Tag: Southend-on-Sea

By Liam Heatherson

RAF Rochford Pillboxes

Back in Easter 2014, the two BTP boys, and occasional accomplice Jack, set off to investigate pillboxes once defending Rochford airfield – now Southend airport. This is when the article was written and most of the photographs taken at this time – since then, ongoing development has changed much of the farmland but the pillboxes…

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By Liam Heatherson

WW1 Southend & The Palace Hotel

Shortly before BTP Liam wrote this article, he began reading the book ‘Southend at War’ by the excellent local author Dee Gordon. Beyond the Point’s affiliation with the Imperial War Museum Centenary Partnership meant that it would be both appropriate and useful to create a short documentary on Southend in the First World War inspired…

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By Joe Mander

Southend Seafront WW2 Defences

Disguised Observation Post We started at a disguised defensive post, which when we visited in 2012 was next to the derelict Esplanade House. When we revisited in 2017, the site has been demolished and replaced with a Premiere Inn – luckily the pillbox-like structure has survived! The brick wall appears to be of classic Southend Victorian origin,…

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By Liam Heatherson

Prittlewell Camp Hillfort

In the fallow land directly South-West of Fossets Way, Prittlewell, lies an impressive Bronze or Iron Age circular hillfort dating from somewhere between the 8th to 5th century BC. The 250 meter-in-diameter fort is extremely rare and of national importance; it is designated a scheduled monument. It would have been a fortified settlement containing domestic…

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By Liam Heatherson

EKCO Factory & Air Raid Tunnels

Top: EKCO Southend premises c.1940 & 2008    Bottom: Aerial view of the site in 1934 & 1970s Priory Crescent was until recently home to a vast factory complex constructed by the locally-founded EKCO electronics company. In 2008 it was demolished after several decades of switching hands, and now a modern housing estate is nearing completion…

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By Liam Heatherson

Stambridge Mills

Stambridge was once home to a tide mill on the waterfront dating back many centuries. The original building burnt down in April 1965 although the site continued operation as a mill until 2014. Another fire saw the finale of the site’s operation, although several partially-demolished modern buildings survive.

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By Liam Heatherson

Butlers Farm HAA Battery, Shopland

When Britain came under aerial attack in the Second World War, thousands of Heavy Anti-Aircraft batteries and associated army camps were built across the country. These are a fairly uniform and easy-to-recognise ruin one can find in anywhere from open farmland to housing estates. We have looked at other nearby batteries, such as those in…

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