An entrepreneurial London solicitor, Fredrick Ramuz [Mayor of Southend on Sea between 1898 and 1900] was mainly responsible for suggesting Undercliff Gardens, which he initially named “The Leighcliffs Estate” in the late 19th Century. In 1893 his Land company purchased 334 acres of the parish, [probably from the Salvation Army] At this time most residential development had previously taken place around communication routes between settlements, but in the period up to WW1 he was busy selling plots of land in the area to the east and north of Leigh Old Town. In those days land was often sold by a single entrepreneur who laid out large estates to maximise profit rather than anything else.

It would appear from records retained by Essex Record Office that an application was made to Southend Council for permission to develop the Undercliff in 1902, and presumably this was approved. We know, from the sale particulars, that an auction was held by George Ramuz on July 26 in 1911 when 13 plots on the Leighcliff Estate were offered for sale.  Interestingly the plans that accompanied that auction show 2 properties already in existence before 1911 – the original Seabrink and No 102 which was called The Orchard and appears to have been built for Ramuz himself. A habitation certificate was issued for this property in 1910, 1 year before the auction.

The east end of Grand Parade was therefore the ideal spot for a new Land Company to open an Estates Office with the sole purpose of selling plots of land. A single storey building was erected in the first few years of the 20th Century, at the top of the slope on the Grand Parade frontage, which was subsequently called No 1 The Bungalow. It appears in the census of 1911 and we have a photograph of the building taken after 1914 - it may have been sold in 1906 [called Hales Bungalow – Refreshment Rooms] and renamed sometime later as The Bungalow Tea Rooms. The address was No.1 Undercliff Gardens and it stood on the flat piece of land opposite the end of Woodfield Road.

Prior to 1911 most of the land was cleared of shrubs and trees, and an imaginary line drawn midway between the Undercliff footpath and Grand Parade. The area below the line was then divided up into plots, each 30’-0” wide, and marketed as “The Leighcliff Estate”. The area above the line, with frontage onto Grand Parade was left blank with the obvious intention of dividing this into plots and selling them off at some future date. However the Estates Company obviously had second thoughts about this and in 1912, two plots on the new Leighcliff Estate were sold with the option of annexing the land up to Grand Parade. Incidentally it was this land on the Grand Parade frontage that Southend Council tried to seize after WW2 which led to the formation of SPUG.

Between 1903 and 1914 a few hardy or mad souls bought plots, and made applications to Southend Council for permission to build houses. Most of them were fairly grand, but the war intervened. We cannot be absolutely sure how many of these were actually built prior to 1914 but from the 1911 census and Kelly’s records it would seem that there were five dwellings completed and occupied by 1914 - 44/46 Seabrink, 54 Beau-site, 102 The Orchard, 84 The Cot, and 120 Undercliffe. No 1 has been excluded because it was partly commercial premises. 84 may have been under construction prior to 1914, and 96, 98, & 104 soon after.

It must also be born in mind that the prospect of war became prevalent in 1913 – 1914 and the desire to build and create new homes must have been waning by 1914. There is little evidence of house building during the war years, but there were 7 properties recorded on the O.S. map of 1922 [an increase of 3 since 1914 probably 96, 98, and 104]. There were no planning applications recorded for 11 years between 1911 and 1922. Thereafter there appears to have been a mini-boom after the end of the war, in the 1922 – 1939 period. And an O.S map dated 1939 shows about 33 dwellings – an increase of 26 since 1922. Today there are about 90 dwellings including flats.

The Autumn of 1914 was a pivotal point, Britain was at war with Germany, and the outlook from Undercliff changed forever. A snapshot in 1914 -