History
Rochford police station was designed by influential Essex architect Frank Whitemore (1844 - 1920) who designed many long standing buildings across the county. The station was built in 1914 in an Edwardian Baroque style and was Whitmore’s final project before retiring as County Architect in 1914.
With the arrival of WW2 the local RAF airbase (which is now Southend Airport) became a regular target for Luftwaffe bombing raids with the German bombers using the police station as a landmark to line up their bombing runs on the airfield. On one occasion, upon their return to base, one of the German gunners decided on some impromptu gunning practice and shot up the back of the station leaving several large bullet holes in the brickwork which still remain today.
The station was originally flanked on each side by a small house for an Inspector and the other for a Sergeant however they remained empty for some time and were consequently knocked though into the main building creating room for 19 sub divisional officers to be stationed there. Later on the six-strong Westcliff dog section was also moved in aswell as a further nine officers who made up the local burglary squad.
Originally the station supported two tiny cells in the basement but these were later redesigned into a boiler room, most likely due to the cells not complying with improved human rights regulations. The new cells were later also re-assigned for other purposes and detainees would likely be held in nearby neighboring stations.
With the advent of significant budget cuts it was decided that several smaller police stations across the Essex area would be closed down or amalgamated into the larger stations with the empty buildings being sold off in an effort to make savings of around £41 million per annum, one of which being Rochford.
Rochford station closed its front counter to the public on 28th November 2011 and closed completely as a functioning police station on 31st March of 2013 and is currently on the market for sale.
The Explore
A solo visit. I had passed by a week or so earlier and despite the building itself generally looking pristine I noticed a couple of boarded up windows. Not having time on the day I made a mental note-to-self to check it out sometime.
A couple of weeks later, with an unexpected free afternoon and twiddling my thumbs, I decided to take a better look the scope it out.
Being a police station I didn’t expect much joy but, to my surprise, my luck was in on the day! My immediate goal was finding the cells but, as I found out later when researching the history, these had long since been reassigned for other purposes. I found the cellar where the original cells were located (now a boiler room) but it was flooded with about a half foot of water and full of asbestos so didn’t get spend much time down there. It was certainly a creepy little place though. The rest of the building itself is lovely, in pretty good condition with the lights still on throughout most of it with plenty of interesting bits and pieces left behind. Rather than lots of pictures of empty office rooms I have tried to concentrate more on the details, hope you enjoy!
1. Rochford Police Station – Front
2. Opening Hours
3. Police Tape
4. Locker Room
5. Wheelchair In Locker Room – Maybe Joe from Family Guy worked here?
6. Essex Police Storage Chest
7. Bomb & Fire Orders
8. Master Tape Record Book
9. Officers Aide Memoire
9. Station CCTV Controls
10. Back Office
11. Stairs
12. Rest Room Door
12. Rest Room
13. Shoe Shine Box
14. Store Room
15. Cordon Control Kit
16. Stairwell
17. “Doors Locked” Sticker
17. “28”
18. Basement / Boiler Room Stairs – Previously the original old cells
19. Secure Box
20. Rayleigh Division Area Map
21. File Holder
22. Dog Unit Store Room
23. Dog Unit Pin Board
24. Dog Unit Kennels – Thankfully Fido wasn’t home…
25. Garages and officer’s accomodation from the main building, sadly couldn’t access these.
26. Operation Broadsword?
Hope you enjoyed
Rochford police station was designed by influential Essex architect Frank Whitemore (1844 - 1920) who designed many long standing buildings across the county. The station was built in 1914 in an Edwardian Baroque style and was Whitmore’s final project before retiring as County Architect in 1914.
With the arrival of WW2 the local RAF airbase (which is now Southend Airport) became a regular target for Luftwaffe bombing raids with the German bombers using the police station as a landmark to line up their bombing runs on the airfield. On one occasion, upon their return to base, one of the German gunners decided on some impromptu gunning practice and shot up the back of the station leaving several large bullet holes in the brickwork which still remain today.
The station was originally flanked on each side by a small house for an Inspector and the other for a Sergeant however they remained empty for some time and were consequently knocked though into the main building creating room for 19 sub divisional officers to be stationed there. Later on the six-strong Westcliff dog section was also moved in aswell as a further nine officers who made up the local burglary squad.
Originally the station supported two tiny cells in the basement but these were later redesigned into a boiler room, most likely due to the cells not complying with improved human rights regulations. The new cells were later also re-assigned for other purposes and detainees would likely be held in nearby neighboring stations.
With the advent of significant budget cuts it was decided that several smaller police stations across the Essex area would be closed down or amalgamated into the larger stations with the empty buildings being sold off in an effort to make savings of around £41 million per annum, one of which being Rochford.
Rochford station closed its front counter to the public on 28th November 2011 and closed completely as a functioning police station on 31st March of 2013 and is currently on the market for sale.
The Explore
A solo visit. I had passed by a week or so earlier and despite the building itself generally looking pristine I noticed a couple of boarded up windows. Not having time on the day I made a mental note-to-self to check it out sometime.
A couple of weeks later, with an unexpected free afternoon and twiddling my thumbs, I decided to take a better look the scope it out.
Being a police station I didn’t expect much joy but, to my surprise, my luck was in on the day! My immediate goal was finding the cells but, as I found out later when researching the history, these had long since been reassigned for other purposes. I found the cellar where the original cells were located (now a boiler room) but it was flooded with about a half foot of water and full of asbestos so didn’t get spend much time down there. It was certainly a creepy little place though. The rest of the building itself is lovely, in pretty good condition with the lights still on throughout most of it with plenty of interesting bits and pieces left behind. Rather than lots of pictures of empty office rooms I have tried to concentrate more on the details, hope you enjoy!
1. Rochford Police Station – Front
2. Opening Hours
3. Police Tape
4. Locker Room
5. Wheelchair In Locker Room – Maybe Joe from Family Guy worked here?
6. Essex Police Storage Chest
7. Bomb & Fire Orders
8. Master Tape Record Book
9. Officers Aide Memoire
9. Station CCTV Controls
10. Back Office
11. Stairs
12. Rest Room Door
12. Rest Room
13. Shoe Shine Box
14. Store Room
15. Cordon Control Kit
16. Stairwell
17. “Doors Locked” Sticker
17. “28”
18. Basement / Boiler Room Stairs – Previously the original old cells
19. Secure Box
20. Rayleigh Division Area Map
21. File Holder
22. Dog Unit Store Room
23. Dog Unit Pin Board
24. Dog Unit Kennels – Thankfully Fido wasn’t home…
25. Garages and officer’s accomodation from the main building, sadly couldn’t access these.
26. Operation Broadsword?
Hope you enjoyed
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