Lt. Col. Horace Percy Fielder could be considered the man to whom established Canvey as a residential area. A few decades before, at the turn of the century, Frederick Hester established Canvey as a tourist plotland area (read more here). However, Fielder could be considered the first to put Canvey on the map as a day…
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Rayleigh Dutch Cottage at Crown Hill has a past as strange as it’s appearance. Whilst a sign above its door denotes ‘1621’, analysis suggests it was instead likely to have been built around 1740. It is aesthetically similar to the two dutch cottages on Canvey Island dating from the early 17th Century. Whilst the exact…
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Layer Marney Tower is a Grade I gigantic Tudor palace not too far from Colchester in North Essex. The main structure visible is actually an elaborate gatehouse and main range, and there is also a contemporary barn and church on the grounds. It is in fact the tallest Tudor gatehouse in Britain. Like other palaces…
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The original Leigh settlement was the riverside ‘old town’ which appeared in the Middle Ages. Its narrow cobbled pre-motorcar streets and confined below-mainland position mean the town has since sprung up north of Old Leigh; up on the hill. This means that Old Leigh is a town which isn’t dissimilar to how it might’ve appeared…
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Hadleigh Castle is a local gem. In 1215 King John gave this area of land, known as the manor of Hadleigh, along with many other gifts, to Hubert de Burgh. Hubert was a trusted follower of the king, and was the custodian of the two important castles at Windsor and Dover. Hubert built this large…
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This page is where we put all our photographs of interesting and historic houses and buildings on Canvey Island that are not known about in enough detail for an article just to themselves. We also look at other features of the island’s urban geography, such as roadways and drains. The images below are presented in…
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