Shotgate

infobox UK place
country = England
official_name= Shotgate
latitude= 51.3625
longitude= 0.5207
population =
shire_district= Basildon
shire_county = Essex
region= East of England
constituency_westminster= Billericay
post_town= Wickford
postcode_area= SS
postcode_district= SS11
dial_code= 01268
os_grid_reference= TQ765925

Shotgate is a village in Essex, England. From 1 April 2007, Shotgate became the first area of Wickford to have a Parish Council.

hotgate Sign

The sign is located next to the Southend Road (A129), it is made up of various symbols; Gate, Wheatsheaf, Archer, River, Hurrucane.

*The GATE is the way into and out of a SHOT of land.

*The WHEATSHEAF derives from the Wickford coat of arms.

*The ARCHER represents the fact that land previously owned by the Archer family, sold in 1927, became known as the Shotgate Estate.

*The RIVER CROUCH was once much wider and deeper than today and its salt marshes covered what is now Shotgate.

*The HURRICANE fighter represents that on 31st May 1940, Pilot Officer William Henry Hodgson, a New Zealander, engaged hostile bombers and fighters over the River Thames in his Hawker Hurricane, but it was hit and caught fire. In attempting to return to his base at RAF Debden, he resisted baling out, which would have left the aircraft to crash on a populated area and instead, crash landed in fields just outside Shotgate to avoid damage and injury to local people. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. [Shotgate Parish Council - News [http://essex-test.xarg.co.uk/shotgate-parish-council/news/] ]

Community Hall

Shotgate Community Hall was built in 1958 and is owned and run by Shotgate Community Association. It has been extended and refurbished several times since then, the most recent being in 2007 when a disabled toilet was added. [The Rural Community Council of Essex [http://www.essexrcc.org.uk/village_hall_advisor-find2.asp?id=253] ]

References