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A Cognolog is five small suggestive paragraphs drip-fed one per day. The purpose is to encourage imaginative and critical thinking and also to provide topics for conversation and exploration.
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In 1856 plans for the Tilbury, Maldon & Colchester railway1 were drawn up. The southern section would have gone from Tilbury, through what is now Basildon, S.Woodham Ferrers, Purleigh then into Maldon via what is now the Promenade park and the Hythe. A branch was to leave the main line at Purleigh to head East via Althorne and Southminster to terminate at a pier in Burnham-on-crouch. The northern section carries on from the Hythe, along the Downs, under Market Hill where it joins Cromwell hill, curving right to cross the river, climbing to cross the new Witham to Maldon railway2, then right again for a long straight NW stretch through Broad Green, Little Totham, through what is now Abberton reservour then turning almost due North through Maypole Green into Colchester, Butt lane a bit to the North of the junction with Layer Rd., crossing London Road roughly where Rawston Rd. is today and carrying on to join the Eastern Counties Railway a bit to the east of what is today ‘North’ station via Sheepen Meadow and the “Station Way” bit of Westway. From where the line crossed Butt Lane a branch struck West towards Bourne mill, finishing at the Hythe.
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