Felixstowe, Suffolk - South Beach Gardens - Valentine RP postcard c.1930s

• Postcard

   

• Picture / Image:  South Beach Gardens, Felixstowe [Suffolk] - real photo
• Publisher: Valentines (218753)
• Postally used: no
• Stamp:  n/a
• Postmark(s): n/a
• Sent to:  n/a
• Notes / condition: 

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Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information (internal links may not  work) :

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Felixstowe (/ˈfiːlɪkstoʊ/ FEE-lik-stoh) is a seaside town in Suffolk, England. At the 2011 Census, it had a population of 23,689.[1] The Port of Felixstowe is the largest container port in the United Kingdom.[2]

The town is named after Felix of Burgundy, a saint and the first bishop of the East Angles in the seventh century.

The old Felixstowe hamlet was centred on a pub and church, having stood on the site since long before the Norman conquest of England. The early history of Felixstowe, including its Roman, Anglo-Saxon, Norman and medieval defences, is told under the name of Walton, because the name Felixstowe was given retrospectively, during the 13th century, to a place which had expanded to a form beyond the boundaries of Walton alone.[3] In the Doomsday book, for instance, only Walton is shown, and not Felixstowe,[4] which at the time held little more than a few houses scattered over the cliff tops. Walton was a settlement on the River Orwell and in 1844 had a population of 907 compared to the relatively small Felixstowe Parish holding only 502 people.[5] Walton had always preceded Felixstowe as a settlement as seen by the presence of Walton Castle, built by the Romans in the 3rd century, but today Walton is generally considered part of Felixstowe due to modern expansion.

Felixstowe is situated at the tip of the Colneis peninsula, and was in the ancient Colneis Hundred.

The Felixstowe area as a whole provided a linchpin in England's defence, as proved in 1667 when Dutch soldiers landed near the Fludyers area and tried (unsuccessfully) in the Battle of Landguard Fort to capture Landguard Fort due to strategic location. The town only became related to a major port in 1886 when the port opened to trade, following the initial construction of the dock basin in 1882.[6]

In 1810 or 1811 seven Martello Towers were built along the shore, of which 4 (Tower P on Wireless Green off Old Fort Road is the home of the local CoastWatch group, Q Tower in the town, and two more towards the Deben mouth) survive. Q Tower was the HQ of the Harwich-Ipswich-Martlesham Heath anti-aircraft guns between 1941 and 1945 (earlier it had been in Landguard Fort).

On 11 August 1919, the Felixstowe Fury sideslipped and crashed into the sea 500 yards offshore soon after takeoff while on a test flight. It was preparing for an 8,000-mile flight to Cape Town, South Africa. The wireless operator, Lt. MacLeod, was killed, and the 6 passengers were rescued. The wreckage was towed ashore.[7]

At the turn of the century, tourism increased, and a pier was constructed in 1905 of which is partially functional to this day as an amusement arcade. Indeed, during the late Victorian period (after circa 1880) it became a fashionable resort, a trend initiated by the opening of Felixstowe railway station, the pier, (see above) and a visit by the German imperial family. It remained so until the late 1930s.

Felixstowe played an important role in both world wars—in the first as Royal Naval Air Service and RAF seaplane base, and in the second as the Coastal Forces MTB, MGB and ML base HMS Beehive. It was the first base from which Second World War German E-boats and coastal convoys were systematically attacked—by flotilla led by Lt-Commanders Howes, Dickens, Hichens and Trelawney. Felixstowe was also HQ of the Harwich Harbour coast and anti-aircraft defences, and accommodated the RAF's 26th Marine Craft (Air-Sea Rescue) Unit. In 1944 the piers near the Dock were used to load troops, tanks and vehicles onto the British and American landing craft of "Force L", which reinforced the Normandy Invasion on its first and second days. In 1945 the German naval commanders in Occupied Holland arrived in E-boats at Felixstowe Dock to surrender their boats and charts to the Royal Navy.

Most of the south-western area of Felixstowe Urban District, between the Dock, Landguard Point, and Manor Road, was occupied by the Navy, RAF and Army. with Landguard Fort and several ruined gun emplacements and bunkers a reminder of that era.

Between the wars the seaplane station housed the RAF experimental establishment which tested seaplanes and flying boats. Its sheds and piers were incorporated in the MTB base and later the container port.

Sources—J P Foynes: The Battle of the East Coast 1939–1945;

J P Foynes: Who was to Blame for the Loss of HMS Gipsy.

In 1953, at least 48 people died in the town in the North Sea flood.