St Gabriel's represents the modern chapter of Pitsea's Anglican history. Built as a replacement for St Michael's, the distinctive church was completed and consecrated in 1964. Its twelve-sided design was said to represent the twelve apostles, while its steel spire was conceived around the three points of the Trinity.
Pitsea Market is unusual because the landmark itself has repeatedly moved. The early market developed at Station Lane in the 1920s. Road building forced later relocation, and in February 1969 a market opened on Howard's Field using four large steel-framed domes capable of accommodating well over a hundred stalls.
The four domes became one of the most visually distinctive episodes in Pitsea's retail history. They were around 80 feet in diameter and approximately 30 feet high. The site was temporary, however, because the wider town-centre and road plans continued to change.
In January 1978 the market moved again, this time to Northlands Pavement behind the Railway Hotel and Broadway North. Later redevelopment changed the market environment once more. Anyone studying Pitsea's town centre can therefore use the market's successive locations as a guide to the area's repeated redevelopment.
Station Lane once had a much more prominent role in Pitsea. The war memorial stood at its High Road junction, the early market was nearby and the road formed part of the old town-centre landscape. Construction of the new flyovers and roads in the late 1960s shortened it to a cul-de-sac and radically changed the area.
A visitor guide to Pitsea should not only describe buildings that still stand. The Railway Hotel, Broadway/Century Cinema, market domes and vanished parts of Station Lane explain why the modern town looks as it does. Historic photographs become especially useful at these sites because they allow the present streetscape to be compared directly with what has gone.
For deeper history, use the dedicated Basildon.info sections for Pitsea Hall/Cromwell Manor, Wat Tyler Country Park, Pitsea churches, the Broadway, Pitsea Market, schools and the photo gallery. Together they build a much fuller picture than any single landmarks page can provide.