It’s the birth place of Beyond the Point; a location that intrigued and mystified us. The massive site is hidden away on Canvey Island and has been derelict since the 1970’s. Resembling an apocalyptic city-cum-European forest, gridded roads and the occasional lamppost amongst what can be rightfully called Canvey’s jungle serve a reminder of the…
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Two Tree Island was reclaimed from the Thames in the late 1700’s and was used as farmland until 1910 when a sewage works was constructed on part of the site. These sewage works were used for the majority of the 20th century. During the North Sea Floods of 1953 two of the sewage workers had…
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The desolate expanse of Cliffe on the Southern side of the Thames has seen little use over history beyond agriculture, defence, and the cement industry. The construction needs of the Industrial Revolution called for cement development, and ‘artificial’ Portland cement which we still use today emerged in the mid 19th Century as a development from…
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The Bee Ness jetty was part of the Berry Wiggins & Co Oil refinery, formed in 1922 to supply bitumen (asphalt). By 1924 the company was producing bitumen from a plant at Sharnal Street on the Isle of Grain and in 1929 the company expanded, becoming a public company with premises at several locations including…
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The Allhallows decoy was constructed sometime between 1940 and 1941 to defend oil storage facilities nearby on the Isle of Grain. It was one of eleven designated QF controlled fire decoys of P series; or petroleum division. It’s purpose was to simulate burning oil industries to trick the Luftwaffe into thinking the real targets had…
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In 1891 plans were submitted to build explosive stories, a tramway and cottages south of the River Thames on land known as St Mary’s Marshes. Whilst only an acre of land was required, an exclusion zone of 324 acres, where “no houses should be build” was also needed. The Thames Storage Company was established in…
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Fisons Plc was a British pharmaceutical, scientific instruments and horticultural chemicals company established by Edward Packard in 1843. In 1863 he was joined in business by his son, also named Edward, who was developing the business and rationalising the UK’s fertiliser industry. The business was incorporated in 1895 under the name of Edward Packard and Company Limited. In 1919 the company…
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See the abandoned one in our video at 3.35 which we filmed in 2013 prior to demolition Pump stores for the now c2c railway were erected in the Victorian era, now disused. One is left abandoned near Fenchurch Street station (complete with original ‘ghost’ signage) but was sadly demolished sometime between 2014-15 on the site…
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Transformed from chalk industry giants of the 20th Century, these huge craters in the landscape now form nature reserves due to the mineral-rich soils. What’s more, is that water collects in the bases of them, forming lakes. One of these can be walked to after ten minutes, as soon as you cross the Lakeside c2c…
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DP (Dubai Ports) World began to construct a huge shipping container port over the site of the Shell Haven oil refinery in around roughly 2010, first opening in November 2013 although with most of the site remaining under continual construction. When the refinery land was first remedied for construction of the port, works involved covering…
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