Skip to content
The Great Britain Guide

Towns & cities · East of England

Jaywick

Free admission

Jaywick — village in Essex, England, UK.

Jaywick, towns & cities in Essex

Wikimedia Commons contributors — see linked file page for photographer and licence licence

Plan your visit

Typical visit
3 h–6 h
Nearest railway station
Clacton-on-Sea · 3.0 km
  • Free entry
  • Family-friendly
  • Dog-friendly

About

Jaywick is a town, city, village or settlement in the United Kingdom. Recent population estimates put it at around 4,665 people. Address: CO15. Wikidata describes it as: "village in Essex, England, UK". Coordinates: 51.7795°, 1.1174°.

Photo gallery

Protected designations

  • Site of Special Scientific Interest: Clacton Cliffs & Foreshore SSSI

Designations sourced from Natural England open data under OGL v3.

From the Wikipedia article

Jaywick is a coastal village in the Tendring district of Essex, England, 2 miles (3 km) west of Clacton-on-Sea. It lies on the North Sea coast of England, 60 miles (97 km) from London and 17 miles (27 km) from Colchester. It was constructed in the 1930s as a holiday resort for Londoners but has, over time, been officially named the most deprived area in the country. The land on which the village is built was originally fields and salt marsh unsuitable for agriculture. It was purchased by the entrepreneur Frank Stedman in 1928 to build low cost, affordable holiday homes for working-class families, and became a popular holiday destination throughout the 1930s. After the Second World War, a shortage of housing meant the properties became permanently inhabited despite not being built for this purpose. Many holiday homes are now in a state of disrepair, and the local community have resisted demolition. Jaywick has significant problems with unemployment and is at risk of flooding, despite several attempts by the local council to transform the area.

Excerpt from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0. See the source article linked in Sources below.

Background

History

What is now Jaywick was originally fields and salt marshes near Clacton and St Osyth. The Clacton Spear, a wooden spear from the Lower Paleolithic era, found locally in an area of foreshore erosion, is the oldest known man-made wooden artefact found in the British Isles. The name Jaywick is first documented in 1438 and apparently means "farm frequented by jays"; the earliest recorded form, Clakyngeywyk, includes the adjective clacking, meaning "chattering". During the 19th century, the area was popular for shooting and contained a rifle range. Because of its proximity to the sea, Jaywick had never been a practical place for farming due to the risk from floods and the land remained unused. A…

Sourced from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Coordinates
51.7795, 1.1174
County
Essex
District
Tendring
Parish
Tendring, unparished area
Postcode
CO15
Parliamentary constituency
Clacton
Population
4,665
Nearest railway station
Clacton-on-Sea3 km
Official site
www.ons.gov.uk

Sources

Other places nearby

Loading nearby places…

Nearby

More towns in this region

Frequently asked questions

Where is Jaywick?
Jaywick is in Essex, East of England, United Kingdom (postcode CO15), in the parish of Tendring, unparished area.
Is Jaywick a protected site?
Yes — Jaywick is part of the Clacton Cliffs & Foreshore SSSI Site of Special Scientific Interest.
Is Jaywick free to visit?
Yes, Jaywick is free to enter.
How do I get to Jaywick?
The nearest railway station is Clacton-on-Sea, about 3.0 km away. Drivers can navigate to postcode CO15.