Clacton-on-Sea is a
seaside town
A seaside resort is a town, village, or hotel that serves as a vacation resort and is located on a coast. Sometimes the concept includes an aspect of official accreditation based on the satisfaction of certain requirements, such as in the German ' ...
in the
Tendring District
Tendring District is a local government district in north-east Essex, England. It extends from the River Stour in the north, to the coast and the River Colne in the south, with the coast to the east and the city of Colchester to the west. Its ...
in the county of
Essex
Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. It is located on the Tendring Peninsula and is the largest settlement in the Tendring District with a population of 56,874 (2016). The town is situated around 76.9 miles north-east of
Central London
Central London is the innermost part of London, in England, spanning several boroughs. Over time, a number of definitions have been used to define the scope of Central London for statistics, urban planning and local government. Its characteris ...
, 40 miles from
Chelmsford
Chelmsford () is a city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Southend-on-Sea and Colchester. It is located north-east of London a ...
, 57.9 miles from
Southend-on-Sea
Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authority area with borough status in southeastern Essex, England. It lies on the north side of the Thames Estuary, east of central London. It is bordered ...
, 15.8 miles south-east of
Colchester Town and 16.3 miles south of
Harwich
Harwich is a town in Essex, England, and one of the Haven ports on the North Sea coast. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the north-east, Ipswich to the north-west, Colchester to the south-west and Clacton-on- ...
. The town is a
seaside resort
A seaside resort is a resort town, town, village, or hotel that serves as a Resort, vacation resort and is located on a coast. Sometimes the concept includes an aspect of official accreditation based on the satisfaction of certain requirements, suc ...
, located on the east coast of England.
The town's economy continues to rely significantly on entertainment and day-trip facilities; it is strong in the service sector, with a large retired population. The north-west part of the town has two business/industrial parks. In the wider district, agriculture and occupations connected to the
Port of Harwich provide further employment. It lies within the United Kingdom Parliament
constituency
An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger State (polity), state (a country, administrative region, ...
of
Clacton.
Geography
Clacton is located between
Jaywick
Jaywick is a coastal village in the Tendring district of Essex, England, west of Clacton-on-Sea. It lies on the North Sea coast of England, from London and from Colchester. It was constructed in the 1930s as a holiday resort for Londoners, ...
and
Holland-on-Sea
Holland-on-Sea is a seaside town in east Essex in England. Located south of the little village of Great Holland and directly north of Clacton-on-Sea, it has bus links to Walton-on-the-Naze and Clacton-on-Sea. It is a short coastal walk down the ...
along the coastline and
Great Clacton
Great Clacton is a residential suburb of Clacton-on-Sea in the Tendring district of Essex, England. It is situated south east of the village of Little Clacton. The A133 road to Colchester from Clacton-on-Sea is directly west of this settlement. T ...
to the north. The relevant local authority is
Tendring District Council
Tendring is a village and civil parish in Essex. It gives its name to the Tendring District and before that the Tendring Hundred. Its name was given to the larger groupings because it was at the centre, not because it was larger than the other ...
.
It is at the south-eastern end of the
A133. The resort of
Frinton-on-Sea is nearby to the north-east.
Amenities
![Town centre fountain, Clacton](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a4/Town_centre_fountain%2C_Clacton.JPG)
Clacton has a pleasure pier, arcades, a golf course, caravan parks and an airfield. The town and its beaches are still popular with tourists in the summer and there is an annual entertainment programme including the Clacton Carnival, which starts on the second Saturday in August and lasts for a week. Clacton Airshow, an aerial display, takes place on the Thursday and Friday before the August Bank Holiday, with historic and modern aircraft such as the
Lancaster,
Spitfire
The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Griff ...
,
Hurricane
A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...
,
Harrier,
Jaguar
The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large cat species and the only living member of the genus '' Panthera'' native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the largest cat species in the Americas and the th ...
,
Tornado
A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...
, and
helicopters
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...
. There are also
wing-walkers and the
Red Arrows
The Red Arrows, officially known as the Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team, is the aerobatics display team of the Royal Air Force based at RAF Waddington. The team was formed in late 1964 as an all-RAF team, replacing a number of unofficial teams ...
.
Clacton has a shopping area with many of the usual national chains represented, and a Factory Shopping Village in the north of the town.
Clacton has two theatres, the
West Cliff Theatre
The West Cliff Theatre in Clacton-on-Sea, England, dates back to 1894 when Bert Graham, a 21-year-old civil servant, set up a concert party on a patch of waste ground in Agate Road. In 1899, along with Bernard Russell and Will Bentley, Graham mo ...
and the Princes Theatre. The West Cliff is one of the last theatres in the country to put on an old-style summer show.
History
![Clacton Spear 02](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5a/Clacton_Spear_02.jpg)
Clacton was a site of the lower
Palaeolithic
The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic (), also called the Old Stone Age (from Greek: παλαιός ''palaios'', "old" and λίθος ''lithos'', "stone"), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone too ...
Clactonian
The Clactonian is the name given by archaeologists to an industry of European flint tool manufacture that dates to the early part of the interglacial period known as the Hoxnian, the Mindel-Riss or the Holstein stages (c. 400,000 years ago). Clac ...
industry
Industry may refer to:
Economics
* Industry (economics), a generally categorized branch of economic activity
* Industry (manufacturing), a specific branch of economic activity, typically in factories with machinery
* The wider industrial sector ...
of flint tool manufacture.
The "
Clacton Spear
The Clacton Spear, or Clacton Spear Point, is the tip of a wooden spear discovered in Clacton-on-Sea in 1911. It is 400,000 years old and the oldest known worked wooden implement.Allington-Jones, L., (2015) ''Archaeological Journal'', 172 (2) 273 ...
", a wooden (
yew) spear found at Clacton in 1911 and dated at 450,000 years ago, is the oldest such spear to have been found in Britain.
There is plentiful archaeological evidence of scattered settlement in the area, including
Beaker Folk traces at Point Clear to the south and round houses (as cropmarks) near the A133 extension from Weeley to the north. There may have been a pre-Roman (i.e. Celtic) settlement at Gt. Clacton and there were almost certainly scattered farmsteads as the important British Celtic settlement at Colchester was only about away. No traces of substantial Roman settlement have been found at Clacton though there are several Roman villa sites nearby (e.g. Alresford, Wivenhoe, Brightlingsea). After the Anglo-Saxon migration and the foundation of the kingdom of Essex, a village called ''Claccingtun'' ("the village of Clacc's or Clacca's people") was established. No pre-Norman buildings survive today. The
Domesday Book
Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...
of 1086 records the village as ''Clachintuna''.
Clacton was repeatedly surveyed by the Army in the Napoleonic Wars as a possible invasion beach-head for Napoleon and his Dutch allies. There was a large army and militia camp where Holland-on-Sea now stands. In 1810 five
Martello Towers
Martello towers, sometimes known simply as Martellos, are small defensive forts that were built across the British Empire during the 19th century, from the time of the French Revolutionary Wars onwards. Most were coastal forts.
They stand up ...
were built to guard the beaches between Colne Point to the south and what is now Holland-on-Sea to the north of the town.
In 1871 the Essex railway engineer and land developer
Peter Bruff
Peter Schuyler Bruff (23 July 1812 – 24 February 1900) was an English civil engineer'Obituary. Peter Schuyler Bruff, 1812-1900', ''Minutes of the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers'', Volume 141 Part 3, 1900, (January 1900)pp. ...
, the steamboat owner William Jackson, and a group of businessmen built a pier and the Royal Hotel (now converted to flats) on a stretch of farmland adjoining low gravelly cliffs and a firm sand-and-shingle beach near the villages of Great and Little Clacton. The town of Clacton-on-Sea was officially incorporated in 1872 and laid out rather haphazardly over the next few years: though it has a central 'grand' avenue (originally Electric Parade, now Pier Avenue) the street plan incorporates many previously rural lanes and tracks, such as Wash Lane. Plots and streets were sold off piecemeal to developers and speculators. In 1882 the
Great Eastern Railway
The Great Eastern Railway (GER) was a pre-grouping British railway company, whose main line linked London Liverpool Street to Norwich and which had other lines through East Anglia. The company was grouped into the London and North Eastern R ...
already serving the well-established resort of
Walton-on-the-Naze
Walton-on-the-Naze is a seaside town on the North Sea coast and (as Walton le Soken) a former civil parish, now in the parish of Frinton and Walton, in the Tendring district in Essex, England. It is north of Clacton and south of the port of Ha ...
along the coast, built a spur to Clacton-on-Sea with a junction at Thorpe-le-Soken.
Clacton grew into the largest seaside resort between
Southend-on-Sea
Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authority area with borough status in southeastern Essex, England. It lies on the north side of the Thames Estuary, east of central London. It is bordered ...
and
Great Yarmouth
Great Yarmouth (), often called Yarmouth, is a seaside town and unparished area in, and the main administrative centre of, the Borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England; it straddles the River Yare and is located east of Norwich. A pop ...
, with some 10,000 residents by 1914 and approx. 20,000 by 1939. Due to its accessibility from the East End of London and the Essex suburbs, Clacton, like Southend, remained preferentially geared to catering for working-class and lower-middle-class holidaymakers – though it had, and has, its more 'select' areas.
For well over a century Clacton Pier has been an
RNLI
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) is the largest charity that saves lives at sea around the coasts of the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man, as well as on some inland waterways. It i ...
lifeboat station.
Just before the Second World War the building of
Butlin's
Butlin's is a chain of large Seaside resort, seaside resorts in the United Kingdom. Butlin's was founded by Billy Butlin to provide affordable holidays for ordinary British families.
Between 1936 and 1966, ten camps were built, including one ...
Holiday Camp boosted its economy, though the Army took it over between then and 1945 for use as an internment, engineer, pioneer and light anti-aircraft artillery training camp.
Four notable incidents occurred in Clacton-on-Sea during World War II. First, very early in the war a German airman bailed out over the town. Procedures for dealing with enemy captives were not yet well-established and he was treated as a celebrity guest for some days, including by the town council, before eventually being handed over to the military . Second, a
Luftwaffe
The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...
Heinkel
Heinkel Flugzeugwerke () was a German aircraft manufacturing company founded by and named after Ernst Heinkel. It is noted for producing bomber aircraft for the Luftwaffe in World War II and for important contributions to high-speed flight, with ...
111 bomber crashed into the town on 30 April 1940, demolishing several houses in the Vista Road area as one of the magnetic mines on board exploded on impact, killing the crew and two civilians; another mine was defused by experts from the Navy. Third, the Wagstaff Corner area was bombed in May 1941, demolishing some well-known buildings. Finally, a
V2 rocket hit in front of the Tower Hotel, injuring dozens of troops inside though without bringing down the structure. Clacton lay beneath the route taken by many of the
V1 and V2 bombs aimed at London.
A big role in the town during the pre- and post-war period was played by the Kingsman family, which bought and developed the pier and ran a pleasure-steamer service from London. A summer sea excursion to
Calais
Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's prefecture is its third-largest city of Arras. Th ...
also ran until the early 1960s. Butlin's reopened the holiday camp after the war. This, along with the expansion of the nearby chalet town of Jaywick, originally a speculative private development of inter-war years, and increasingly capacious caravan sites, all swelled by the movement of retired Londoners into the area, altered the character of the town.
In 1964 the town was in the national news when rival gangs of Mods and Rockers fought on the sea front and several arrests were made. (In mid-60s youth culture, 'Mods' favoured scooters and wore parkas, while 'rockers' rode motorcycles and wore leather and denim. The incident became known locally as 'The Battle of Pier Gap' following a headline in the local paper, the East Essex Gazette). Throughout the 1960s Clacton beach remained a popular summer excursion for residents of Essex and east London and in August was often crammed to capacity in the area around the Pier. The
pirate radio
Pirate radio or a pirate radio station is a radio station that broadcasts without a valid license.
In some cases, radio stations are considered legal where the signal is transmitted, but illegal where the signals are received—especially w ...
ship
MV Galaxy, which broadcast
Wonderful Radio London
Radio London, also known as Big L and Wonderful Radio London, was a top 40 (in London's case, the " Fab 40") offshore commercial station that operated from 23 December 1964 to 14 August 1967, from a ship anchored in the North Sea, off Frint ...
, was anchored offshore from 1964 until its forced closure in 1967.
With the advent of cheap flights to Mediterranean resorts in the 1970s, the holiday industry began to decline. Increasingly, hotels' and guest-houses' spare capacity came to be used as 'temporary' accommodation by the local authority to house those on welfare, refugees, migrants and asylum seekers. Pier Ward, in the centre of the town, is one of the poorest in the UK; (nearby Jaywick is often cited as the poorest of all). Since around 1970 several well-known local buildings have been demolished, including the palatial
art deco
Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...
Odeon Cinema
Odeon, stylised as ODEON, is a cinema brand name operating in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Norway, which along with UCI Cinemas and Nordic Cinema Group is part of the Odeon Cinemas Group subsidiary of AMC Theatres. It uses the famous name ...
(a great loss to both the town and the county); the Warwick Castle Pub; the Waverley Hotel; Barker House, a large home for the learning disabled, and Groom's Crippleage, which housed orphaned handicapped girls from London. Cordy's, a well-known large seafront restaurant has recently been demolished. The site of Butlin's Holiday Camp was redeveloped as a housing estate. The once famously crowded bus station in Jackson Road has become a car park. The Ocean Revue Theatre, where
Max Bygraves
Walter William Bygraves (16 October 1922 – 31 August 2012), best known by the stage name Max Bygraves (adopted in honour of Max Miller), was an English comedian, singer, actor and variety performer. He appeared on his own television shows, s ...
made one of his first appearances, has closed.
The town expanded substantially in the 1980s, 1990s and first decade of the 21st century, with new housing estates on the rural margins of town, and some brownfield developments. Many residents commute to work in
Colchester
Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian.
Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colches ...
,
Witham
Witham () is a town in the county of Essex in the East of England, with a population ( 2011 census) of 25,353. It is part of the District of Braintree and is twinned with the town of Waldbröl, Germany. Witham stands between the city of Che ...
,
Chelmsford
Chelmsford () is a city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Southend-on-Sea and Colchester. It is located north-east of London a ...
or
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
. Clacton was in the news when its town centre and seafront areas were struck by
an F1/T2 tornado on 23 November 1981, as part of the record-breaking nationwide tornado outbreak on that day. A large wind-farm, built in the early 2000s some 3 miles offshore on
Gunfleet Sands, is visible from many streets and from various places in the flat hinterland of the town. However, in common with many seaside towns, unemployment has remained stubbornly high in Clacton itself compared with much of southeast England.
Seaside resort
![Garden of Remembrance, Clacton-on Sea2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3c/Garden_of_Remembrance%2C_Clacton-on_Sea2.jpg)
The modern day Clacton-on-Sea was founded by
Peter Bruff
Peter Schuyler Bruff (23 July 1812 – 24 February 1900) was an English civil engineer'Obituary. Peter Schuyler Bruff, 1812-1900', ''Minutes of the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers'', Volume 141 Part 3, 1900, (January 1900)pp. ...
in 1871 as a seaside resort. Originally the main means of access was by sea;
Steamships
A steamship, often referred to as a steamer, is a type of steam-powered vessel, typically ocean-faring and seaworthy, that is propelled by one or more steam engines that typically move (turn) propellers or paddlewheels. The first steamships ...
operated by the
Woolwich Steam Packet Company docked from 1871 at
Clacton Pier which opened the same year. The pier now offers an amusement arcade and many other forms of entertainment.
People who wanted to come by road had to go through Great Clacton. In the 1920s, London Road was built to cope with the influx of holidaymakers. Later, in the 1970s, the eastern section of the A120 was opened obviating the need for Clacton visitors to go through Colchester. Today
Paddle Steamer ''Waverley'' operates from Clacton Pier offering pleasure boat excursions.
Clacton has a
Blue Flag beach
The Blue Flag is a certification by the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) that a beach, marina, or sustainable boating tourism operator meets its standards.
The Blue Flag is a trademark owned by FEE, which is a not-for-profit non-gov ...
at Martello Bay (two more are locally at
Dovercourt
Dovercourt is a small seaside town and former civil parish, now in the parish of Harwich, in the Tendring district, in the county of Essex, England. It is older than its smaller but better-known neighbour, the port of Harwich, and appears in th ...
Bay &
Brightlingsea
Brightlingsea is a coastal town and an electoral ward in the Tendring district of Essex, England. It is situated between Colchester and Clacton-on-Sea, at the mouth of the River Colne, on Brightlingsea Creek. At the 2011 Census, it had a popu ...
). Clacton Seafront Gardens which run along the top of the seafront west of Clacton Pier has also been awarded a Green Flag and includes various sections with formal gardens, memorials and places to sit.
Former Butlins
In 1936,
Billy Butlin
Sir William Heygate Edmund Colborne Butlin (29 September 189912 June 1980) was a South African-born British entrepreneur whose name is synonymous with the British holiday camp.''#refRiverside, American Heritage Dictionary 2004'', p. 135.#refSc ...
bought and refurbished the West Clacton Estate, an amusement park to the west of the town. He opened a new amusement park on the site in 1937 and then, a year later on 11 June 1938, opened the second of his holiday camps. This location remained open until 1983 when, due to changing holiday tastes, Butlins decided to close the facility. It was then purchased by former managers of the camp who reopened it as a short-lived theme park, called Atlas Park. The land was then sold and redeveloped with housing.
[ (Registration required.)]
Sport
Clacton has a cricket club and a football team called
F.C. Clacton
F.C. Clacton is a football club based in Clacton-on-Sea, Essex, England. The club are currently members of the and play at the Rush Green Bowl.
History
The original Clacton Town were established on 27 October 1892 and joined the North Essex L ...
, whose best
F.A. Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competiti ...
performance was the 1st round. The football team play at the Austin Arena with the bus shelter being the stand for the passionate supporters. The name was derived after someone said it looked like a bus shelter. The club then took bus timetables and stuck them on it, to resemble a bus shelter.
The Cricket Club has many grounds around Clacton with one in Holland-on-sea and another where
Essex County Cricket Club
Essex County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Essex. Founded in 1876, the club had minor county status until 1894 when ...
used to play. Clacton also have a rugby club with teams ranging from under 12s to a first and second team. The first and second teams play in Essex League 1 and train on a Tuesday night at 7 which is held at the rugby club in Valley Road.
Industry
Prior to the foundation of Clacton-on-Sea the chief occupations in the area were farming and small-scale fishing. A steam-powered mill was built in 1867 to replace the local windmill, which was eventually demolished in 1918. Today the town's main industrial area is in the northeast of the town (Gorse Lane Industrial Estate and Oakwood Business Park) which contain a variety of businesses and light industrial units.
Clacton Urban District Council had provided the town with electricity since the early twentieth century from Clacton power station. Upon
nationalisation
Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...
of the electricity industry in 1948 ownership passed to the
British Electricity Authority
The British Electricity Authority (BEA) was established as the central British electricity authority in 1948 under the nationalisation of Great Britain's electricity supply industry enacted by the Electricity Act 1947. The BEA was responsible for ...
and later to the
Central Electricity Generating Board
The Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB) was responsible for electricity generation, transmission and bulk sales in England and Wales from 1958 until privatisation of the electricity industry in the 1990s.
It was established on 1 Januar ...
. Electricity connections to the
national grid rendered the small 2.15
megawatt
The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units, International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), ...
(MW) internal combustion engine power station redundant. It closed in 1966; in its final year of operation it delivered 796
MWh of electricity to the town.
In 2013
Tendring District Council
Tendring is a village and civil parish in Essex. It gives its name to the Tendring District and before that the Tendring Hundred. Its name was given to the larger groupings because it was at the centre, not because it was larger than the other ...
undertook significant work to develop
10-year Economic Strategyfor the district which includes Clacton on Sea. Now, half-way through this 10-year strategy, the approach has been refreshed to add a greater focus on the populations of Clacton and
Jaywick Sands between 2020 and 2024, noting a decline in economic performance of these locations. The strategy focuses specifically on local participation within communities and addressing long term prosperity and also proposes bold action in Clacton town centre, recognising that its future is unlikely to be led by retail.
Landmarks
Clacton has comparatively few buildings of architectural interest. In addition to the surviving large seafront hotels there are:
St John's Church, Gt Clacton
The parish church of St John, Gt. Clacton, is the oldest surviving building in the urban district, dating from the early decades of the 12th century, though considerably altered. A local legend that smugglers used a tunnel from the coast to the Ship Inn (16th century) opposite the church is discounted by historians. The pub is more than 1.5 km from the sea. The nearby Queens Head inn may be pre-1600.
St James's Church
A large (and actually unfinished) church of 1912-13 between Tower Road and Wash Lane, St James's is a rare southern building by
Temple Moore
Temple Lushington Moore (7 June 1856 – 30 June 1920) was an English architect who practised in London. He is famed for a series of fine Gothic Revival churches built between about 1890 and 1917 and also restored many churches and designed ch ...
, an architect chiefly associated with the North of England. Somewhat grim on the outside (as
Pevsner Pevsner or Pevzner is a Jewish surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Aihud Pevsner (1925–2018), American physicist
* Antoine Pevsner (1886–1962), Russian sculptor, brother of Naum Gabo
* David Pevsner, American actor, singer, da ...
noted in ''The Buildings of Essex''), the interior is surprisingly light and spare, with different orders of arch on either side of the chancel giving an asymmetrical feel. The building is only a third of its intended size, and the original plans included a large tower at the West end. Ordered for Anglo-catholic worship, it is large, without pews and boasts an impressive reredos which finishes in a canopy at the East end.
Clacton Railway Station
The main station building dates from 1929. A typical neo-Georgian 'late Imperial'-style building, it is notable chiefly for the decorative use of moulded '
fasces
Fasces ( ; ; a ''plurale tantum'', from the Latin word ''fascis'', meaning "bundle"; it, fascio littorio) is a bound bundle of wooden rods, sometimes including an axe (occasionally two axes) with its blade emerging. The fasces is an Italian symbo ...
' on either side of the main entrance - a rare instance of
Fascist
Fascism is a far-right, Authoritarianism, authoritarian, ultranationalism, ultra-nationalist political Political ideology, ideology and Political movement, movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and pol ...
symbolism in British civic architecture.
Clacton Town Hall
Clacton Town Hall is a neo-Georgian building, with a tall portico of Composite columns flanked by two-story wings, in Station Road. It also houses the Princes Theatre. The architect was
Sir Alfred Brumwell Thomas.
Martello Towers
There are three of these between the Pier and Jaywick Sands to the south. They date from 1809 to 1812. The immensely thick brick walls look circular, but are in fact rounded triangles, designed to deflect cannon-fire. The tower nearest the Pier was, unusually, built within a moat. The name comes from similar fortifications in Mortella, Corsica.
Moot Hall
A real oddity: in Albany Gardens West, near the seafront to the north of the Pier, this house of the 1400s was moved from the village of
Hawstead, Suffolk
Hawstead is a small village and civil parish in the West Suffolk district of Suffolk in eastern England. It is located south of Bury St. Edmunds between the B1066 and A134 roads, in a fork formed by the River Lark and a small tributary.
Th ...
and reconstructed here in 1911 – though considerably modernised and altered – for a London builder named J H Gill.
St Helena Hospice
In Jackson Road, in the town centre. A curved wood and brick corner design of 2001-2 by the Purcell Miller Tritton architectural partnership.
Jaywick Sands
Originally (1920s and '30s) a huddle of self-builds and kit-houses in a bleak field dangerously close to mean sea level, and in places still little more than a shanty town, Jaywick nevertheless has its admirers as 'folk-architecture'. It was badly damaged by the
floods of 1953, when almost 50 residents died. The Martello Tower is used as an art space.
Clacton Pier
Clacton Pier was the first building of the new resort of Clacton-on-Sea. It officially opened on 27 July 1871 and was in length and wide. Originally built as a landing point for goods and passengers, as Clacton was becoming an increasingly popular destination for day trippers, in 1893 the pier was lengthened to , and entertainment facilities added.
Bought by Ernest Kingsman in 1922, it remained in the ownership of the Kingsman family until 1971.
In March 2009 the pier was purchased by the Clacton Pier Company, who installed a helter-skelter as a new focal point.
Gunfleet Sands Offshore Wind Farm
A 48 turbine wind farm has been constructed about off the Clacton coast.
Climate
Clacton has an
oceanic climate
An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ( ...
(
Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer
* Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan
* Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...
"Cfb") but with lower precipitation than most of the UK and Western Europe. This makes for pleasantly warm and relatively dry summers (which also enhances the towns popularity as a seaside town), but also fairly chilly winter days. For the 1961–1990 observation period, Clacton averaged 103.7 days with at least 1mm of rain, and just 24.3 air frosts a year- comparable to south west coastal locations.
Demography
Clacton's population increased substantially during the 20th century from 7,456 at the 1901 census to 25,000 in the 1960s, 45,065 in 1991 and reaching over 53,000 by 2001.
Population as 107,237 according to Dataloft Inform, Land Registry, 2011 Census
Education
St Osyth's Teacher Training College occupied several buildings in Clacton, mostly along Marine Parade East, until its amalgamation with the North East Essex Technical College in the late 1970s. The town is served by two secondary schools,
Clacton Coastal Academy
Clacton Coastal Academy is a coeducational high school serving the western part of Clacton-on-Sea. The school has a population of about 1377 students with a maximum limit of 1550 students. Formerly known as "Colbayns", the site was officially r ...
and
Clacton County High School. Adult Community Learning, run by Essex County Council, is situated in St Osyth Road.
Transport
![Clacton-on-Sea - Greater Anglia 321335 and 321443](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/50/Clacton-on-Sea_-_Greater_Anglia_321335_and_321443.jpg)
Clacton-on-Sea is located at the terminus of the
A133 road
The A133 road runs between Colchester and Clacton-on-Sea. One end is at Cymbeline Way in Lexden, from where the road runs through the Avenue of Remembrance, bypassing Colchester town centre. It also runs past Wivenhoe Park, through Elmstead ...
, which runs between Clacton and Colchester.
The town is served by
Clacton-on-Sea railway station
Clacton-on-Sea railway station is one of the two eastern termini of the Sunshine Coast Line, a branch of the Great Eastern Main Line, in the East of England, serving the town of Clacton-on-Sea, Essex. It is down the line from London Liverpool ...
, a terminus of the
Sunshine Coast Line which links the town with
Colchester
Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian.
Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colches ...
; the other terminus is at
Walton-on-the-Naze
Walton-on-the-Naze is a seaside town on the North Sea coast and (as Walton le Soken) a former civil parish, now in the parish of Frinton and Walton, in the Tendring district in Essex, England. It is north of Clacton and south of the port of Ha ...
, on a branch from
Thorpe-le-Soken
Thorpe-le-Soken is a village and civil parish in the Tendring district of Essex, England located east of Colchester, west of Walton-on-the-Naze, Frinton-on-Sea and north of Clacton-on-Sea.
History
Since 2002, archaeological investigations ahead ...
. Trains are operated by
Greater Anglia and generally run hourly to
London Liverpool Street
Liverpool Street station, also known as London Liverpool Street, is a central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in the north-eastern corner of the City of London, in the ward of Bishopsgate Without. It is the t ...
via Colchester and
Chelmsford
Chelmsford () is a city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Southend-on-Sea and Colchester. It is located north-east of London a ...
; the full journey takes about 90 minutes.
Local bus routes are operated by
Hedingham & Chambers
Hedingham & Chambers is a bus operator, part of the larger Go East Anglia unit within Go-Ahead, consisting of the Hedingham and Chambers brands. The group was formed when Go-Ahead purchased the two firms in June 2012. Since the sale, the two ...
; termini include
Colchester
Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian.
Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colches ...
,
Harwich
Harwich is a town in Essex, England, and one of the Haven ports on the North Sea coast. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the north-east, Ipswich to the north-west, Colchester to the south-west and Clacton-on- ...
,
Manningtree
Manningtree is a town and civil parish in the Tendring district of Essex, England, which lies on the River Stour. It is part of the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Natural Beauty.
Smallest town claim
Manningtree has traditionally claimed to b ...
and
Walton-on-the-Naze
Walton-on-the-Naze is a seaside town on the North Sea coast and (as Walton le Soken) a former civil parish, now in the parish of Frinton and Walton, in the Tendring district in Essex, England. It is north of Clacton and south of the port of Ha ...
.
First Essex
First Essex is a bus company operating services in the county of Essex. It is a subsidiary of FirstGroup.
History
First Essex arose from an amalgamation of Eastern National and Thamesway Buses. First Essex was originally part of the Eas ...
withdrew from serving Clacton in January 2020; Hedingham & Chambers are now the only operator serving the town from Colchester.
National Express
National Express Group is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Birmingham, England. It operates bus, coach, train and tram services in the United Kingdom, Ireland (National Express operates Eurolines in conjunction ...
operates long-distance coach services to/from
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
and
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
.
Clacton Airfield has been active since its use by the
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. It does not operate scheduled passenger flights. In the 1990s, the airfield was featured in the
BBC Television
BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 193 ...
series ''
Airport
An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...
''.
Conservation
Clacton's environmental qualities draw on several things: proximity to the sea, its evolution as the resort, its attraction as a retirement area, and its business and trade. The conservation and enhancement of Clacton's various environmental qualities depends on assessment, evaluation and management.
Both
Tendring District Council
Tendring is a village and civil parish in Essex. It gives its name to the Tendring District and before that the Tendring Hundred. Its name was given to the larger groupings because it was at the centre, not because it was larger than the other ...
and
Essex County Council
Essex County Council is the county council that governs the non-metropolitan county of Essex in England. It has 75 councillors, elected from 70 divisions, and is currently controlled by the Conservative Party. The council meets at County Hall ...
can advise on heritage and historic buildings. The district also advises on wildlife conservation, and on obtaining grants for managing countryside for public enjoyment and appreciation. The county has an archaeological service.
Notable people
![Interpol - Rock am Ring 2015-9006](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/Interpol_-_Rock_am_Ring_2015-9006.jpg)
The following were all born or have lived in Clacton-on-Sea:
*
George Wylie Hutchinson
George Wylie Hutchinson (1852–1942) was a painter and leading illustrator in Britain and was from Great Village, Nova Scotia, Canada. He illustrated the works of Arthur Conan Doyle, Rudyard Kipling, Hall Caine, Robert Louis Stevenson and Isra ...
(1852–1942), Canadian painter and leading illustrator, lived in Clacton in retirement
*
Arthur Townsend
Arthur Townsend was the mayor of Murray, Utah from 1930 to 1932. A native of Derbyshire England, he was born to William and Ruth Townsend. He came to America when he was 13 years old and later he fulfilled a two-year Mormon mission to England. He ...
(1883-1937), British long-distance runner, competed in the marathon at the
1912 Summer Olympics
The 1912 Summer Olympics ( sv, Olympiska sommarspelen 1912), officially known as the Games of the V Olympiad ( sv, Den V olympiadens spel) and commonly known as Stockholm 1912, were an international multi-sport event held in Stockholm, Sweden, be ...
* Flight Lieutenant
Edward Pennell
Flight Lieutenant Edward Robert Pennell (1894–1974) was a British World War I flying ace credited with five aerial victories. He returned to military service during World War II.
World War I
Pennell originally joined the Royal Navy in 1910, ...
DFC (1894–1974), British WWI flying ace and local politician
*
Joan Kiddell-Monroe (1908–1972), British author and illustrator of children's books
*
Pat Fletcher
Patrick Oswald Fletcher (June 18, 1916 – July 21, 1985)https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FL2Y-YVV was a Canadian professional golfer.
In 1954, at the Point Grey Golf Club in Vancouver, he became the first Canadian since 1914 to win the ...
(1916–1985) golfer, born in Clacton-on-Sea and emigrated to Canada
*
Jennifer Worth
Jennifer Louise Worth RN RM (; 25 September 1935 – 31 May 2011) was a British memoirist. She wrote a best-selling trilogy about her work as a nurse and midwife practising in the poverty-stricken East End of London in the 1950s: ''Call the M ...
RN RM (1935–2011) a British nurse and musician
*
Mike Everitt (born 1941), English former footballer and manager, over 300 pro games
*
Graham Hurley (born 1946), English crime fiction writer
*
Paul Barber (born 1951), British actor, best known for playing Denzil Tulser in ''
Only Fools and Horses
''Only Fools and Horses....'' is a British television sitcom created and written by John Sullivan. Seven series were originally broadcast on BBC One in the United Kingdom from 1981 to 1991, with sixteen sporadic Christmas specials aired until t ...
''
*
Steve Foley an English former professional footballer, made 283 appearances for
Colchester United
Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system.
Founded in 1937, the club spent its earl ...
*
Stephen D. Nash (born 1954), English wildlife artist who primarily specialises in primates
*
Steve Wright (born 1959), English former professional footballer in over 300 games
*
Sade
Sade may refer to:
People
* Marquis de Sade (1740–1814), French aristocrat, writer, and libertine
* Sade (singer) (born 1959, Helen Folasade Adu), British Nigerian musician and lead singer of the eponymous band
* Sade Baderinwa (born 1969), WAB ...
(Helen Folasade Adu,
CBE
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
, born 1959), singer, songwriter, model and actress, from the age of 11, lived in
Holland-on-Sea
Holland-on-Sea is a seaside town in east Essex in England. Located south of the little village of Great Holland and directly north of Clacton-on-Sea, it has bus links to Walton-on-the-Naze and Clacton-on-Sea. It is a short coastal walk down the ...
, a suburb of Clacton
*
Barry Lamb
Barry Lamb (born 9 May 1963 in South Shields, England) is an English experimental musician.
Biography
Barry Lamb is an English composer, author and musician. He was born in South Shields, but lived in Holland-on-Sea during his secondary scho ...
(born 1963), experimental musician, composer
*
Beth Goddard
Elizabeth Jane Goddard (born 31 March 1969), known as Beth Goddard, is a British actress known for her role as Suze Littlewood in the BBC comedy series '' Gimme Gimme Gimme''.
Early life
Goddard grew up in Clacton-on-Sea, Essex, and attended ...
(born 1969), British actress
*
Paul Banks (born 1978), lead singer of rock band
Interpol
The International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO; french: link=no, Organisation internationale de police criminelle), commonly known as Interpol ( , ), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and cri ...
*
Ian Westlake
Ian John Westlake (born 10 November 1983) is an English former professional footballer who played as a midfielder for Ipswich Town, Leeds United, Brighton & Hove Albion, Cheltenham Town, Oldham Athletic, Wycombe Wanderers, Montreal Impact and Ne ...
(born 1983), English footballer, over 300 league and cup games
*
Tom Eastman
Thomas Michael Eastman (born 21 October 1991) is an English professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Harrogate Town on loan from club Colchester United.
Eastman is a product of the Ipswich Town Academy, where he progressed throug ...
(born 1991), English professional footballer, nearly 400 games for Colchester
Cultural references
On the Easter weekend of 1964, rival youth gangs of
Mods and Rockers descended upon Clacton-on-Sea. They created mild havoc by fighting with each other.
The music video for "
Always on My Mind" by the
Pet Shop Boys
The Pet Shop Boys are an English synth-pop duo formed in London in 1981. Consisting of primary vocalist Neil Tennant and keyboardist Chris Lowe, they have sold more than 50 million records worldwide, and were listed as the most successful duo i ...
was filmed in Clacton, which was also the setting for their film ''
It Couldn't Happen Here''.
Gallery
File:Clacton-on-Sea 700.jpg, Town centre
File:Clacton memorial gardens.jpg, Memorial Gardens
File:Clacton_Pier_01_(Piotr_Kuczynski).jpg, Pier entrance
File:Clacton_Beach_01_(Piotr_Kuczynski).jpg, The beach
File:King's Walk commemorative stone, Clacton.JPG, King's Parade commemorative stone (1911)
File:Towers_Clacton.jpg, The Towers (once St Osyth's Teacher Training College hall of residence)
File:Clacton on seamap.jpg, A map from 1940
File:Garden of Remembrance,Clacton-on Sea1.jpg, Garden of Remembrance
File:View of Clacton-on-Sea viewed from the Pier.jpg, Clacton from the Pier
See also
*
Clactonian Man
The Clactonian is the name given by archaeologists to an industry of European flint tool manufacture that dates to the early part of the interglacial period known as the Hoxnian, the Mindel-Riss or the Holstein stages (c. 400,000 years ago). Clac ...
Notes
References
*
The Clacton Spear The Natural History Museum. (2012). Retrieved 2012-02-16.
External links
Tendring District Council
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clacton-On-Sea
Towns in Essex
Seaside resorts in Essex
Populated coastal places in Essex
Aviation accidents and incidents locations in England
Beaches of Essex
Tendring