South Walk

The twenty units comprising South Walk were under construction during 1959 in a development that would also include a large function hall. The entire construction was given the name Blenheim House and a large stone, laid by Mrs Walter Flack on April 29th 1960 at the eastern end, commemorates the development on behalf of the Murryfield Real Estate Company.

The first phase, which included units 1-4 and the function hall, was completed in 1959 before work had begun on the remaining units. Some of the first traders to occupy these began opening around September 1959 and these included the Welcome Sewing Centre and a florist called James Bews. The function hall eventually opened in March 1961 as a Locarno Ballrom run by entertainment group Mecca and given a Market Pavement address. Phase II comprising units 5 to 20 commenced in 1959 and was completed the following year.

Interestingly preparation for phase two involved the removal of a large "Basildon Town Centre Site" signboard first erected in 1956 to promote the town from passing trains. Another feature of phase II was a 13 foot high mural by the artist William Gordon. The mosaic was created from hundreds of ceramic tiles forming abstract patterns above the full length of units 5-20, a distance of 314 feet (96 metres). In the early 1990s this was either replaced or covered by a second mural in the form of a Timeline covering the years 412 to 1949, the year that Basildon became a new town. Either mural, both being the same length, was in the case of the first and is in the case of the second, considered to be one of the longest in the country.

Text researched and written by William Cox, 2012.
Copyright © 2012, B. Cox - Basildon History Online. All rights reserved.