Canvey Island’s civil defence sirens – used to warn residents of air raids in WWII, potential nuclear bombs in the Cold War, and flood emergencies since the North Sea Floods of 1953, remained installed and frequently tested until around 2014. It is not entirely clear if this siren was from WWII, but even if this…
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Tucked away in the Little Gypps area of Canvey Island is a park known as the Gunny/Gunney, and here there was once a WW2 Heavy Anti Aircraft (HAA) battery designated as TN7 Furtherwick (Thames North battery No.7). There were six gun emplacements, four octagonal early-war pits positioned in a semi circle facing east and another…
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In the early Second World War – being 1939 or 1940, a total of nine pillboxes, along with other defences and bunkers, were built across Canvey Island. Canvey Island formed the start of the first line of defence against an invasion coming towards Western England from the Germans. This line is known as the GHQ…
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Canvey Island was a fairly quiet area in the 1930s, so when it became heavily militarised to defend against air, land, and sea on the approach to World War Two, it must have come as quite a shock. Arguably, this was one of the changes the island saw which transformed it into the town it…
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The Canvey Archive has a large collection of memoirs, photographs, and by CloudScout” href=”https://beyondthepoint.co.uk/historic-locations/canvey-island/the-second-world-war/b17-crash-site/#48142577″> shared is here: http://canveyisland.org/documents/DHB_v2_Med_Res.pdf On the 19th of June 1944 a formation of B17 Flying Fortress American bomber planes were heading back to their base in Kimbolton, and it was pilot Lt. Lloyd Burn’s 29th mission. The Heavenly Body II was the…
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Two busts that stood in ‘Poets Corner’ of the Winter Gardens, today in the Canvey Heritage Centre. Photographs of Frederick Hester, and his monrail before & after electrification. Also images showing interior of his winter gardens. Have you heard of Frederick Hester, the man who promoted Canvey in the early 1900s to make it a…
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In 1891, the Salvation Army established a Home Farm Colony in Hadleigh where the Hadleigh Downs Country Park lies today. The Salvation Army Jetty was used in the early 1900s to load off and on goods, mainly bricks, made at the Salvation Army brickworks located at the bottom of Chapel Lane. The bricks were then…
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The cinema was open every day of the week except Wednesday’s and even showed films for children on Saturdays. The building survived the Second World War and even the 1953 floods which ravished Canvey and the south-east. Beyond the Point was able to get a tour of the building, which included taking a look at where…
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The King Canute pub is situated in Canvey village, and has been there in some form since roughly 1867, around the era when Canvey village was being constructed. It’s name was changed from the Red Cow after the 1953 North Sea Floods, hence the new sign in the photograph. The above image shows the pub c.1960. Beyond the…
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Built as a nod to Canvey’s Dutch heritage and the two remaining cottages from the 17th Century, 1930s’ pioneer Lt. Cpl. Fielder built three houses shaped like them yet taller on the ‘Zeeland Estate’. The two survivors, off Long Road down Beechcroft Road, had thatched roofs. The 1930s black and white photographs are from CanveyIsland.org…
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