IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Old Road, CLACTON-ON-SEA, CO15 3AH

The Citadel is on Old Road at its junction with St Osyth Road. The location was formerly the site of a Zionist Methodist Chapel.

This picture shows the Salvation Army citadel on the corner of Old Road and St Osyth Road, taken from the opposite side of Old Road. The citadel was built in 1901 as Zion Church, when it was used by the Primitive Methodists. Following bomb damage during the Second World War, it was reconstructed in 1952, when the Salvationists took possession. The bell-towers of the former St Osyth Road Infant School, now Tendring Adult Education College, can be seen in the background to the right of the citadel. Catherine Booth, the wife of General William Booth and co-founder of the Salvation Army, died in Clacton in 1890. [Source for details of the history of the building: "The History of Clacton", by Kenneth Walker, 1966].

A former church in St Andrew's Road (built in 1893 as St Andrew's Mission Hall and originally used by the Church Army, a Church of England evangelistic organisation). It is now used as a community hall for hire, containing the hall proper, a classroom, kitchen, toilets and changing-rooms. The East of England Co-op Funeral Services building, to the left of picture next door, appears to have been part of the same set of church buildings. (Note it has a matching spire and a cross painted on an exterior wall). See Image [Source for details of original use of hall and construction date: Kelly's Directory of Essex, 1902].

A former church in St Andrew's Road (built in 1893 as St Andrew's Mission Hall and originally used by the Church Army, a Church of England evangelistic organisation). It is now used as a community hall for hire, containing the hall proper, a classroom, kitchen, toilets and changing-rooms. The East of England Co-op Funeral Services building, to the left of picture next door, appears to have been part of the same set of church buildings. (It has a matching spire and a cross painted on an exterior wall, neither visible here; see Image). [Source for details of original use of hall and construction date: Kelly's Directory of Essex, 1902].

The cinema was opened in 1936 as the Century Cinema, but became the Essoldo in 1946. It reverted to its original name in 2013. The building was designed by a local architect, G.H.B. Gould, in the Art Deco style, although some of the original Art Deco features have since been concealed. It is also now a bingo hall.

Photograph taken from the Lidl car park looking west; the edge of the Lidl building is visible on the left hand edge. Houses on Alton Park Road can be seen on the right. The Salvation Army citadel was behind me.

This picture was taken from the other side of St Osyth Road, looking south-west in the sunshine.

Built in 1893, this building was St Osyth Road School from 1894 to 1997 and reopened as Tendring Adult Education College in 2002. The school educated children up to the age of 11 until 1952 and was afterwards an infant school, the older children transferring to the newly built Alton Park Junior School. The children and staff moved to the new Oakwood Infants' School off Windsor Avenue in 1997. The lintel above the doorway marked "Entrance" in this photograph originally read "BOYS", the girls' entrance, as you can see in the highest resolutions of the picture, being next to it. [Sources: "St Osyth Road School Clacton-on-Sea 1893 - 1993: A Centenary Celebration" by Elizabeth Hermon, 1993; Evening Gazette, 2002].