Clacton On Sea, St Paul's Church 1891

Photo ref: 28235

More about this scene

For a number of years the five acre site stood in splendid isolation with magnificent views of the sea across open fields which had formerly been Clacton's first golf course and was later to become the Gardens area. The home had cost £30,000 to build and was designed to accommodate 26 men, 17 women and 12 children. An annexe for consumptive patients was subsequently added. The home's most notable role however was to accommodate wounded soldiers throughout the First World War. Shortly after the Second World War the home was transferred to the Kensington and Chelsea Health Authority and it was closed by them in 1977. It was subsequently taken over by the North East Essex Health Authority and was used to accommodate up to 70 mentally handicapped patients and as a small day care unit. It was finally closed in 1985 and the site was acquired by Wimpey Homes. The building still stands and is given over to private dwellings. Eventually Page's Estate, Bruff's Estate, together with other estates around Clacton such as Round's Estate and Burrsville, linked up with the ancient villages of Great Clacton and Magdalen Green as well as the outlying areas of Jaywick and Little Holland, to form what we know today as Clacton-on-Sea. Maybe its glory days of the 1920s and 1930s are gone, but with its several miles of golden sand, its gardens and its entertainments and amusements Clacton-on-Sea still has much to offer to the holidaymaker and resident alike.

An extract from Clacton-on-Sea Town and City Memories.