East Tilbury
Bata Avenue
Houses. The first houses were built in 1933. The layout of the houses us a chequerboard copied from the layout of Bata houses in Zlin, Czech Republic, where Bata originated.
Hostels for young men and women workers at Bata,
28-30 houses for Bata workers. These houses were designed and built in 1930-33. They are based on the International Modern style. They were built by local builders for local people, not as 'one-off' homes for the rich.
Coronation Avenue
East Tilbury Library. This was part of the Bata Estate and housed the Bata Heritage collection. It is currently closed due to a fire in early 2017 after a vehicle was driven into the library and set alight. The Bata Reminiscence and Resource Centre at East Tilbury Library was set up to collect the memories of people who lived and worked within the British Bata community.
Bata Estate. This road is part of the Bata Estate. In 1933 the first houses for Bata workers were built, set among gardens in a chequerboard pattern and were in a modernist style. They were built of welded steel columns, roof trusses with reinforced concrete walls. The Czech architects Frantuisek Lydie Gahura and Vladimir Karfik designed them.
Halt Drive
East Tilbury Station. This opened in 1936 and now lies between Tilbury Town and Stanford Le Hope stations. It is on a loop of the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway. It was originally a halt to serve workers at the Bata Shoe Factory and they paid for the platforms to be built, but it was only a working hours service. It became a proper station in 1949. Trains also accessed Tilbury Riverside station until its closure.
Muckingford Road
This joins East Tilbury to Chadwell St.Mary
Princess Margaret road
Level Crossing
Scout Hut. A large building with a model of a scout above the main door.
Gobions Park. This is named after an adjacent farm and is described as ‘recent’.
Electricity transformer site
Recreation Club designed by Bronek Katz in 1960.
Production House. This is the site of the Bata garage/petrol station once stood. Stop now
Stanford House, This was the Bata Hotel, also once called Community House. On the ground floor was a ballroom, a restaurant and in the 1950s there was a Czech library which later became the residents lounge. The whole first floor was the workers canteen and the other floors had rooms and flats for workers. Families who worked for Bata overseas stayed in the Hotel when they came back on leave. Flat No 1 was for the use of the Bata family when they were in England.
Shops and facilities. All the social needs of the workforce were met here. "Bata-ville" had all the services of a normal town, including a theatre, sports facilities, hotel, restaurant, grocery and butcher shops, post office, and its own newspaper.[5]
Thames Industrial Park sited in some of the buildings of the Bata Factor
Bata Shoe Factory. Here shoes were produced for over 70 years. It was founded in 1932 by Tomas Bata and closed in 2005. The works originated in 1894 in Zlin. In 1932 a Tilbury clergyman negotiated a shoe factory here. In the Second World War it became "British Bata" .After the war, Bata's Czech offices and other facilities were nationalised by communist regimes. In England as production was gradually shifted to facilities closer to its export markets in the 1960s Factory downsizing began in the 1980s
Tomas Bata Statue. The founder of the Bata Shoe Company.
Factory Gate. This is where the workers entered. They ‘clocked on’ here
Administration building which housed reception, retail, the managers’ offices and the export department.
24 this was the the leather factory
34, this was the rubber factory.
Sources
Bata Heritage Centre. Web site
Historic England. Web site
Radical Essex. Web site
Houses. The first houses were built in 1933. The layout of the houses us a chequerboard copied from the layout of Bata houses in Zlin, Czech Republic, where Bata originated.
Hostels for young men and women workers at Bata,
28-30 houses for Bata workers. These houses were designed and built in 1930-33. They are based on the International Modern style. They were built by local builders for local people, not as 'one-off' homes for the rich.
Coronation Avenue
East Tilbury Library. This was part of the Bata Estate and housed the Bata Heritage collection. It is currently closed due to a fire in early 2017 after a vehicle was driven into the library and set alight. The Bata Reminiscence and Resource Centre at East Tilbury Library was set up to collect the memories of people who lived and worked within the British Bata community.
Bata Estate. This road is part of the Bata Estate. In 1933 the first houses for Bata workers were built, set among gardens in a chequerboard pattern and were in a modernist style. They were built of welded steel columns, roof trusses with reinforced concrete walls. The Czech architects Frantuisek Lydie Gahura and Vladimir Karfik designed them.
Halt Drive
East Tilbury Station. This opened in 1936 and now lies between Tilbury Town and Stanford Le Hope stations. It is on a loop of the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway. It was originally a halt to serve workers at the Bata Shoe Factory and they paid for the platforms to be built, but it was only a working hours service. It became a proper station in 1949. Trains also accessed Tilbury Riverside station until its closure.
Muckingford Road
This joins East Tilbury to Chadwell St.Mary
Princess Margaret road
Level Crossing
Scout Hut. A large building with a model of a scout above the main door.
Gobions Park. This is named after an adjacent farm and is described as ‘recent’.
Electricity transformer site
Recreation Club designed by Bronek Katz in 1960.
Production House. This is the site of the Bata garage/petrol station once stood. Stop now
Stanford House, This was the Bata Hotel, also once called Community House. On the ground floor was a ballroom, a restaurant and in the 1950s there was a Czech library which later became the residents lounge. The whole first floor was the workers canteen and the other floors had rooms and flats for workers. Families who worked for Bata overseas stayed in the Hotel when they came back on leave. Flat No 1 was for the use of the Bata family when they were in England.
Shops and facilities. All the social needs of the workforce were met here. "Bata-ville" had all the services of a normal town, including a theatre, sports facilities, hotel, restaurant, grocery and butcher shops, post office, and its own newspaper.[5]
Thames Industrial Park sited in some of the buildings of the Bata Factor
Bata Shoe Factory. Here shoes were produced for over 70 years. It was founded in 1932 by Tomas Bata and closed in 2005. The works originated in 1894 in Zlin. In 1932 a Tilbury clergyman negotiated a shoe factory here. In the Second World War it became "British Bata" .After the war, Bata's Czech offices and other facilities were nationalised by communist regimes. In England as production was gradually shifted to facilities closer to its export markets in the 1960s Factory downsizing began in the 1980s
Tomas Bata Statue. The founder of the Bata Shoe Company.
Factory Gate. This is where the workers entered. They ‘clocked on’ here
Administration building which housed reception, retail, the managers’ offices and the export department.
24 this was the the leather factory
34, this was the rubber factory.
Sources
Bata Heritage Centre. Web site
Historic England. Web site
Radical Essex. Web site
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