Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for SOUTHEND

SOUTHEND, a small town and a chapelry in Prittle-well parish, Essex. The town stands on the Thames estuary, at the terminus of the London, Tilbury, and Southend railway, 3½ miles WNW of Shoeburyness and 3½ S by E of Rochford; dates from a period not earlier than 1800; attracted notice, as a suitable watering-place, from a visit of Queen Caroline and Princess Charlotte in 1804; consists of good streets, with many commodious residences; includes Cliff-Town, which has been separately noticed; carries on a considerable coasting trade; communicates much with London, both by railway and by steamers; communicates also, by steamers, with Gravesend, Rochester, and Sheerness; and has a head post-office,‡ a r. station with telegraph, excellent hotels, good sea-bathing appliances, assembly-rooms, baths, a literary institution and library, a pier 1¼ mile long, a church, an Independent chapel of 1865, a Wesleyan chapel, and a national school. The pier has a railway on it, for passengers to and from the steamers; was constructed at a cost of about £42,000; and was sold to the Eastern Counties railway company for £17,000.—The chapelry was constituted in 1842. Pop. in 1861, 1,716. Houses, 293. The living is a p. curacy in the diocese of Rochester. Value, £50. Patrons, Three Trustees.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a small town"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: Essex AncC
Place: Southend on Sea

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