We are delighted to announce the installation of a new blue plaque at Langdon Nature Discovery Park, in recognition of the incredible Stan Hollands. Stan played a crucial role in ensuring that Willow Park, Marks Hill Wood, Hoppit Shaw and the Dunton slopes, which now form part of Langdon Nature Discovery Park, were not built upon.

Born in 1922, Stan grew up in Tu Wong, a bungalow situated along the Chase, which extended roughly north-south from Lee Chapel Lane to Dry Street. Tu Wong was just one of a series of bungalows built in a somewhat ad hoc manner along an unmade road during the period after the First World War. If you were to look for the Chase nowadays, you would find yourself deep in the heart of the Willow Park section of the reserve. The residents of the bungalows formed an inspiring and optimistic community, supporting one another and the surrounding area for almost 40 years.

In 1965, the Basildon Development Corporation published a plan to build a new town, building on what came to be known as the South West Area, compromising much of Langdon Hills, reaching as far as Dunton and embracing much of Dry Street, without consideration, it seemed, of the landscape and wildlife richness of those areas.

Stan opposed the plans steadfastly and refused to sell the substantial plot in which Tu Wong was situated to the developers. His opposition played a major role in the Planning Inspector reconsidering the South-West Area of the proposed development. Stan closely followed the planners, politicians, and bureaucrats, ultimately presenting detailed evidence at the South-West Area public inquiry in 1975. Other protestors and contributors, particularly those from the Basildon Natural History Society and Essex Wildlife Trust (known then as the Essex Naturalist’s Trust), also provided evidence.

Stan’s comprehensive submission helped convince the Planning Inspector that these beautiful areas of Langdon Hills and Dunton should not be developed. As a result, these areas were removed from the plans, and Langdon Nature Discovery Park, as we know it today, is protected in perpetuity. In 1989, with thanks to a generous legacy left by Herbert Langdon Dowsett, Essex Wildlife Trust was able to purchase the near 500 acres of land and secure the future of its wildlife, for generations to come.

Stan also decided to leave an incredibly generous gift in his Will to the Trust, which still enables conservation work to take place at the nature reserve to this day, including the creation of Hollands Pond, located next to the Nature Discovery Centre.

We’re eternally grateful to Stan for his everlasting legacy.

References: A Tribute to Langdon – Rod Cole