Archive for November, 2011

BtP Advent Begins with Ghost Stories…

Posted: November 30, 2011 by BTP Liam in Case Study, Various, Website Update
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So here we are, on the 1st of December. Now we can all feel free to roll on the tunes and put up the decor… It’s Christmas!

Are you opening that flimsy cardboard flap to pull out a 3mm thick 0.1% cocoa chocolate (if I can even call it that), just like every day and year gone by during advent? That’s were we come in, with our tantalizing and interesting advent countdown. You will notice a second image box near the usual ‘danger keep out’ picture to your right with a cool image in. Every day until Christmas the 25th (which will of course have something BtP even better on the day), we will be updating our ‘Photography Gallery’ and image box to the right with a neat photographic shot from either me, Joe, or the online community. Keep your eyes peeled and get checking daily!

Here’s a close up of today’s image, featuring Hadleigh Castle:

The size illusion is really well performed, plus the festive snow suits the occasion!

Despite this, I think we could also do with an interesting article for today. This is all about ghost stories in Castle Point, which as we all know, ghost stories are related to Christmas for no apparent reason.

Let’s start with the castle itself:

It was also during this time that the castle got a reputation for being haunted by a woman in white. A milkmaid called Sally, from Castle Farm, saw the ghostly woman early one morning. The ghost commanded Sally to meet her again at the castle at midnight. But the girl was too frightened to go. She was met the next morning by the ghostly woman, who was so annoyed that she had been disobeyed that she hit the milkmaid around the head, almost dislocating her neck. After this, the girl was known as ‘wry-neck Sal’

From http://www.hadleighcountrypark.co.uk/HistoryCastle.htm

And now onto Canvey:

Local Canvey legends have it that around 865 AD, in one such battle a Long Boat did indeed face battle and sunk without trace just off the Canvey Island coast. The boat met it’s watery death and sunk beneath the waves. In the panic many Viking warriors struggled to make their way to the Canvey coastland, but on that rough windy night the currents that form as the Thames meets the North Sea were too strong and powerful for even the most rugged of Vikings, and all the crew lost their lives desperately trying to reach the land. None survived, all were taken. All except one. One warrior made it to the mud flats of Canvey and managed to haul himself up onto the shore. But it was too late he didn’t have an ounce of energy left and he soon died on the shore. It is said that under the right circumstances his ghost can still be seen, crawling and stumbling across the mud flats, desperately searching for his friends and his boat. The ghost has been reported by many different people, over many years. Witnesses include a local priest in the 1950′s, so if ever you visit Canvey Island, take a stroll to Canvey Point, wait for the Sun to set, and see if you can see the Canvey Viking.

From http://www.strangeuk.com/home/item/55-canvey-viking-ghost

If you’d be interested in more local ghostly tales and places to visit, I recommend you get this book:

‘Haunted Essex’ by Carmel King

It really is excellent, plus gives you an unbeatable insight into the local area you thought you knew…

Visit to Benfleet Pillbox

Posted: November 29, 2011 by BTP Joe in Event Review
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BTP Liam and I payed a quick visit to Benfleet’s pillbox at the weekend and it’s the first time that we had been there but it’s definitely not the last. In the first picture below you can the see the pillbox; situated alongside a river as Britain was imminent to a German invasion. The bunker was used in the second World War and probably built in 1940/1. The picture shows how isolated the pillbox is, perfect for a good attack on a small boat.

The Pillbox

As you can see on top of the pillbox there are concrete ‘lumps’ which would have helped to disguise it.

Pillbox Roof

Pillbox’s have slits in and this one is no different. Formally called a ‘loop’ is used for shooting out of. This one also has a bit more security as it is lined with metal reinforcements.

Loop

As far as the actual structure is concerned, it has a concrete and stone mixture for the outer ‘frame’, then on top of that it has a brick layer. There would probably be another layer on top of that, like the concrete that is on top.

Brick Layers

The entrance to the bunker is still in good condition and you can go in it (if you don’t mind small spaces!) Just inside the entrance is a brick wall and the bricks are built in a ‘zig-zag’ way for extra protection.

The entrance is on the right

'Zig-Zag' Bricks

That’s pretty much the whole bunker. We didn’t have the chance to go inside as we wasn’t wear the correct clothes, but hopefully we will at some point.

Two Tree Island Sewage Works

Posted: November 26, 2011 by BTP Liam in Case Study
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Hello, my grandad had a 1930s guide book to Southend and the surrounding area, and it included a map. Two Tree island is displayed as ‘Leigh Marsh’ I have seen it named as on various other maps, although far older maps have called it ‘Two Tree Island’, so this is not a modern name. I and BTP Joe had suspicions that the square water body with concrete running down it in strips was part of the rumored sewage works on the island. The map clearly displays this area as the sewage works, so not only can we confirm that, but we anlso know the sewage works predates 1930.

 

Remains of the Sewage Works Today

H.P. Fielder’s 1930 Map of Essex

Posted: November 21, 2011 by BTP Joe in Case Study, Various
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Hello, I was fortunate enough to be able to have a look a map of Joe’s aunts, with the name  ’H.P. Fielder’, one of Canvey’s most well known World War 2 characters (who owned Thorney Bay including the army camp, and many other placed on the Island, plus he was a member of Canvey’s governance – read more here ‘http://canveyisland.org/page_id__625_path__0p22p.aspx‘), written on it in ink. We took it to the Bay Museum and came to the conclusion it was a hunting map (hence the ‘Essex union’ cover, and that it displayed numbered hunt spots, and the boundaries of their hunting license. We then took it to Janet Penn, who runs and contributes to Canvey’s archive (www.canveyisland.org). She came to further conclusion that someone, probably Fielder, had got the map on printed paper, and divided/segmented it up into pieces, and glued it on canvas, which then was placed in the Cover, and the coordinates were manually added by and in ink. It also has someone else’s writing on it, which appears just to be calligraphy practice.

 

 

 

 

This shows the exact location of the Kynoch Hotel, marked simply as 'Hotel'

Occidental + United Refinery Land Ownership Plans

Posted: November 19, 2011 by BTP Liam in Case Study
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Ok, I know it doesn’t have all the plans for buildings, oil drums, e.t.c., but i found on Google Books a diagram showing what land the American company Occidental Petrolum (who are now a massive company known more commonly as ‘Oxy’), and the Italian company Untited Refineries Ltd. (who i can’t find a trace of now-days, and came in in the later days of the refinery’s construction), were scheduled to build on in the 70s. I have now found out that United Refineries wanted to build earlier but lost permission in 1964, Here is the original diagram showing other areas such as Hole Haven methane area, Coryton Refinery, Shell refinery e.tc. :

With this, I now know that the concrete and wires found in ‘http://beyondcanvey.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=24&action=edit&message=1‘ was left by United Refineries. Also, there would have been some stuff built by United Refineries below Canvey Way.

The next image is zoomed into the relevant area:

The next is my ‘remastered’ version that was quickly done on ‘Paint’:

I recently visited the occidental jetty and read the writing imprinted on the metal struts which said ‘Dorman Long and co.’ which tells us that the metal work on the jetty was made by the large company http://www.dormanlongtechnology.com/. People also rumor that Canvey way was originally built to get lorries to the Oil Refinery site.

Beyond the Point Forum

Posted: November 15, 2011 by BTP Joe in Various, Website Update
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BTP Liam and I usually post something on BTP every couple of weeks, but did you know that there is an easier way to keep track of whats going on? You can simply visit our forum, where you can find out about:

  • Beyond the Point’s latest news and events
  • Our experiences of Canvey and around
  • Other people’s experiences of Canvey and around

It’s virtually a free and open resource center!  That’s also how you sign up to our BTP newsletter. Simply sign up, for free, and it will be distributed by email! We’ve re-decorated it and reset it, so there’s plenty of place to add your tales! Why not pass by and have a look?

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