Singer and songwriter M G Boulter welcomes you to Clifftown.
Welcome to the Clifftown Podcast. In this first episode I go on the trail of John Constable’s legacy in Southend, trying to find his uncle’s long lost house in the old town of Leigh-on-Sea, as well as exploring the affecting personal histories which surround the stretch of Chalkwell Beach known as Josceylin's Beach.
In this episode I cover the tragic mystery of Mike Taylor’s death; a Jazz musician and icon in the mould of Syd Barrett or Peter Green. I uncover the first hand accounts of Mike’s legendary and fractious performance in Westcliff in the 1960s via a quick survey of the pub rock scene which Southend helped foster in the 1970s with music biographer Zoe Howe.
In this episode I turn to the Thames Estuary and explore what it takes to become a member of lifeboat crew for the RNLI and learn about the dangers of this particular part of the river. In the process I learn about knots, the challenges of modern day smuggling and the role of Southend Pier during the Second World War. This leads me to seek out The Endeavour Trust who maintain the last surviving cockle boat which left the town to help in the evacuation at Dunkirk in 1940. Lifelong professional fisherman Paul Gilson regales me with stories about the role of the ‘Little Ships’ and his experiences managing the Endeavour during the filming of Christopher Nolan’s film ‘Dunkirk’.
Initially I set out to explore the limited literary history of Southend in this episode but instead I uncovered the deeply moving story of Victorian poet Robert Buchanan and the unsung career of his sister-in-law Harriet Jay. As with all these episodes the story took me down unexpected routes, so in this edition you will hear me take a tour of Hamlet Court Road in search of the Hamlet Court itself, talk to a sculptress responsible for Buchanan’s commemorative bust and I get lost in a graveyard looking for Buchanan’s grave.
What do Laurel & Hardy, Harry Houdini and Neil Young have in common? They all left an indelible mark on Southend-on-Sea. This episode explores the tale of their visits and how Southend became notable footnotes in all their own life stories.
In this episode I look into the history of witch trials in Southend and I get behind the truth of the Nineteenth Century legends of Hadleigh cunning man James Murrell and the Leigh-on-Sea sea witch Sarah Moore. I talk to Syd Moore, author and witch expert about Essex Girls, Matthew Hopkins and her new novel.
In 1926 workmen found scores of Bronze Age axe heads a road over from my house, nestled in the riverbank of the local brook. In this episode I try to join up the thread that runs through the long history of the land we now know as Southend. I meet Southend Museum’s Curatorial Manager, Ciara Phipps, to discuss the history of Southend looking at objects which span millennia. I find out about the heyday of the Kursaal, the birth of car radio at Southend’s Ecko Factory and who actually was the Anglo-Saxon Prince they found in Prittlewell Park in 2003, one of the greatest archeological discoveries in Europe in recent decades
In episode 8 I explore the landscape of the nearby Essex town of Benfleet in search of the lost viking camp of Haesten. I join medievalist Steve Lawes to uncover what really happened at the supposed battle in the town in 894. Were viking ships and burnt bodies really found when the train station was built in the Nineteenth Century? Can the camp be seen today? Join me as I try to separate myth from reality in The Clifftown Podcast.
Throughout my work on The Clifftown Podcast I have been pulled down various rabbit holes and side stories which have not been featured in the main episodes. These diversions have mainly taken the form of bonus episodes. In Episode 9 some of the highlights of these excursions down other paths have been collected into a diverse mix. Expect lost Victorian lighthouses and Southend’s oldest shoe to the incredible Southend stories of Bufffalo Bill and Iron Samson
In this episode I explore the pathways beyond the land out in the liminal space between the shoreline and the sea. I walk the most dangerous path in Britain, the Broomway, and hear about the oyster wars of the Eighteenth Century between Essex and Kent whilst trying to reach the Mulberry Harbour on foot, a remnant of the D-Day temporary harbour stranded out on the sand off Southend-on-Sea.
Having heard the local rumour that the HMS Beagle, the famed ship which took Charles Darwin around the world, was buried deep near Southend I set about researching its whereabouts. What followed was a colourful journey concerning sea sickness, the actor James Mason and the infamous smuggler Hard Apple.
Alan Sorrell was synonymous with recreating paintings of the past, which led to him becoming the country’s foremost archaeological illustrator of the twentieth century. This episode explores his life and works and his relationship with Southend. I meet legendary record producer Peter Eden to delve deeper into the history of the municipal art school which fostered Sorrell’s talent and many other culturally important figures of the twentieth century who went through its doors.
Join me and Assistant Curator of the Focal Point Gallery, James Ravinet, as we scour Southend for anti-monuments and discuss the changing interpretation and value Southend’s communities have placed on sites and monuments throughout the years, including the now lost attraction 'Never Never Land ‘ - or is it?
Places are as much defined by their buildings as their people. The Palace Theatre in Westcliff-on-Sea has a long and interesting history. Built in the early twentieth century it is a cherished landmark in Southend and this episode looks back at the colourful characters that have been linked to the Theatre from the early twentieth century theatre impresarios to modern day Hollywood A-listers such as Pierce Brosnan and Gary Oldman. Reportedly one of the most haunted theatres in the country I also discover the personal history of one of its reported ghosts, James Wordley.
This episode started off as a look at the prehistoric sites of Southend but a chance meeting with a friend who found some suspected Roman pottery in a remote field near Basildon soon pulled me into a quest to find a lost Roman Road, one that could well have been the very road built by Roman general Aulus Plautius after his historically significant invasion of Britain in AD43. Join me on a roam along summer burnt wheat fields and south Essex wooded dens in search of this elusive history that contributed to the changing face of Britain.
