Walton in 1860 (Part One)

Over many years I have acquired a lot of documents relating to Walton history. Recently I was browsing some of these and chanced upon “A Descriptive Account of Walton-on-the-Naze” by Thomas Wilmshurst, published in 1860.

I would like to share this with you over the next few weeks. It is too much to deal with in one go.

The cover

I am starting here at page 12 and will try to elaborate a little on the content as we go along

The reference to the 1849 and 1854 cholera epidemics is interesting, for as I write this during the 2020 Covid 19 Pandemic the Tendring area is one of the few areas in Essex to be in the lower tier two and last summer the town was again unusually full.

The pier mentioned was Walton’s first pier and it is illustrated in the booklet with this engraving

It was 150 feet long and was only the 4th to be built in England, but succumbed to a winter gale in January 1881.

Now for page 13 of the publication

The architect named as T. Penrice was actually John Penrice of Colchester who was also responsible for designing Kents Hotel, East Terrace, Morton Terrace as well as Eld Lane Baptist Church in Colchester and the elegant Stisted Hall.

Kents Hotel opened in 1829 and was origially named ‘The Hotel’. It became Kents Hotel from 1834 to 1866 and then Dorlings Hotel from 1867, finally being renamed The Marine Hotel in 1882.

The Porto Bello Hotel in Walton’s main street received equal praise for accomodation and comfort.

The Portobello Hotel as it would have been in 1860 with adjoining Morton Terrace and Kents Hotel in the background

The Bath House Hotel is mentioned as the first place of entertainment and having been erected on the beach. I was given to believe that it was built by Edmund Aldrich who also owned bathing machines. The story goes that he built it mainly from timber washed up on the foreshore.

A much later photo of the Bath House Hotel by which time the Shore Road had been built.

The photo above shows the building being lower than the road. My father liked to relate the tale of how he remembered when the tide was high, seawater would break over the road and run through the public bar and out the back door. The old timers sitting with a drink simply raised their feet to allow the water to pass through.

I do not have information about Woolston’s Bazaar although from its description it was the original name of Brooke’s Bazaar which is seen in the photo below. The Public Reading Room and Circulating Library mentioned was possibly the next building seen in what is now Old Pier Street.

Brookes Bazaar

I will continue this with Part Two in due course.