Archive for July, 2011

Beyond Castle Point, and Far Beyond Canvey Point! – Sudbury Pillbox (Type 27)

Posted: July 31, 2011 by BTP Liam in Case Study, Event Review
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Hello viewers! BTP Joe is away in Lake Garda this week, so its just me for now. I figured I better do a few extra posts this week to keep you occupied, and as I have so much to report, I will be doing more than just making up for the post BTP Joe would routinely do.

Today I went on a day trip to Lavenham, in Sudbury, and came across some relevant, although distant, material. On the A130 and A12 motorways, I spotted tons of pillboxes, most being  either standard rectangular or 50p shapes, many identical. Despite not being able to park up and visit them, I did find one in a field further on in Sudbury, around 10 minutes in the car before Lavenham. It was of large hexagonal shape, and had an entrance in the form of a tiled slope-roofed ‘shed’. I didn’t go inside, being littered and gloomy, but I did manage to look in through one of the rifle/light machine gun slits around the outside. In the centre of the inside there was a conrete column, with some kind of square hole in, similar to that around the outside. It couldn’t have been a firing hole however (facing inside), unless the invader somehow got inside unknowingly, so maybe it was for viewing purpose. It has a picture of itself on Wikipedia, and is classified as an FW3, Type 27. I later found out that type 27s have a roofless area in the centre with a concrete column in the middle, being a mount for an Anti-Aircraft gun. This explains what I saw, although, unaware at the time, never realised that if I got ontop I’d see something even more interesting! Below is a picture showing the outside, and the ‘shed’ entrance:

Below is a picture from Wikipedia of a typical ‘type 27′ pillbox’s AA gun mount, this one being the exact same pillbox I saw above

I’m dissapointed not to have realized that all I had to do was climb on top to see this!

Canvey Island Floods

Posted: July 26, 2011 by BTP Joe in Case Study
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Hello all! This time I thought that I would post something significant about Canvey’s history, rather than the slightly smaller picture that we usually post about. The Canvey Island Floods are a memory that every generation will remember, as we are surrounded by memories, the sea wall being the main one. After looking through Canveyisland.org I found so many articles, but I picked out what I thought were the most interesting.

But do we  know what actually happened?

On the night of 31st January 1953 a tidal surge came down the north sea flooding low lying lands in its path. Canvey Island was badly hit with the Sea Wall washing away in the Tewkes Creek area. 58 people lost their lives and the Island was evacuated by the army and police.

The Army Evacuating During the Flood

Canvey was evacuated after the flood. Only a few residence stayed on the Island. Part of the work of the police was to stop looting of the empty properties. A checkpoint was set up at the bridge and only those with legitimate reasons for going on the island were allowed to pass. Vehicles were searched leaving the island and patrols were sent out. Was this one of the patrols or just someone being helped? It looks like his bag is being searched.

Police Search

The news had spread fast! It was on international newspapers, on news broadcasts and even featured in a German newspaper!

German Newspaper Article

This is what David Bullock wrote. ‘ The newspaper cutting (above) I received from a friend who took it from a German magazine. It features Lord D`Isle and Dudlay seeing for himself the damage that was caused. I don’t know which service these folks were as the Army was also working on flood work too and as its an aerial photograph (bottom of page) one cannot make out any uniform, not that much of a uniform would be shown as with wellingtons, leather jerkin, etc, not a lot of uniform would have been seen. Obviously one chap on the wall was in a friendly mood waving with both arms in the air. Anyway another photo to the Canvey Island archives.If memory serves me correctly I think it had to be single traffic on to the island over the bridge as top dogs did not want too much weight on it. So procedure was for the workers vehicles coming off in convoy to come off first and then the ones coming on to work, went on. ‘

I hope this was useful! Below are some more images.

Flood Evacuation 1

Flood Evacuation 2

Flood Evacuation 3

Flood Evacuation 4

[ALL IMAGES AND RESOURCES CONTAINED IN THIS POST ARE FROM CANVEYISLAND.ORG, WHO ARE THE LEGAL COPYRIGHT HOLDED]

Two Tree Island – One of few places that would sink faster than Canvey! + Hadleigh Salvation Army Jetty

Posted: July 21, 2011 by BTP Joe in Event Review
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Hello all! BTP Liam has done his first post and now it’s my turn! Over the weekend, we risked cycling from Canvey to Two Tree Island, which is located in Leigh-On-Sea. The weather was cloudy and scattered showers were predicted, but we risked it and got drenched, but it was worth it! We cycled over there and it surprisingly only took us an hour. On the way there we passed a couple of sewage works. One of them was on the edge of the land, with waves crashing upon it. Around it, it had remains from what looks like an old jetty. There are also parts of a brick wall there.

^ Sewage Works ^

Below: Salvation Army Jetty (built anytime from 1890-1905) Remains    

Below: Brick Wall Remains

This is the first time that I had been, however BTP Liam had been before. When we arrived the sky was black so we sped up and sheltered beside a tree! Environmentally friendly, but not the driest spot! When the rain cleared up we began searching for a little WW2 shelter over there. We found it eventually and it was worth the rain!

You may be thinking, that it is just a little island that is open to vandals, but it actually has quite strong security.

     

If you are looking for a place to go out (when it’s dry) here is a great place!

The Concrete Barge – Rare Pictures, Then and Now

Posted: July 19, 2011 by BTP Liam in Case Study
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Hi guys, just a quick update. While playing on Google Earth I found the ‘historical view’ setting, allowing one to see satellite imagery from the past. I went back to 1999 and found the Concrete Barge on there. I have also included the same spot now:

Concrete barge - '99

Here is the site of the Barge in 2006 - clearly gone!

The North Site of the Refinery and Tip

Posted: July 18, 2011 by BTP Liam in Case Study, Event Review
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Sometime around the 70s, the old refinery was built by Occindental, leaving nothing but subtle remains when they left due to protest. Part of the area is now known as Canvey Wick. BTP Joe and I went there around a month ago, and once again around a month before that. This post covers the area, and the mysterious concrete posts and metal wires that litter the mysteriously bumpy landscape. Please tell us what exactly went on at this location. What would be made out of all this concrete and wires?

Here is the location on the map (marked with 'A'), Morrisons can be seen in the bottom right

It was overgrown, so we had to fight through the undergrowth!

Concrete

Wires

 

The old sign - another sign further down has air rifle pellet dents in

The Flood Barrier

Clear signs of foreign soils

BTP Joe getting dirty

Here we can see 'teeth' in one side of the concrete - a door or a join?

The view to Coryton Refinery

The view to Coryton

So, where did all that concrete and wires come from? – If you think you know, drop a comment or send us an email with the  ’Contact us’ page above! We now know this was left from Occidental as part of the Refinery’s electricity works, although the land here was scheduled to be built upon by Italian company ‘United Refineries’ (a.k.a. ‘E.N.I) in the 60s. Eni, as they are known today, helped supply the Soviets with oil, and were part of a large scandal. It is now Italy’s greatest industrial company. Occidental Petrolum, now usually abbreviated to ‘Oxy’, are still today a massive billionaire business.

Welcome to Beyond the Point!

Posted: July 17, 2011 by BTP Joe in Website Update
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Hi, it’s Joe and Liam at Beyond the Point (BTP) here. We created this blog to archive and record our adventures and to learn about your experiences and knowledge on Canvey Island, and the surrounding Castle Point. Every now and then, we plan out biking rides to remote areas of Canvey and Castle Point, discovering old structures and surviving remnants of the Island and around, such as pillboxes and bunkers from the Second World war, Two Tree Island and Canvey’s old Oil Refinery, to name but a few…

We live on Canvey Island as we have done all our life, and wish to increase awareness of a hidden past, which you wouldn’t even know was there, but also to find out more from your experience, on the illusive background surrounding these locations.

These trips are planned using GPS and satellite images, which are also used to uncover unusual structures, only visible from above. We set out with photography equipment and handheld transceivers, and of course a tasty lunch and protective clothing – after all, we do have British weather! We sometimes take digging equipment to find antique specimens, and BTP Joe here has even contacted the Finds Liaison Officer of Essex and the Archaeological Curator of Colchester Castle Museum.

We would like to hear from you on the history of our uncovered structures and locations, and hope that this website is of great interest to you, keeping you regularly updated on upcoming adventures…