Discover Jaywick

Jaywick brings together coastal attractions, cycling and local history. If you’re planning a hotel stay, you can consider which of these interests you’d like to shape your days. Jaywick Sands features golden beaches and the opportunity to swim in the sea; a cycle path runs as far as Selsey Avenue in Clacton. You’ll encounter the area’s history through its founding and building history, as well as an exhibition. This lets you think of the coast, route and past as distinct focuses for your trip.

Coast and trails

Jaywick Sands has golden beaches. You can swim in the sea at the seaweed-covered rock groynes. As of May 2023, a paved cycle path from Jaywick to Selsey Avenue in Clacton was recorded as installed. Check the current surface and route conditions before setting off. This gives you two different focuses to consider when planning: time by the sea and a cycle route with a named endpoint in Clacton.

The Martello Tower Trail runs along the coast from Point Clear to Walton-on-the-Naze and includes family-friendly activities such as semaphore and rubbing plates. The trail combines its coastal route with specific activities. If you plan your trip around the kind of day you want, the route and activities can offer different points of reference.

Local history and memories

Frank Christoffer Stedman founded Jaywick Sands and began acquiring marshland there in early 1928. Martello Tower C was built in Jaywick, Essex, in 1812. These details offer two historical perspectives: the founding story of Jaywick Sands, including a specific early land acquisition, and the construction date of a tower. Chronologically, the 1812 construction predates Stedman’s start of marshland acquisitions in early 1928, distinguishing the building history from the town’s founding.

The ground floor of Jaywick Martello Tower houses an exhibition about the tower’s history. The roof contains a reading room and a replica cannon. The layout is clear: the exhibition focuses on the tower’s history, while the reading room and cannon replica are on the roof.

A description of the Jaywick Sands audio station, current as of 1 September 2026, lists clips about the history of Jaywick Sands, the Jaywick flood, beach huts, local memories, holiday memories and Princess Diana’s visit. When choosing a history topic, the distinction is clear: the exhibition focuses on the tower’s history, while the audio station brings together different aspects of local and holiday memories.

The Clacton Heritage Trail includes installed audio devices that provide access to the history and memories of people in the area. Here, the audio devices are part of a trail; the Jaywick Sands audio station uses clips on individual topics. These are different ways of engaging with historical content: a station with themed audio clips or audio devices incorporated into a trail.

Discover more destinations: Thaxted, Chigwell, Burnham-On-Crouch, Gosfield, Waltham Abbey, Heybridge, Bradwell-on-Sea, Layer de la Haye

For the regional travel overview: Essex.