. its too cold and damp to function properly. Time to hibernate me thinks. Regards, Mick.

Hi Mick. Yes, the cemy is indeed multi-denominational, and has been from its inception, as (I believe) all cemeteries legally are. These days there are a great many very ornate memorials on the eastern side of Sewardstone Road, to late members of the numerous local Sicilian/Italian nursery-owning Catholic community, some of whom came along to my dad's funeral service in the (C of E) Abbey Church recently and also paid their respects at his burying in the cemetery. Who could wish for better neighbours? In a completely non-morbid way, this cemetery seems to bring all aspects of the community together. The Catholic congregation only recently acquired the Monkswood Road church, possibly circa 1980 at a rough guess, perhaps slightly later. It was built roughly 1900 (sorry for the vagueness; I haven't actively researched these aspects of local life yet) by the Methodists. Before then, the local Catholics worshipped in what I cannot describe as anything other than a medium-sized wooden hut on the western side of Sewardstone Road, opposite Thrift Hall and to the north of the Sultan. When they moved into Monkswood Ave the hut was sold and the site developed as a pair of semi-detached houses, squeezed very tightly into the width available. I used to sit on the wall outside Thrift Hall waiting for a bus home from school until 1980 (I grew up on Avey Lane if that means owt to anyone), and can picture in my mind 'the hut' and vaguely remember it suddenly becoming a pair of houses one day. I left WA in 1982 and didn't return until 1997; I'm sure the change happened after 1980 and before 1982 but may be wrong. I haven't seen any photos of the hut in general circulation - though there may well be one in one of Ray Sears' books. He was (and is) very good at documenting the changes to WA in photographs and notes, especially over the last few decades. There was also a notable local Polish/Czech influx here during WW2, possibly refugees, who seemed to make a point of working in the local nursery industry, which was then very prevalent around the town (most of what is now the Roundhills estate and was until recently Honey Lane Hospital was covered in glasshouses until the 50s and 60s). Perhaps they had in fact been 'conscripted in' to help out in a vital wartime industry (I know it was considered vital during the war, as my grandad was kept out of National Service throughout the war because his job as a lorry driver collecting veg from all over East Anglia for the London markets was considered of utmost importance to the war effort - great grandad owned the trucks and ran the farm on Wood Green Road that they were based at). These days the nursery industry is mainly in the Roydon/Nazeing area, with a smaller presence in north Sewardstone. I would think that the Poles and Czechs mostly returned home after the war, though a fair few certainly stayed here - I can remember one or two local elderly characters being around when I was a boy. The (then decaying rapidly) nurseries were taken over by Sicilians (and some Italians) gradually, from the 1960s or possibly a bit earlier; these days they are synonymous with a massively revitalised local nursery industry, and are quite a presence, if a quiet and industrious one, in local life. This may have had a bearing on the acquisition of the Monkswood Ave church. But I suppose these Poles would have been too late to have any connection with your own relative Mick, though it could be that she came here for similar reasons and in similar circumstances - a World War. In case you're not aware, the current western corner of Poland has historically been ravaged by wars between the Poles and the Germans. I don't know enough of the story to dare try relating it, but it might be worth your while researching this a bit more. I remember something about the Nazis claiming the area for Germany and wiping out all its indigenous Poles, then after the war Poland reclaiming it and wiping out all the indigenous Germans in that area, which as one can imagine would traditionally have been populated by people of various local neighbouring races, whatever the political identity of its parent country. Even the names of the area's towns and villages have been erased and renamed completely differently. Perhaps something similar to all this happened there in the Great War too? Don't forget that it was Hitler's invasion of Poland that prompted Churchill to declare war. I hope I haven't stirred up contentious nationalistic sentiments too much with other listers. If I've got any part of my account wrong I apologise now! History, as William the Bastard said at Hastings, is always (re-)written by the victors, even if they have to resort to needlework to do it. Lawrence -----Original Message----- From: essex-uk-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:essex-uk-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Csgen50@aol.com Sent: 28 October 2008 11:13 To: Essex-UK@rootsweb.com Subject: [Ess] Catholics and Waltham Abbey Good morning all, I have just found out that a not too close relly but close enough was Polish. I am having difficulty in finding out about her origins because Poland doesn't have a central records repository. However I do know that Marie Pizlock married a Silas Page in 1923 after arriving in England as a 17yr. old circa 1915. As a devout Catholic I am a bit surprised that she was buried in the Sewardstone Rd. cemetery in 1969 which I always believed to be C.of E. / Protestant. So my questions are, is the Cemetery in Sewardstone Rd. multi denominational and where was the catholic church in the '60's? I believe it was the church at the bottom of Monkswood Ave. My brain is a bit like Lawrence's at the mo. its too cold and damp to function properly. Time to hibernate me thinks. Regards, Mick. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Any problems, please contact the List Admin: Essex-UK-admin@rootsweb.com ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ESSEX-UK-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG. Version: 7.5.549 / Virus Database: 270.8.3/1748 - Release Date: 26/10/2008 19:53 No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG. Version: 7.5.549 / Virus Database: 270.8.3/1748 - Release Date: 26/10/2008 19:53