The steps in Summer 1961 by Harry Emery, and Winter 2010 by Eileen Gamble: Steeped in ghastly rumour, these concrete steps could have been built anytime from the early to the mid 20th Century, and are believe to have gained their name from several local folklore tales – the first is that the steps were devilish…
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The coastline surrounding Southend from Chalkwell to Thorpe Bay has been a tourist hotspot for people; often urban residents from London, to enjoy the sea air. Sun shelters of varying styles can be found all along the shore and clifftops, some as old as the early Victorian era. We managed to find one abandoned off…
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One of London’s newest museums offers you the chance to take a ride under the bustling streets of the capital. You wouldn’t know it, but under your feet Royal Mail were transporting some 4 million letters across city for up to 22 hours a day. The service dates back to the 1920’s when the tunnels…
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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 Brentwood police station perimeter lies derelict on a plot of land quarantined by a construction fence. The structure is slowly falling into disrepair whilst it awaits development in the near future. We decided to try and work our way into the complex to discover what was inside before it goes. It was built in…
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Hans Egede Shipwreck – Spherical Image – RICOH THETA What would be a seemingly insignificant shipwreck actually actually has a fascinating history. Dutch-built ship ‘Hans Egede’ currently lies half destroyed and rotting along the Kent coast. There’s no hope of it ever being used again; only left for nature to continue eroding it. But how…
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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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Scattered along the Kent coastline lie a few giant concrete bowls. Whilst they look like an old satellite dish or part of another structure, they’re actually sound mirrors. The First World War saw the threat of an airborne attack become reality for the first time, leading scientists to try and create something to alert us…
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Canvey’s list of historic pubs have declined over the years, most have been converted into retail space (Silver Jubilee and the King Canute) however the Jellicoe hasn’t been fortunate enough to survive. The pub, and once a hotel, is thought to date back to the late 1920’s or early 1930’s and even survived the floods of…
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During the 1920s a London publican, Edwin Cash, decided to run a ‘get rich quick’ scheme in which he sunk five wells to the rear of Hovells Farm, near what was Vange Hall Estate. Despite the well’s name, it was actually situated nearer to Laindon than Vange, actually within the parish of Fobbing. The ironically…
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