Our Old Romford and District; E. G. (Ted) Ballard; Hardback; 192 pages; 1981 (Reprinted 1987); Swan Libraries Booksellers; ISBN 0-9503151-2-5

"This book is about Our Old Romford and District as it was around the turn of the century and after, when Romford was a grand old country market town surrounded by many truly rural villages and hamlets.

"In 1917 Ted Ballard was born into one of these villages, Corbets Tey, just south of Upminster, and has lived in this area ever since.  In those days the land around us was put mainly to agricultural and market garden-type farming.  Wednesday was the highlight of the week as the farmers and villagers converged on the Old Romford country market along with the cattle, sheep, pigs, poultry and other farm livestock.  Plus, of course, the jovial Cockney-style market traders selling everything from fruit and vegetables to oil lamps and coal scuttles.

"As we go on our leisurely tour we are aided by a written commentary with additional tales of those days and about 170 real photographs from the authors large collection.  We start, of course, in our Old Romford, then include Hornchurch, Upminster, Cranham, Corbets Tey and North Ockenden (all now in our new London borough of Havering), as we try to recapture just some of the past when our area was, indeed, right in the heart of the country.  The days when those grand old shire and other heavy farm horses helped to make this little corner of Essex a place that we were all proud to live in."