EVER wondered why the A127 in Southend is often referred to as Prince Avenue?

Well, it all stems from one day in history- March 25, 1925 - when Prince Henry (Queen Victoria’s great-grandson) visited south Essex to officially open the new ‘Southend Arterial Road’.

The historic highway was the longest purpose-built road to be constructed in Britain since Roman times. Unlike many roads of the time which built on former Roman roads, the A127 was a new structure and had been dug out of the virgin Essex clay, which was no mean feat.

The road was also unusual in another way – it ran in an almost direct straight line from Point A to Point Z - again, this was not the norm for the time.

Echo: Royal visitor - Prince Henry, the Duke of Gloucester, was the third son of King George V and Queen Mary. He was 24 years old when he came to Essex to open the Southend Arterial Road.

The road had certainly been a long time coming.

Five years earlier, in 1920, British Prime Minister Lloyd George had announced plans for a programme of new roads to be built around London to create jobs for former soldiers from the Great War.

One of these was Eastern Avenue, from Wanstead to Romford’s Gallows Corner.

In 1921, new plans were announced for addition to this - a 21-mile extension all the way to Southend.

Work began on the first seven miles of the Southend Arterial Road on December 8, 1921.

By early 1924 the road was ready for “final surfacing”, but it was becoming controversial. There were protests against erecting ugly poles and wires for a direct London-Southend phone line.

The A127 cost £1.5million in all - with a healthy £100,000 investment contributed by Southend Council, which was eager for the borough to become a key destination for people and business.

The opening of an important stretch, by HRH Prince Henry, marked a new chapter in the area’s history and finally allowed Southend business and council chiefs to start building up the resort to its full potential.

The Southend Pictorial Telegraph was on the scene to capture the events of the day when the Prince came to town.

Newspaper reporters described how the dapper prince made an excellent impression on the throngs of crowds who amassed at Rayleigh Weir to see him cut the ribbon to declare the road open.

“The speech of the prince was the right sort of deliverance for the occasion - sufficiently informatory without seeking to be learned and with a few asides that ornament after-meal oratory,” read the front page Southend Pictorial and Telegraph article.

“The new road is long, direct and not at all dreary.

Echo: A127 memories

“In the long run it will repay Southend handsomely for its contribution of £100,000 but we think before the investment can be a really paying proposition there must be considerable building development along our local mile and on its radiating roads, perhaps some extension to the boundary.”

The newspaper report gushed at how well the proceedings had gone and that the Prince’s visit had gone without a hitch. “The mayor of Southend is to be congratulated for the general success of the effort and should be heartily thanked for his liberality,” added the report.

But not everyone was happy with the new road. One West Ham MP criticised the priority that built a holiday highway to “Southend-on-the-Mud” instead of improving road access to East London docks.

Whether it came at the expense of other areas, the new local road certainly did fulfil its role of enabling more day-trippers and charabanc outings to visit Southend from London.

Today a heritage plaque graces the wall of the Weir Public House (the Harvester) after being placed there by Rayleigh Town Council to mark the Prince’s visit.

The plaque reads: “The first road in this country built specifically for motorised vehicles, the London-Southend Arterial Road, was originally a single carriageway, largely built by hand.

Echo: A127

“The Weir section was opened on 25th March 1925 by Prince Henry of Gloucester watched by over 1,000 local residents.”

Although the road was initially lauded, by as early as 1927 no less than £200,000 had to be spent on repairs, as road sections sank into the Essex mud.

By the summer of 1935, the single-lane Southend Arterial Road was so congested that motorists avoided it.

Some things never change.

Echo: memories