Coloured postcard showing a view of the boating lake in the gardens at Clacton-on-Sea. Clacton-on-Sea was developed as a seaside resort by Peter Schuyler Bruff from 1871, beginning with the opening of Clacton Pier; by the time of his death in 1900 he had developed the pier precincts as public gardens. These were further developed in the 1920s to include a Memorial Garden, with a war memorial by Charles Hartwell (1924); a Sunken Garden (1921) and a Sunken Rose Garden of the same date; along with pavilions etc. The gardens were redeveloped in the 1990s