Clacton-on-Sea is a comparatively new town, founded as recently as 1871. It takes its name from the ancient and peaceful village of Great Clacton, having been built on an area known as Clacton Beach, then occupied only by three Martello towers and a scattering of coastguard cottages. This book deals with its first beginnings to its height as one the country’s leading seaside resorts in the 1920s and ’30s, with a superb selection of old pictures, capturing its streets, beach, its famous pier, paddle steamers and the Great Eastern Railway.