Wickford WW1 Plane Crash Memorials
Tucked away in an isolated field bordered by the A130 and a railway in Shotgate, near Wickford, Essex, lies two memorials constructed in 1920 to …
Canvey’s Last Civil Defence Siren
Canvey Island’s civil defence sirens – used to warn residents of air raids in WWII, potential nuclear bombs in the Cold War, and flood emergencies …
Little Gypps Furtherwick HAA Battery
Tucked away in the Little Gypps area of Canvey Island is a park known as the Gunny/Gunney, and here there was once a WW2 Heavy …
Stow Maries Aerodrome
Stow Maries is a village and civil parish in west Essex. In September 1916, during the first World War, an airfield was established at Stow …
HMP Bullwood Hall
H.M.P. Bullwood Hall was a former women’s prison in Hockley, built in the 1960’s initially as a women’s borstal. The site was opened to house …
Canvey’s Last & Lost Pillboxes
In the early Second World War – being 1939 or 1940, a total of nine pillboxes, along with other defences and bunkers, were built across …
Thorney Bay Coastal Defence Batteries
Canvey Island was a fairly quiet area in the 1930s, so when it became heavily militarised to defend against air, land, and sea on the …
Shoebury Searchlights & Pillbox
East along from Shoebury’s Gunners Park where the old ranges were, along the seawall by the Garrison, lies several WWII coastal defences built to protect …
Shoebury Old Ranges – Gunners Park
The ranges at Shoeburyness have a long ever-changing history, from the 1840s until present day. The ‘old ranges’, now Gunners’ Park near the Garrison, were …
Shoebury Powder Magazines & Viking Camp
At the eastern end of Gunners Park; the site of the old Shoebury ranges, lie the area’s two oldest ancient and modern military installations. These …
Kynoch Explosives Factory, Coryton
We visited these structural remains in 2018 and 2020 . The first visit consisted of an initial exploration with photography to identify if these remains …
New Empire Theatre, Southend
The New Empire theatre had what might initially appear to be an Art Deco-style frontage. However, it was in fact built in a vaguely Neo-Classical …
B-17 Crash at Canvey Point
The Canvey Archive has a large collection of memoirs, photographs, and by CloudScout” href=”https://beyondthepoint.co.uk/historic-locations/canvey-island/the-second-world-war/b17-crash-site/#48142577″> shared is here: http://canveyisland.org/documents/DHB_v2_Med_Res.pdf On the 19th of June 1944 a formation …
Rawreth HAA Battery & POW Camp
Driving through Rawreth Industrial Estate you wouldn’t have a clue that you were driving past some old Prisoner of War buildings; but they were once …
Billericay Spigot Mortar Emplacement
Defending Billericay’s railway line and bridge lies an abandoned spigot mortar emplacement – a crude form of defence designed for use by the Home Guard …
Hester’s Tourist Resort on Canvey
Two busts that stood in ‘Poets Corner’ of the Winter Gardens, today in the Canvey Heritage Centre. Photographs of Frederick Hester, and his monrail before …
Hadleigh Salvation Army Colony
In 1891, the Salvation Army established a Home Farm Colony in Hadleigh where the Hadleigh Downs Country Park lies today. The Salvation Army Jetty was …
RAF Rochford Pillboxes
Back in Easter 2014, the two BTP boys, and occasional accomplice Jack, set off to investigate pillboxes once defending Rochford airfield – now Southend airport. …
Chalkwell Crowstone & Hard Paths
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 …
Tilbury-Gravesend Ferry & Old Terminal
On a sunny, yet brisk, weekend the BTP boys decided to head to Tilbury to catch the ferry over to Gravesend with guests Michael Clark and …
Explosives Industry at Wat Tyler Park
Beyond the Point has visited Wat Tyler country park on numerous occasions over the years, and the photographs below range from 2011, when much of …
Southend in WW1 & The Palace Hotel
Shortly before BTP Liam wrote this article, he began reading the book ‘Southend at War’ by the excellent local author Dee Gordon. Beyond the Point’s …
St. Michael’s Church, Pitsea
Overlooking the surrounding marshes, St Michael’s Church has been stood on Pitsea Mount for centuries having been build around the 16th century, with extensive rebuilding …
Canewdon Church of St. Nicholas & Superstition
For Halloween this year, we thought we would investigate the vast and endless folklore of one of the most isolated and eerie places in Essex. …