Butlin's Clacton Butlin's Clacton Butlin's Clacton was a holiday camp located on Clacton-on-Sea in England. It opened in 1938 and closed in 1983. Clacton-on-Sea is the largest town on the Tendring Peninsula in Essex and was founded in 1871. It is a seaside resort that attracted many tourists in the summer months between the 1950s and 1970s, but like many other British seaside resorts went into decline as a holiday destination since holidays abroad became more affordable. In 1936 Billy Butlin made moves to create a new holiday camp there, by buying and refurbishing the West Clacton Estate, an amusement park to
Clacton-on-Sea by experts from the Navy; 2)The bombing of the Wagstaff Corner area in May 1941, which felled some well-known buildings; 3)The impact of a V2 rocket in front of the Tower Hotel, injuring dozens of troops inside though without bringing down the structure. Clacton looked out on the route taken by many of the V1 and V2 bombs aimed at London. A big role in the town's history just pre-and postwar was played by the KIngsman family, who bought and developed the Pier and ran a pleasure-steamer service from London. There was a summer sea excursion, on a larger ship,