We have for this month's subject three old postcards showing the Mersea to Colchester Road passing through Abberton. The first postcard dates from before the First World War and shows the old Manwood Bridge where the road dips down to the Roman River. It presented quite a bottleneck until it was bypassed in the 1950s. Some of the bridge is still there, partly hidden under the new bridge.

The two other postcards are from the 1930s. One shows the large pond which was filled in also around 1950 and looks across the road to the Langenhoe Lion Pub. The Lion has now been closed for a few years and there have been a number of plans submitted during that time for it to be turned into something other than a pub. The AA box stands on the road junction and the houses to the left of the picture are in Fingringhoe Road. The AA box has gone, replaced by a red GPO telephone box nearby to the left. This in turn has now been converted to a Book Swap. A brick bus shelter stands on the edge of the road nearest the camera.

The other postcard shows "Lion Garage" selling petrol opposite the Pub. The pumps have gone and nowadays this is the home of Abberton Car Sales.

AA boxes like the one at the cross roads were once a feature all over the country. There was another one nearer Mersea - in the small layby between the Rose and the Strood. The boxes contained a telephone and AA Members were issued with a key so they could use it.

Published in Mersea Life October 2019 page 22.