Nostalgic memories of Thorpe Bay's local history
Share your own memories of Thorpe Bay and read what others have said
For many years now, we've been inviting visitors to our web site to add their own memories to share their experiences of life as it was when the photographs in our archive were taken. From brief one-liners explaining a little bit more about the image depicted, to great, in-depth accounts of a childhood when things were rather different than today (and everything inbetween!). We've had many contributors recognising themselves or loved ones in our photographs.
Why not add your memory today and become part of our Memories Community to help others in the future delve back into their past.
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Displaying Memories 1 - 10 of 11 in total
The Houses with their "victorian" balconies are distinctive, and the Halfway House building can be identified in the middle of the picture. A lovely walk on a windless summers day - absolutely deserted during the winter bad weather save for a few hardy, masochistic souls.
During the summers, 1946 to 1953 I used to cycle along here heading ...see more
A great view of another of the old Tram Stations, which had become Bus Shelters, and places for sunseekers to enjoy the view out of any wind.
I see from Google Earth that the structure has been greatly modified, and has now in 2014 become a Beach Café.
No doubt at all about this location.
The Facility was renovated after the neglect of 5 years of war, but was never very popular. One had to pay to use the swimming pool, but the paddling pool adjacent on the Elizabeth Rd. side was free.
The dark line across the shore, with the dried-out boats beyond it - is the concrete protection to the Lifstan Way drainage ...see more
In 2014, across the road there are tennis courts, and from Google Earth it looks like a thriving Sports Centre.
If there were tennis courts on that site in 1963, hardly anyone was using them then, - my memory remains of an "under-used area" originally intended for the luxury houses along Thorpe bay Gardens, behind to the North. Tennis tournaments hadn't ...see more
In 2014, across the road there are tennis courts, and from Google Earth it looks like a thriving Sports Centre.
If there were tennis courts on that site in 1963, hardly anyone was using them then, - my memory remains of an "under-used area" originally intended for the luxury houses along Thorpe bay Gardens, behind to the North. Tennis tournaments hadn't ...see more
Location clue - the glazed, cream-painted passenger shelter atop the sea wall, originally built as the Terminus Station for the Esplanade Trams, then taken over by the trolley Buses and bus services later, when the tramlines were lifted around 1938, and the Corporation extended it's public transport services all the way to Shoeburyness.
Location clue - the passenger shelter originally built as the Terminus Station for the Esplanade Trams, then taken over by the trolley Buses and bus services later, when the tramlines were lifted around 1938, and the Corporation extended it's public transport services all the way to Shoeburyness.
The sign to the Car Park is the main location clue, - along with the blocky concrete structure alongside the Shelter, the sloping timber launching ramp for boats, and the beginning of the drainage-outfall's concrete protection just visible in the sand. I used to swim from here quite a lot in the late 1940's, early 1950's, as did a lot of other just pre-teen schoolchildren. There was a convenient Bus ...see more
From the location of the semi-circular bastion which is situated halfway between the Lynton Rd. and Burges Terrace junctions with the Esplanade, - and the width of the beach, - even at this small scale I'd say this was taken looking Westwards, from a spot somewhere close to the Junction of Thorpe Hall Avenue with the Esplanade.
This picture shows the beach and the Eastern Esplanade at the Thorpe Hall Boulevard Junction. The elaborate shelter was built as the Thorpe Bay Terminus Waiting Room for the Southend Corporation Tramways before the Esplanade Line was linked with the Bournes Green Southchurch Rd. Line by a double track running between the two points, along what is now the green-way centre of the Boulevard past the Thorpe Bay Golf Club.
When ...see more