CONTEXT 175 : MARCH 2023 25 EAST ANGLIA COAST SALLY HUMPHRIES Southend-on-Sea: from seaside village to city One of the country’s newest cities, the resort of Southend-on-Sea in Essex has a history that can be charted through its conservation areas, many of them with a seaside setting. From the Saxon settlement of Prittlewell to 20th-century housing developments, the history of Southend-on-Sea can be charted through its conservation areas. Almost all of the 15 conservation areas in Southend have a visual and functional relationship with the sea and coastline. This is one of their vital characteristics that significantly contributes to their special interest. The Prittlewell Conservation Area contains some of the oldest buildings in Southend. Prittlewell was established as a village in the Saxon period and later thrived during medieval times, becoming one of the primary settlements in south-east Essex and the principal village in the immediate area which has today become Southend. A minster church was built there in the 7th century, with parts of an arch from this period still surviving in the medieval St Mary’s Church. Nos 255 and 269–273 Victoria Avenue remain as examples of timber-framed buildings from the 15th and 16th centuries. As can be seen on Chapman and André’s Map of Essex from 1777, Prittlewell was the largest of the settlements in the vicinity, with South End a small collection of buildings on the shoreline. The settlement was first recorded as ‘Stratende’ in 1309, becoming ‘Southend’ by the 18th century. It remained a very small farming district until around 1700 when it was discovered that the foreshore was an excellent breeding ground for oysters, an industry that lasted until the early 20th century. With this discovery, and the growth of the London barge trade, the settlement began to expand. Meanwhile to the west, the village of Leigh (Lee on Chapman and André’s map) developed as an important port in south-east Essex and a centre for boatbuilding. This is now designated as the Leigh Old Town Conservation Area; its intimate, narrow, cobbled streets lend an atmosphere of age despite many of its buildings being from the 19th century onwards. From the mid-18th century Southend began to develop a different role as local landowners tried to exploit the new fashion of sea-bathing for health benefits. Initially, the modest resort catered mostly for local gentry. By the 1790s it was attracting people from London via new stagecoach services, with a concerted effort made to create a more exclusive and fashionable resort to rival those established at Margate, Brighton and Weymouth. The Clifftown Conservation Area covers this Georgian development of Southend. The Royal Terrace was developed by landowner Daniel Scratton as the first part of ‘New South Part of Chapman and André’s Map of Essex, 1777, showing the once-dispersed settlement pattern (Tim Fransen, 2018, Digital Map of the County of Essex 1777 by John Chapman and Peter André; available at https:// map-of-essex.uk) Prittlewell Square Gardens in the Clifftown Conservation Area
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