The Castlemayne is a public house in The Knares serving the Lee Chapel South
area of Basildon. It opened for business in 1963 with the official opening being held on Thursday 26th September. At that
time the new Development Corporation properties, which made up the majority of housing within Lee Chapel South, had not
been up many years and the shops at the adjacent Kibcaps neighbourhood centre had only begun opening the previous
year. Noted architect Ernest Brander Musman of Musman and Cousens was responsible for its design.
The special guest at the opening ceremony was the General Manager of Basildon Development Corporation, Charles Boniface,
who unfurled a Union Jack to reveal the pub's forecourt sign. Also in attendance were members of the Whitbread Brewery
Co. who chose the name from a number of suggestions submitted by Tom O'Connor, senior engineer of the Development
Corporation.
Its name originates from a crenallated farm house, occupied and in use as a dairy farm until the 1950s by Mrs. Mary Ellen
Chattaway, that once stood close by in the long since disappeared Uppercrest Road.
The pubs' nameboards and hanging sign at the time of opening read 'The Castle Mayne'. Later signs lost the 'the' but still
separated Castle from Mayne. The current signage as of 2023 is 'Castlemayne'.
Incorporated within the building at the time of opening was an off-licence but this has since closed.
The pub has long been noted for its live entertainment which is provided throughout the year from the lounge bar's stage. | 
)
