QUIZ 21

RCC TREASURE HUNT #5

Canvey Island is an Island of some seven square miles lying off the South Coast of Essex in the Thames Estuary. The Island is below sea level with beaches to the south and a population of some 45,000 living behind 14 miles of high sea walls.

1 Q Canvey Island was a site for a major battle with the Vikings – who led the army which defeated them?

2  Q Several place names on modern Canvey are using the wick suffix – what does that signify?

Obviously there was a Dutch settlement here in the 1600’s – 300 workforce to reclaim the 3600 acres by creating the sea wall

3 Q What is the date of the old Dutch Cottage

4 Q A second cottage was reopened as a museum.When was it opened (Month Year)?

5 Q In 1851 a hexagonal iron lighthouse was constructed by the engineer James Walker, what was it called?

6 Q Which pub was Operation Centre during the floods of 1953 – what was its name subsequently changed to?

7 Q A pub built in the early 18th century now occupies a site that was a pub since 1600 which is rumoured to be written about in a Dickens novel – what is its title? What was the name of the establishment in that novel?

8 Q A pub was colloquially known as the Terminus (hotel), what was its proper name and who was this character?

9 Q Who owned the building prior to the Castle Point vehicle museum?

10 Q The Bay Museum houses a granite memorial dedicated in Aug to a Canvey resident. Who was the only other survivor on that mission?

Prior to the above becoming a museum the structure was the last intact degaussing station on the north side of the river

11 Q What was its name

A man had grand plans to build a holiday resort complete with Winter Gardens, a pier, and an electric tramway were hampered by flooding in 1904 and he was declared bankrupt.

12 Q Who was he?

13 Q In 1932-33, as part of new sea wall works, the engineer Ove Arup designed and built a modernist pavilion, now called the and Grade II listed.

Moving over the creek northwards we reach South Benfleet, site of another Viking battle in AD 893/4 – a plaque and iron statue can be viewed in Street View on the mini roundabout just after the railway bridge looking SW. In the background is a stone sculpture on the footpath of the park.

14 Q When were they installed

A pub with smuggling traditions stands next to the church-

15 Q –underground tunnels, still there today, were found containing what?

This establishment was in the family for 2 generations from 1917

16 Q What was the family name?

17 Q What was the pub called before 1922

The bells of the church of St Mary were rung in 1949 after 36 years silence

18 Q Which bell was newly hung as a thanksgiving?

Completed in 1903, it is one of the distinctive towers in Essex. Built of brick and, at ninety feet high, one of the tallest of the early towers, it has spreading foundations corbelled out to 7ft 6in wide. October 6, 1981, the tower was declared a grade two listed building which houses offices on different floors.

19 Q How high above mean sea level is the building?

Christened “Wellingtonia” by The Veitch Nurseries in Chelsea, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were early recipients of one each, which they planted at Osborne House (I.O.W.) however a fine example can be seen near here,. It was planted in the garden of the ecclesiastical architect whose family carried out major works in St Mary’s church at South Benfleet!

20 Q What was the house name?