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Thorpe Bay
Thorpe Bay maps
Historic maps of Thorpe Bay and the local area, hand-drawn by Ordnance Survey and Samuel Lewis. View all Thorpe Bay maps
Thorpe Bay area books
Displaying 1 of 18 books about Thorpe Bay and the local area. View all books for this area
You can read extracts and browse photos from these books.
Memories of Thorpe Bay
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memories of Thorpe Bay.
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Wells Family in Thorpe Bay
A cousin found an old Birthday Book in which the names of some people from Thorpe Bay feature. We wonder if these were family members:
Eileen Wells, 11 Plas Newydd, Thorpe Bay, Essex, Birthday February 28.
Mrs. Day, 10 Plas Newydd. May 14.
Miss A Wells, 11 Plas Newydd, October 14.
Alice Wells, 11 Plas Newydd, October 28.
We are hoping that they are connected to the Hesk family, and would be happy to hear from anyone who may know of them.
Thank you, Ivy Trott in South Africa.
Essex memories
Jellicoe Square
Shoebury Hall Farm was owned by Capt H R Townsend RN and his wife Margaret I think. There was also a daughter Pamela. They were like the country squire and his family. Their house was between the church and the camp site. I recall going inside the house once with Dad. He was one of the oldest campers on the site after all. Captain Townsend could often be seen riding round the camp on his bike making sure that all was well and the campers were not getting up to any mischief. The Townsends were treated with great reverance and they reciprocated.
I remember one occasion on a hot summers day Dad and Uncle Steve were larking about. They were chasing each other about dressed in womens coats and scarves on their heads chucking buckets of water over each other. Capt Townsend nearly received the contents of one bucket when he came cycling round the corner of one caravan.
This I am certain was Jellicoe Square looking north. I... Read more
West Beach 1948 - 1966
This beach was the one we used to make our way to on a regular basis when we were staying at Shoebury Hall Farm campsite. We used to take the boat trip out to the Mulberry Harbour. Cannot for the life of me remember the name of the boat now. Seem to recall there were two operating at the same time.
The Pub
When Mum & Dad went to the pub, which was not very often, I would stand outside with a bag of crisps and a lemonade and patiently wait. They were never in there long anyway. I think there was a family bar there as well which sometimes we would use. Opposite the pub was Dolls cafe where we would usually go and have dinner when we arrived at Shoebury and also on Sundays if we were there for the week. It was owned by husband and wife Frank and Doll. I remember once I did not eat all my dinner and Frank chased me all over the bit of green opposite with the leftovers in a paper bag. Always a warm welcome though.
Uncle Toms Cabin
Behind these beach huts was, and as far as I know still is, Uncle Tom's Cabin. Here you could get cups of tea and so on. The original was constructed mainly of wood, an old brown colour. It was replaced I think in the 60's by the glass and brick one that was still there on my last visit a few years ago. How it got its name I know not.
Me and my mate Johny Horne often walked along this prom especially in the early to mid sixties looking for girls. That shelter could tell some stories.
The Boating Pool
The boating pool at Shoebury Common was a must visit every weekend I was there. In later years they had canoes and we used to sit up on the top of the canoe at the back and not in the cockpit. Never fell in though. Would not be allowed nowadays in this health and safety culture. Just at the back of the pool was the putting green. You can see the hut where you used to pay and get your clubs and balls from on the right hand side of the photo. Think it had 9 holes but we neve got round without racking up a huge score. I think this area has now been landscaped.
Ring Road
This looks like the road that ran round the camp. The building to the left was the toilet block on the east side of the camp.
