our history part 2
Springfield & history. The buildings and their uses..........
Working buildings in Springfield
Other buildings in Springfield included an armoury. The prison on Springfield Hill was built around 1830, when it was known as Springfield Gaol.
There were many pubs, and two dairies, near the Red Lion, and the Endeavour. There was a Timber yard and Sawmill down by the canal, and watermills on the river. Barnes Mill was built in the 1350s and worked for 600 years; Springfield Mill was built in 1300 (now Riverside Inn). There was a blacksmith’s workshop, or smithy, near the site of ATS tyres, and there were once four petrol stations in Springfield: two on Springfield Road, one on Victoria Road, and another on the corner of Bodmin Road and Torquay 
Road, opposite the shops.
The Bishop of Chelmsford lived in Bishopscourt, a big house on Springfield Road. The road name Bishopscourt Gardens remembers the house, which is long gone. The Bishop now lives near Margaretting.
Springfield Churches
The oldest place of Christian worship in Springfield is All Saints Parish Church on Springfield Green. It was built on the site of a Roman temple, about 975 AD and was probably made from wood with a thatched roof. The present building was begun in 1300, and has been added to, rebuilt and repaired up to the present day, with the recent restoration of the roof. For more information on the history of All Saints Church check out their website.
Springfield Schools
The oldest school in Springfield was built in on Springfield Green in1813. It was built by subscription, and existed until 1987 when the children moved to the much larger Bishops’ School, and the old building was demolished. It is still remembered by the road ‘Old School Field’ off Springfield Green, built on the site of the school and its field. Trinity Road School was built in 1911 to serve the lower part of the parish, and then as the population of Springfield grew, the other primary schools were built, along with Boswells Secondary School.
Link to information on present-day schools in Springfield.
Springfield Shops
There were lots of local shops in Springfield. Some, like Springfield Hill Post Office, have closed recently, but there were greengrocers, butchers and a Co-op on Springfield Road, a General store called The Beacon near the Endeavour pub, and a sweet shop in the row of cottages in Church Lane. Nowadays many people shop in superstores such as Sainsbury’s and Asda, which was the first superstore to open in Chelmsford.
Pictures:- Picture 1: Riverside Inn. Picture 2: All Saints Church Picture 3: Bishops School. Picture 4: The old Springfield Hill Post Office.