A few metres out into the river at Chalkwell Beach lies a peculiar obelisk stranded in the water. From the shore, it looks like a mysterious ruin of an ancient civilisation, although it is in fact the ‘Crowstone’ installed in 1836/7. It replaced a smaller stone post that was set in place in 1755. The…
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Map showing rough path of the discernible Prittle Brook & sections explored The Prittle Brook is a tributary of the River Roach spanning down through Prittlewell which takes its name after it, through Southend, Westcliff, Chalkwell, Belfairs Wood and Hadleigh Great Wood, before becoming difficult to source somewhere in Thundersley and Benfleet. The map above…
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Our 2015 Halloween documentary brings the horror of everyday life in the 17th Century up to present when the boys travel down to Leigh, Essex to take a look at the site of ‘the Doom Pond’. Supposedly used to drown innocent individuals accused of witchcraft, there is no need to make-believe this Halloween when history…
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Located on a vantage point ontop of Leigh Hill, and adjacent to an old wide path for travelling up and down the hill, St. Celement’s Church stands proud on the horizon and can be seen for miles around. The tower is 80ft high and the current church was built around 1500 with Victorian and Edwardian…
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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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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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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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A pillbox can be found, which is located on the very eastern most point of Two Tree Island (just before the marshland), facing out at the invader coming down the Thames. It was in poor condition, suffering a gaping hole in it’s roof, and the concrete around it flaking away with the lightest touch. Despite…
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Behind Fairleigh Court in Leigh on Sea remains an impressive set of six Anderson shelters. Anderson shelters were issued free to all householders earning £5 a week, and cost £7 for those earning more. They were issued from February 1939 prior to British declaration of war, and throughout the Second World War. When the war…
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The HMS Wilton was a Royal Navy minesweeper and minehunter ship built in 1970. It was the first ever warship constructed from fibreglass which gave the vessel a very low magnetic signature against magnetic mines. It was armed with a single Bofors gun. In 1974 the ship took part in Operation Rheostat, to clear the…
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