Comments on: At Canvey Island

By: John French

John French — Mon, 30 Oct 2023 11:14:09 +0000

I was a Building Society Manager in Basildon in the 1980s. Mortgages on properties on Canvey often became complicated.
I was told that, in the early 1900s, East Enders would come to Canvey on a day out. The Island, at that time, had a lot of land that didn’t seem to be owned by anyone. Some intrepid East Enders brought tents with them and stayed the weekend. Instead of lugging the tents back and forth, some would leave the tents in situ and return the next weekend. From this developed some building of basic shacks – and then more permanent houses.
In the 80s these properties would come up for sale (some would, by then, have the appearance of a regular house in an established road) and the solicitors would discover that there were no Title Deeds.
Local solicitors were quite used to using “posessory title” to establish a “good root of title” so that the conveyance could proceed. Land registration started in 1925 but didn’t become compulsory for the whole country until 1990 – so, by now, I suppose that all poroperties on the Island will have acquired a Land Certificate by being sold, or bequeathed by those enterprising original owners.

By: David Cantor

David Cantor — Sat, 26 Aug 2023 17:31:59 +0000

My parents met in the queue of people waiting to get in to a dance hall at Canvey Island in the late 1930’s. My father cheekily asked for the last dance, quick as a flash my mother replied ‘of course you can, but you’ll have to pay for me to get in’. I wonder where it was situated.

By: John Berry

John Berry — Thu, 24 Aug 2023 07:24:07 +0000

….it’s health giveing properties is probably why Peter Green settled down on Canvey to recuperate from his years leading Fleetwood Mac.

By: daphne steele

daphne steele — Wed, 23 Aug 2023 16:59:42 +0000

There has been a very interesting development in the last 5 or 6 years with Haredi Orthodox Jewish families relocating to Canvey Island from around the Stamford Hill area of North London due mainly to rocketing house prices in the area. They have found much cheaper large houses in Canvey that can accommodate the large families of 6 or 7 children that are not unusual, and the population is becoming established and growing steadily.

By: M D West

M D West — Wed, 23 Aug 2023 12:06:03 +0000

Check out the former OZONIA Hotel and its architect Ernest Trobridge who used to take his family from North London to Canvey on a motorcycle-with-sidecar
https://www.canveyisland.org/category/places-3/canvey_pubs/ozonia-hotel

By: Ian Johnson

Ian Johnson — Wed, 23 Aug 2023 10:02:42 +0000

I very much enjoyed this celebration of the oddness and charm of Canvey Island, but I do have one minor quibble. The waterway one must cross in order to get from South Benfleet Station to Canvey Island is Benfleet Creek, not “The River Ray”. There is “Hadleigh Ray”, further downstream, and there is an anchorage for small boats, left by the tide off Southend, called “Ray Gut” (or usually just “The Ray”) but the tides at Benfleet flow through “Benfleet Creek”.

By: Lorraine

Lorraine — Wed, 23 Aug 2023 08:34:28 +0000

I can’t suppress the excitement enough: yesterday Walton on the Naze & now, today, the main prize, Canvey Island, the home of childhood dreams and now nostalgia for that childhood. My East End family may have first visited Canvey in the Edwardian era & I have lovely photos of 3 generations having fun there together (in an all too short break from their tough lives) in the 1920s. This is then superceded by hundreds of photos taken there throughout the 50s, 60s & 70s. In those days the journey seemed longer due to the old cars & poor roads so we were ‘forced’ to stop for refreshments partway there at the Five Bells pub. My memories are filled with rumbling across the rickety old bridge from Benfleet towards the seafront arcades, peering over the sea wall & perching on the slopy rocks alongside it, sitting outside the Monico & other pubs such as the Red Cow, the Haystack, & the Lobster Smack. Our time was spent under canvas & enjoying long walks along country lanes in the company of our grandparents, aunts & uncles & cousins, sometimes up to about 16-20 of us. Although I now live far from the East End & Canvey I still visit often to have a superb lunch at the Lobster Smack & reminisce with my sister. The ashes of my grandmother & both my parents reside there, as will we when our time comes.

By: Andrew Shields

Andrew Shields — Wed, 23 Aug 2023 07:53:38 +0000

Lovely article. Nice to read a piece about Canvey that a) isn’t jaundiced and b) doesn’t mention Dr Feelgood!