Hold Tight!

A High Speed Car Ride via Victoria House Corner, Benfleet

Victoria House Corner before the roundabout was built
Michael Brittain

This film of a high speed car ride, thought to be in the early 1960s, starts on the Arterial Road in Southend travelling in the direction of London. At the Rayleigh Weir, which was then a roundabout, we turn left to travel along the Rayleigh Road, past the Woodman’s garage to Victoria House Corner, which can be seen as it was before the roundabout was constructed.  The car then turns left along the A13 London Road to pass through Hadleigh on the way to Leigh where it makes a right turn into Leigh Gardens and eventually stops at Marine Parade.

We would like to thank Michael Brittain for having the foresight to capture all the images on film, to be rediscovered over 50 years later! and Bob Barber for making the digitised film available to put on the website.

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  • Although the picture is upside down at the time, I enjoyed the glimpse of the petrol pumps at the garage opposite the Salvation Army field (now a bathroom place, I believe) I remember that customers parked on the road and the nozzles were swung out to the cars.

    Good luck trying that today!

    By Steven Heath (02/05/2015)

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