Southend-on-Sea

Southend-on-Sea (/ˌsaʊθɛndɒnˈsiː/ ^ⓘ), commonly referred to as Southend (/saʊˈθɛnd/), is a coastal city and unitary authority area in south-eastern Essex, England. It lies on the north side of the Thames Estuary, 40 miles (64 km) east of central London. It is bordered to the north by Rochford and to the west by Castle Point. The city is one of the most densely populated places in the country outside of London. It is home to the longest pleasure pier in the world, Southend Pier, while London Southend Airport is located to the north of the city centre.

Southend-on-Sea originally consisted of a few fishermen's huts and a farm at the southern end of the village of Prittlewell. In the 1790s, the first buildings around what was to become the High Street of Southend were completed. In the 19th century Southend's status as a seaside resort grew after a visit from the Princess of Wales, Caroline of Brunswick, and the construction of both the pier and railway, allowing easier access from London. From the 1960s onwards, the city declined as a holiday destination. After the 1960s, much of the city centre was developed for commerce and retail, and many original structures were lost to redevelopment. As part of its reinvention, Southend became the home of the Access credit card, due to it having one of the UK's first electronic telephone exchanges. An annual seafront airshow, which started in 1986 and featured a flypast by Concorde, used to take place each May until 2012.

Southend was granted city status in January 2022 in memorial to the Conservative Member of Parliament for Southend West, Sir David Amess, who was murdered in October 2021. On 1 March 2022, the letters patent were presented to Southend Borough Council by Charles, Prince of Wales.

Southend was first recorded in 1309 as Stratende, a small piece of land in the Manor of Milton (now known as Westcliff-on-Sea), within the Parish of Prittlewell. Its next recorded mention was in a will from 1408, where the area south of Prittlewell was called Sowthende. In March 1665, the English naval ship, London blew up while moored just off South-end on its way to fight in the Second Anglo-Dutch War. The hamlet of South-end consisting of a few fishermen's huts and Thames Farm farmhouse stayed this way until the mid-18th century. In 1758 a large house was built, which by 1764 had become the Ship Inn. Oystermen cottages were built in 1767, and a year later the settlement was recorded in the parish records for taxation purposes for the first time. By 1772 records show a salt works and a lime kiln. A visitor to the settlement in 1780 said "not anything in the place worth notice", but a year later the first bathing machine was brought to the hamlet. By 1785, the Chelmsford Chronicle was reporting subscriptions to build a hotel, and plans to make South-end,

equal, if not to rival any of the watering places to which the genteelest company usually resort; there being nothing wanting but such a place of accommodation, where the agreeable distance from the metropolis, and the excellence of the roads, added to the incomparable fineness of the water, have induced so much polite company down these last two summers.

The planned hotel was not built, but the Chronicle reported in 1787 that "Southend is likely to become a place of fashionable resort, and that there are a greater number of genteel families there this season than was ever known before". By the end of the decade, the number of bathing machines had increased and the hamlet was recorded as containing the Ship Inn and 25 houses and cottages; reported visitors included Lord Cholmondley. The coach service from London to Rochford was extended to Southend for the summer season of 1790. The main occupations were in agriculture, fishing, boat repairing and working the barges to London and back.

In 1790, the local lord of the Manor of both Prittlewell and Milton (now Westcliff-on-Sea) and landowner Daniel Scratton set aside 35-acres of land at the top of the cliffs to the west of South-end. The development was called New South-End, and the original settlement was renamed Old South-end. A road was cut through the development, which would later become the High Street. The Chelmsford Chronicle wrote at the time,

There seems but little doubt of its becoming a place of fashionable resort, and answering the expectations of the proprietors, being only 42 miles [68 km] from London and two coaches, and the post passes through it three times a week; water carriage is also convenient, being only eight hours sail, with a fair wind, from London.