We don't often come across vintage photos of Canvey, but we've managed to find these nostalgic snaps in our archives.

They date back to the summer of 1922 and show Canvey folk at work and play.

Halstead Gazette:

Home - Some of the bungalows on the island

Halstead Gazette:

Mud - A motor vehicle become marooned as it tries to drive off the island

Halstead Gazette:

Caravan dwellers - a family set up home on Canvey

Back then tens of thousands of people would descend upon the island during the warmer months- most to be found around Leigh Beck and Shell Beach, on the extreme east end of the island. Once winter hit, the island population would shrink back down to around two thousand people.

In 1922, the island was full of all sorts of homes- from shacks to tents, Nissen huts to caravans all the way to some expensive, modern bungalows.

One of the photos in the gallery shows a Canvey resident at work building a bridge. You can't see in the photo but he would go onto erect a sign at the bridge which read: 'This bridge is private property. Those who wish to use it may do so by contributing one shilling every August to the owner at the caravans."

One visitor to Canvey at the time told the local newspaper how they were struck by a fashion trend that had taken the island by storm in the summer of 1922 - the wearing of coloured handkerchiefs.

The visitor commented: "Young people of both sexes wear them. You see them everywhere, knotted around the head and streaming in the island breeze as the wearer walks. They are as gorgeous as the handkerchiefs for which you pay a few pesetas in a Spanish town."

Halstead Gazette:

Upmarket - residents relax in the garden of one of the island’s most

expensive properties