In Saxon time Jaywick was called "Clacton-inga-wick"
which become Clacton-jeywick and then shortened to Jaywick. The "Sands' addition was made to highlight the outstanding
award-winning stretch of sandy beach it boasts. It is situation approximately 2 miles west of Clacton on Sea.
Jaywick Sands was the site of a dairy farm, eventually sold by the landed
gentry. There are a number of stories around the history of the area. One story is that small plots of land were
purchased by Londoners, many of whom were workers at the Dagenham car plant, which is the reason why many of the streets in
the most westerly section are all named after cars ie Rover, Hillman and Buick.
Certainly in 1928 Frank Stedman purchased a large amount of the area with the intention of
making it a holiday resort and many of the chalets/bungalows were built and used as temporary accommodation or beach huts.
Over time, a major catalyst being the shortage of homes during the war, a number of these dwellings were extended, bathrooms
added and used as permanent homes with many of them being used today. Although some of the bungalows have been left
empty and fallen in to disrepair, the regeneration of the area in 2013 has made this a far less frequent sight.
Although a predominantly residential area, there is still evidence of its
holiday resort heritage with second-home owners enjoying summers by the sea or offering their self-catering accommodation
as holiday-lets to holiday makers and the Martello Beach Holiday Park providing holiday caravan accommodation. The Martello
Tower itself, part of Britain's sea defences during WW2, still exists and is now a museum.
The area is most popular with walking
enthusiasts, being a bracing 20 minute walk to Clacton Pier along the seafront and dog-owners who can walk their dogs on
the beach nearest the cottages all year.
Jaywick Sands is a popular get-away-from-it-all holiday destination for
those who are happy to ignore the unadopted bumpy side-roads and other evidence of neglect to benefit from the stones-throw
proximity to Blue Flag award-winning beaches (May 2013) at great value prices.
