Under emergency planning rules at the start of WW2 the shop on the corner of Church Street and Market Hill was demolished to make way for a new fire station. There had been a mutiny in the Kelvedon Fire Brigade so a new brigade was recruited in Coggeshall and with no suitable fire station (the old engine house at Crouches being too small) a new one was designed and built in record time. Aesthetically it was a disaster but there was no time for dithering, air raids were expected at any time. The full story is in my book 'Fires Firemen and other Mishaps' available at Normans the sweetshop.
Date: 1939
Ref: 25/14