IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Station Road, CLACTON-ON-SEA, CO16 0HQ

This extensive early twentieth century pub appears to be part of the same development plan as the Image for a clearer view see Image

Occasionally the building of a railway station led directly to the provision of a tavern to take advantage of the commercial potential of the movements of people and goods generated by this then new mode of transport. In this case, although the nearby railway station was built in 1866, the public house was not constructed until 1901, and was named the King Edward VII to commemorate his coronation year. The pub has been closed for many years, and is in a dilapidated condition, but the ornamental ironwork verandah and balconies on the front elevation evidently still survive. This view was taken from the closed security gates on the site boundary.

This building is now derelict and ready for demolition. It stands opposite Thorpe-le-Soken Railway Station.

Thorpe-le-Soken railway station was opened in 1866 on the Great Eastern Railway's line from Colchester to Walton-on-the-Naze and Clacton. This is the original station building, now in use as residences.

Engineering work is taking place between Colchester and Clacton. Here is a train load of track panels in the station platform. Thorpe-le-Soken is the junction for the Walton-on-the-Naze branch and the track has already been rationalised here as the former down platform is no longer used and the track was lifted a while back.

The former maltings are earmarked for redevelopment into a 1.34 Ha housing project. However they have been mouldering away for quite some time see Image I suspect the fact there is a Grade 2 listing on the property has put off potential developers. There would be far more profit to be made if the whole site were bulldozed.

This is the eastern half of the Grade II Listed former maltings, built around 1876. The building is in a dilapidated and parlous state, having markedly deteriorated further from the state it was in when Robert Edwards photographed it for Geograph in May 2007 Image The western half Image] was used for the production of crystal malt and this eastern half for pale malt, and no other maltings showing the double use of crystal and pale malt so distinctively are known to survive. This was photographed at dusk from the adjacent railway station footbridge.

Thorpe-le-Soken railway station was opened in 1866 on the Great Eastern Railway's line from Colchester to Walton-on-the-Naze and Clacton. This is the view, taken at dusk, from the footbridge that connects the two working platforms (1 & 2) with the station concourse. As can be seen there was once a track running along the platform on the left. The station is comparatively isolated, being over a kilometre from the main centre of Thorpe-le-Soken, and with only a handful of residential properties in the immediate vicinity.

Old large scale Ordnance Survey maps show that historically there have always been 3 ponds on the Thorpe Hall estate, created by the impounding of the valley of a tributary of Holland Brook. This view is of the 4th, most downstream, pond which appears to be a modern addition, as it does not appear on either the 1:25,000 or 1:50,000 scale Ordnance Survey mapping that the Geograph website currently uses. It is however visible on the OS Open Street mapping and satellite imagery. This is the view from the public footpath that crosses the estate.