South Lodge Dagnams. This lodge house was sited on the west side of of what is now Petersfield Avenue at the junction of the A12. It was demolished in the 1970s. There is still a Yew tree standing on the ground that was once the garden. There was a similar house, the North Lodge at the opposite end of the Dagnams Estate in the then Wrightsbridge Rd, now known as Lower Noak Close. That one was occupied until 1963 and demolished in 1964.
The Engraving and text below were taken from The Essex Countryside magazine, I know no more than that.
(Its interesting in that it shows the elaborate gates to the chase)
His family came to London from Newcastle-on-Tyne and his father set up a printing business called Robert Pollard & Son. He brought up his family in the area and . James, who was the youngest son of six;; children, was born at Islington Spa. Thomas Bewick, the famous wood-engraver, was a Newcastle friend of the family and fired Robert Pollard's interest in engraving; also, when young James began to draw and paint,; his father asked Bewick to look at the boy's work. This was a great encouragement to the lad and he began to assist his father in the; business with engraving. He started serious painting however in 1813, and by 1816 he had taken to etching in which he began to earn a living. By 1820 he decided to concentrate on his paintings, using mostly oils in which he became so interested that in the 1830s he ceased to paint any more in colours.
