Halstead
Note: This map only shows the position of Halstead within the UK. If anybody can kindly provide an exact location for this balloon lauch, this advice will be most welcome.
HALSTEAD: Balloon ascent site
Period of operation: 1848
NOTES: I would have expected to find more balloon ascent sites for ESSEX in the second half of the 19th century, (MALDON in 1882 is the only other site listed by 2005), and apart from these very basic details I have found nothing else. Perhaps you may know more?
A MOST NOTABLE EVENT
I suppose it should be mentioned, here as elsewhere in this 'Guide', that in those days a balloon launch especially from a town a rural area, was a truly momentous event attracting thousands of spectators who would often walk for many miles. These events were, without exaggeration, the equivalent of the Space Shuttle launches. Indeed, for many if not all, it was probably the very first time they had witnessed a person or persons in the sky!
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