Place:


Southend on Sea  Essex

 

In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Southend on Sea like this:

SOUTHEND, a small town and a chapelry in Prittle-well parish, Essex. The town stands on the Thames estuary, at the terminus of the London, Tilbury, and Southend railway, 3½ miles WNW of Shoeburyness and 3½ S by E of Rochford; dates from a period not earlier than 1800; attracted notice, as a suitable watering-place, from a visit of Queen Caroline and Princess Charlotte in 1804; consists of good streets, with many commodious residences; includes Cliff-Town, which has been separately noticed; carries on a considerable coasting trade; communicates much with London, both by railway and by steamers; communicates also, by steamers, with Gravesend, Rochester, and Sheerness; and has a head post-office,‡ a r. ...


station with telegraph, excellent hotels, good sea-bathing appliances, assembly-rooms, baths, a literary institution and library, a pier 1¼ mile long, a church, an Independent chapel of 1865, a Wesleyan chapel, and a national school. The pier has a railway on it, for passengers to and from the steamers; was constructed at a cost of about £42,000; and was sold to the Eastern Counties railway company for £17,000.—The chapelry was constituted in 1842. Pop. in 1861, 1,716. Houses, 293. The living is a p. curacy in the diocese of Rochester. Value, £50. Patrons, Three Trustees.

Southend on Sea through time

Click here for graphs and data of how Southend on Sea has changed over two centuries. For statistics for historical units named after Southend on Sea go to Units and Statistics.

How to reference this page:

GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Southend on Sea in Essex | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.

URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/718

Date accessed: 28th March 2024


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