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Westcliff-on-Sea

EngvarB from December 2013Populated coastal places in EssexSeaside resorts in EnglandSouthend-on-Sea (district)
The Cliffs Pavilion geograph.org.uk 734107
The Cliffs Pavilion geograph.org.uk 734107

Westcliff-on-Sea (often abbreviated to Westcliff, and in the past spelt as Westcliffe-on-Sea) is a suburb of the city of Southend-on-Sea, in the ceremonial county of Essex, England. It is on the north shore of the lower Thames Estuary, about 34 miles (55 km) east of London. The Westcliff-on-Sea area is described by Southend-on-Sea City Council as having a border in the east with Milton Road, Hamlet Court Road and Gainsborough Drive; Prittlewell Chase to the North and Valkyrie Road/ London Road/ Southbourne Grove in the west. Traditionally Westcliff included Chalkwell.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Westcliff-on-Sea (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Westcliff-on-Sea
Lydford Road, Southend-on-Sea Westcliff-on-Sea

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Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 51.5359 ° E 0.697 °
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Address

Lydford Road

Lydford Road
SS0 7FF Southend-on-Sea, Westcliff-on-Sea
England, United Kingdom
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The Cliffs Pavilion geograph.org.uk 734107
The Cliffs Pavilion geograph.org.uk 734107
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Southend-on-Sea War Memorial
Southend-on-Sea War Memorial

Southend-on-Sea War Memorial, or Southend War Memorial, is a First World War memorial in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, in south-eastern England. It was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and unveiled in 1921. Southend-on-Sea is a seaside resort famous for its pleasure pier, which was used by the military during the First World War. The town was a stopping point for soldiers en route to the front and, as the war drew on, it also became an important disembarkation point for the evacuation of injured troops. This saw the conversion of several buildings in Southend into hospitals. A committee appointed Lutyens, the architect of The Cenotaph, to design a permanent memorial as a replacement for temporary shrines. He originally proposed a cenotaph but this was rejected in favour of an obelisk rising from a screen wall. In front of the monument is a garden, also designed by Lutyens, and the words "lest we forget" are set in stone on a lawn. Instead of carving them on the memorial, the names of the 1,338 dead from Southend are recorded on plaques fixed to the walls of Prittlewell Priory. The memorial is one of six obelisks Lutyens designed for war memorials in Britain and closely resembles those for Northampton and for the North Eastern Railway. It was largely praised by art historians but one Lutyens biographer felt the lettering in the grass detracted from it. The memorial was unveiled on 27 November 1921 by the Lord Lieutenant of Essex and dedicated by the Bishop of Chelmsford in front of a large crowd. Invited guests included the mayor, local clergy, veterans from the district, and organisations which had contributed to the war effort in the area. The memorial became a listed building in 1974. Lutyens's memorials were declared a national collection in 2015 to commemorate the centenary of the war and Southend's was upgraded to grade II*. A statue of a soldier was added in 2019.

Palace Theatre, Westcliff-on-Sea
Palace Theatre, Westcliff-on-Sea

The Palace Theatre is a theatre Westcliff-on-Sea which is part of the city of Southend-on-sea in the English county of Essex. The theatre presents a range of performances, including drama, music and both local and national touring companies. The theatre was built by Ward & Ward of London and was opened in October 1912. It was named the "Palace of Varieties" in November that year. In December it was renamed "The New Palace" and a small annexe at the back of the stage was built to facilitate projection for cinema. In the interwar period the theatre mainly presented touring ballet and repertory companies. The theatre and its business continued through World War II, however there were some financial troubles and a period of closure, and a number of companies held the lease of the theatre thereafter. In 1957 the Palace Theatre Club was created with the intention to protect the interests of the theatre and raise funds for it. In 1969 the Palace Theatre suffered a major financial crisis and was closed, however a petition by the Palace Theatre Club led to its reopening in 1970 and the establishment of the Palace Theatre Trust. The theatre received extensive redecorations in 1973, gained the addition of the adjacent building to the theatre as known as the Dixon Studio (named after the chair of the Trust John Dixon) in 1980, and was further redecoration in 1986. However in March 1999 the theatre was closed again, but was reopened in 2001 under new management. The theatre was closed in 2002 when the management left without explanation, however it reopened again in 2003 under the newly formed Southend Theatres, the result of a merger of the Cliffs Pavilion and the Palace Theatre.