Essex Police first dates back to 1840 when it was established as the Essex County Constabulary, based in the old military barracks in Arbour Lane, Chelmsford. Initially only one hundred constables and fifteen superintendents were appointed to the force, a fraction of the officers that the force has today. Constables were provided with a basic uniform…
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From Wikipedia What actually happened? When Mary, Queen of Scots fled to England in 1567, her thirteen-month-old son James was crowned king of Scotland. With his Catholic mother in England, James was brought up as a Protestant. When Elizabeth I died in 1603 without children, Mary’s son, was next in line to the throne. As James was a Protestant, Parliament was also in favour…
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Photo from Baltimoresun.com. 6 million Jews | 220,000 Gypsies | 70,000 Homosexuals | 250,000 Disabled People | 7 million Soviet Civillians | 3 million Soviet Prisoners of War January 27th, is the international memorial day for the victims of the Holocaust, the genocide that resulted in the murder of millions. 27th January is the date, in 1945, when the largest Nazi…
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Photos from Offshoreechos.com and Thevoguevibes.com Radio Caroline, one of the most famous radio stations in the UK was launched 50 years ago today, just off of the Essex coast. Founded in 1964 by Ronan O’Rahilly, it is considered the first proper kick-start of popular music broadcast however Radio Caroline was unlicensed by any government for…
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German bombing during the Second World War left London heavily damaged to this very day. At 4.18 in the video below filmed in 2013 – albeit an early amateur production, we catch a glimpse at a large bombsite in Whitechapel which has remained undeveloped and left to become overgrown since the war. it is thought…
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Southchurch Hall is a moated house, clearly rather grand, dating back to the Middle Ages (14th Century) with extensions added in the Tudor era and 1930s. The de Southchurch family were the original residents of the house, and its great hall was likely to have been built on the site of a Saxon hall. Solars…
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The building originates back to 1905, when the site was first opened as the towns first free library. The Grade II listed site remained as a library until 1974 when it moved to the brutalist-style concrete-faced building to the left of it. Much of its early Edwardian Victorian-style architecture both inside and out remains relatively…
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Prior to the construction of the Colvin opening bridge in 1931, a ferry and stepping stones at low tide were used to get from Benfleet to Canvey and back. The stepping stones were cast into buckets originally and were removed in 1931 and held in the old Canvey Council Offices down Long Road for a…
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In the early 17th century, Canvey Island was inhabited by a community of Dutch settlers who whilst living both alongside and at times at loggerheads with the locals helped to shape the islanders topography today. Two houses built in a contemporary Dutch cylindrical shape survive to this day at Northwick seen below, and at Canvey…
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Several years ago BTP Joe was on Shell Beach, Canvey, when he came across this old piece of pottery. It clearly belonged to the company ‘Cox’s’ who set up a major establishment on Canvey. Aside from the main building, there was a small cafe hut on the beach at one time, from which we speculate…
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