Whilst West Mersea is not my hometown it's where I've lived and worked for
the last thirty-odd years and doubt now that I'll ever live anywhere else. The
following is merely a brief description of the Island which is approximately 5
miles long by 2 miles wide — some 10 miles along the B1025 from Colchester.
The village sign, shown above, was carved in oak by Dennis Smy and depicts - an
oyster catcher - the Mersea Barrow - a sheaf of corn with scythe and a fishing
Smack - all surmounted by the Parish Church. The sign was placed on the
forecourt of the Library with due ceremony in 1984.
The brown sailed fishing smack is typical of hundreds which dredged oysters in
the tidal waters of the Colne and Blackwater. The wheatsheaf, scythe and wild
flowers emphasize the island's farming connections The Barrow - a Romano Celtic
burial mound, the Oyster Catcher - one of Mersea's more well known wading birds,
the black weatherboarded building in the distance behind the Oyster Catcher is
the Packing Shed where oysters were sorted and packed.
Mersea Island (pop. 6925, 2008) with a current electorate of 5778, lies between
the estuaries of the rivers Colne and Blackwater, and is deservedly regarded as
a place to be visited, and uniquely so, as it is separated from the mainland by
the Pyefleet channel and reached by an ancient causeway called the Strood, the
only road on to it, and even that is submerged beneath several tides every
month. The Pyefleet is the historic breeding ground of Colchester oysters. Being
divided into two sections, East and West Mersea, it is the most easterly
inhabited island in Britain, and at its highest point is 75 feet above sea
level.
Mersea Island is
twinned with Akersloot in Holland (Akersloot)
and St Leger les Domart (St Leger les Domart) in France.
The climate is healthily dry, with a rainfall averaging 20 inches annually. Facing the river Blackwater to the south and the river Colne to
the east the beach is a designated bathing beach mostly of sand and shingle, with mudflats and sandbanks exposed at low tide, with the most westerly point being a
conservation area.
The Blackwater Estuary is an appointed site of special scientific interest with breeding and feeding grounds for oysters
and wading birds.
The Island's principal occupations are in fishing and farming, plus oyster
cultivation, boatbuilding, yacht design and restoration, fixed-wing aircraft and
helicopter interior repair and restoration, sail-making. There are many shops
for life's usual necessities, including a large chemists, two banks, two
garages, surgery, vets, dentist, clinic, two parish churches (one east, one
west), plus Methodist, Free, Brethern, Anglican and Catholic churches, and a
renowned vineyard. Mersea has always had a sea faring tradition which still
probably provides the largest employment on the island. About 15 fishing boats
work out from the waterfront making it the largest longshore fishing port
between Lowestoft and Brixham. The main catch - Sole - Skate - Bass and Mullett
(in summer) with Herring and Cod in winter.
The numerous farms on the island grow crops of Barley, Oil Seed Rape,
Potatoes, Sugar Beet and Wheat. A small amount of land is used for grazing store
cattle and sheep. Pigs are also reared intensively. Mersea has always been a
seed growing area with up to eighty species of flower seeds grown annually and
sold commercially.
There is a library, museum, primary school, (In 1871 the West Mersea School
(See Here) was built in Barfield Road and many of the original buildings are still there
today and some are still used for classrooms whilst others house the Youth
Centre. A new part of the School was officially opened in 1980 to the South of
the old School for Infants, with a large assembly hall.), community centre, youth club, windsurfing centre, riding stables, three playgrounds, two
bowls clubs, tennis, cricket and hockey clubs, two sailing clubs and several day centres.
There are four public toilets, two on the Esplanade, one behind the library and
one at the Causeway near the harbour. There is an inshore lifeboat
(West
Mersea Lifeboat Station).
Also jet-skiing in the summer
season, plus I'm sure many more things I've not mentioned, for it's not my intention to compile a directory.
My late father-in-law wheeling his bicycle through West Mersea village centre
The launching of boats is allowed at the Hard, with
windsurfing launching from designated areas, but as parking is restricted in this area consideration must be
shown, with fishermen going about their business having priority, especially at the hammerhead causeway.
East Mersea, with a population of about 350, is almost entirely agricultural as it has been for centuries, but
recently there has been some increase in fishing and Colchester Oyster Fisheries have put under construction oyster beds on ground bordering
the Colne estuary. There has been little residential development, but there are some attractive old buildings and an Elizabethan Hall next
to the Parish Church which stands away from the centre of the village. The parish Church, dedicated to St Edmund, the East Anglian
king and martyr, is some six centuries old and has remained structurally sound with no more than normal repair work. On the outside of the
building gargoyles of sheep and calves' heads reflect the agricultural nature of the parish through the centuries.
Click for street map
At the Essex County Youth Camp, founded after the Second World War, organised groups of youngsters can learn much
from the rural surroundings through field study and leisure time. Essex County Council has also developed some 35 acres of land
at the south-eastern end of the island as a County Park.
Strood Webcam
During Celtic times Mersea Island, which was mostly wooded, had a fairly settled population existing mainly by
fishing and farming and the remains of their salt workings are visible today, with the abundance of oyster shells by these sites confirming
the lengthy popularity of the Mersea native oyster.
Not until Roman times, and the building of brick and stone residences, did Mersea enter written history. Large
mosaics have been uncovered in the area of West Mersea Church and West Mersea Hall with the most famous existing Roman relic being the
Barrow beside East Mersea Road at the north end of Dawes Lane, and believed to date from the first century A.D.
Three hundred feet in diameter and 60 feet high originally it enclosed a brick tomb containing a 2 foot-square cube lead burial casket containing a
green glass bowl holding the cremated remains of an adult, and by a technique which was not rediscovered for many years, the lead container
was welded. At East Mersea though there is evidence of a Danish encampment it wasn't until the 1980's that any certainty of Roman occupation
came to light with the discovery of a horde of Roman coins dating from the latter half of the 4th century.
After A.D. 61 and the eventual defeat of Queen Boudicca the Roman
peace continued for another 350 years with Saxon pirates being kept at bay by building forts such as Othona at the entrance to the
Blackwater on Bradwell Point opposite Mersea, but with the decline in Roman influence the Saxon reign began, bringing the Dark Ages
with little written history and even less Christianity. Then a monk called Cedd was sent to bring the people back to Christianity with the
founding of one of his first churches at Othona (Bradwell) which still stands today and was probably constructed on the site of, and using
material from, the old fort.
It wasn't until the 9th century that the Danes became more active in East Anglia and in A.D.
880 made a settlement there as well as encamping at Mersea before taking their ships up the Thames, and some 15 years later were
responsible for damaging the West Mersea church, later restored by the Aelfar family and left in the will of King Edmund's wife to her
sister in A.D. 950. The Saxon dynasty being ousted from the throne in A.D.
1003.
Whilst staying in Normandy, where he heard of his succession to the throne in 1046, Edward the Confessor, to
commemorate the event, granted West Mersea, along with Pete Tye and part of Fingringhoe to the French Abbey of St. Ouen.
As the people of West Mersea were already under the rule of the Norman house of St Ouen the 1066 Norman Conquest
was of small consequence, while the Doomsday book in 1086 acknowledged West Mersea (2400 acres) as being owned by the Abbey, with its Church
being valued at £6 13s 4d.
During the mediaeval times although there was a great deal of warring going on it seemed not to affect the lives
of ordinary folks, being seemingly remote from these activities. In 1232 The Priory still held Manor at West Mersea and the Black Death of
1349 greatly reduced the population with high taxes, prices and labour shortages leading to the Peasant's revolt in 1381. Priories such as
Mersea with its French connection were dissolved about 1415.
All religious houses were dissolved by Henry VIII and in 1542 West Mersea Priory and the Church passed to a
Robert D'Acres and the appointment of the Vicar stayed in lay hands until 1926 when the patron resigned it to the Bishop of Chelmsford. With
the passing away of the manorial system the secular and administrative power of the Parish came into being and under Queen Elizabeth's Poor
Relief Act a workhouse was built in Waldegraves Lane.
The Strood Lands Charity, possibly founded in 1460, used the rents from 81 acres of land in the Waldegraves area
to upkeep both the Strood and West Mersea Church and the charity still exists today.
Many Dutch and French settled in Mersea during the 16th and 17th centuries with anglicised versions of their
names remaining today. While smuggling tales abounded during the 18th century, the local Coastguard in conjunction with modern
communications had reduced much of that which was more than just tales by the 1850's.
In East Mersea the Parish church dedicated to St Edmund was where the Rev Sabine Baring Gould (author of several
well-known hymns including "Onward Christian Soldiers" and "Now the day is over" as well as "Mehalah" a story
of violence and tragedy set locally) was Rector from 1870-1881.
Many of the original buildings built in 1871 as part of the West
Mersea School are still there today, some still being used as classrooms, others
as the Youth Centre. The first policeman on Mersea came in November 1844 and the
Police houses and station as the population increased, in 1952. Main sewerage
drainage was not put in until 1924. Main water coming in 1925 with a 230 feet
bore hole under the water tower in Upland Road. Prior to this the main water
supply was from St. Peter's Well on Coast Road which has never been known to
fail in providing the Island's water. Today the site of the well is marked with
a plaque and wood surround and is situated below the old Coastguards post, now a
sitting area, on Coast Road, to the West of the Church.
A severe winter in 1947 destroyed most of the oysters and it
took many years for them to be rebuilt and in 1953 in common with many east
coast villages and towns suffered severe flooding, meanwhile the population has
continued to grow but is still below 7000.
Webcam
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