Coloured postcard showing a view of part of the promenade gardens in Southend. Southend was developed as a tourist destination in the 19th century, and was equipped with the world's longest recreational pier (1830), an ornamental bandstand (first erected in wood on the cliffs, 1902, and replaced by an iron bandstand in Priory Park 1909), and the Kursaal, one of the first purpose-built amusement parks (1894). The Cliff Gardens were laid out piecemeal around the turn of the century; the area called Happy Valley, where the bandstand once stood, was replaced by the Floral Hall in 1920