CAMBRIDGE COUNT' GEOGRAPH IES

General Ed i tor : F . H . H . GUILLEMARD, M.A.,M.D.

CAMBRIDGE UN IV ERSIT' PRESS WAREHOUSE ,

C . F . CLA',MANAGER .

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S SON S .

B umbag an b Galrut ta : MACMILLAN AND CO . , LTD.

'A11 Rig /fi ts

Ca mér z'

dg e Coumjy Geog r aph er

E S S EX

GEORGE F . BOSWORTH,

With Maps,Diagrams and I l lustrat ions

Cambridge

a t t he Un iv ersity Press

Gamhrihgt

r amr a n B' JOHN CLA' , M.A .

AT THE UNIV ERS IT' PRESS.

CONTENTS

Co unty and Sh i re . The Wo rd Essex. I ts Origi nand Mean i ng

General Character i st i cs . Po smo n and Natural Co ndit io n s

Siz e . Shape . Boundar ies . Ij et aclied Port io n . Transfer o f Pari shes

Surface and General Features

Watershed . R i vers—Thames,Sto ur

,'

Lea,Ro di ng ,

Bo urne Bro o k,and In gerburn

R i vers—Co l ne,Blackwater

, Chelmer,Cro uch

,and

Cam

Geo lo gy and So i l

Natural H i sto ry

The Co ast—from Bo w Creek t o So uthend

The Co ast—from So uthend t o Harwich

The Co ast—the I s lands

The Co ast . I ts Lo s s and Ga i n . I ts Pro tect io n .

Sandbanks . Lightho uses and Lightsh ips

240750

PAGE

CONTENTS

C l imate and Ra i n fal l

Peo ple - Race . Dialect . Settlements . Po pulat io n

Agricul ture—Ma i n Cul t ivat io ns . Wo o dlands . Sto ck

I ndustr ies and Manufactures

F i sheries and F i sh i ng Stat io n s .

Hi sto ry o f E s sex . I

H i sto ry o f E s sex . I I

Antiqu i t ies—Preh i sto ri c . Roman,Saxo n

A rch i tecture . (4 ) Eccles iast i cal—Churches

Arch i tecture. (5) Eccles iast ica l—Rel ig io us Ho uses

Arch i tecture . (c) M i l i tary—Castles and Mo atedHo uses

Arch i tecture . (d) Domest i c—Famo us Seats , Mano rHo uses

,and Co ttages

Commun icat io ns—Pas t and Present—Ro ads and Ra i lways

Adm in i strat io n and Div i s io n s—Ancient and Mo dern

The Ro l l o f Ho no ur o f the Co unty

The Ch ief Towns and Vi l lages o f E s sex

ILLUSTRATIONS

Bo w Bridge and WharfWh ite N o tley Vi l lageLees Prio ryWa l to n-o n -Naz eFl a t fo rd BridgeEppi ng Fo rest . Typica l Fo rest SceneryHarwich . Bo at leav i ng PierThe R iver Co l ne at Co l chesterThe Bath Wal l

,Mal do n

Jo hn Ray , F .R .S .

The Cro w Sto ne, LeighSo uthend BeachC lacto n - o n -Sea

O sea I s landThe Upper Lightho use

,Harwich

The R iver Cann at Chelmsfo rdBo ck i ng M i l lWal tham Abbey Church .

Bo ck i ng , Vi l lage StreetThe (h wy , M i s tleyFl a t fo rd M i l lRoman Wal l at Co l chesterHedingham CastleThe O ld S iege Ho use at Co l chesterS i r Geo rge Li s lePalaeo l i th i c ImplementNeo l i th i c Cel t o f Greensto ne

ILLUSTRATIONS

Pa laeo l i th ic Implements fo und at Leyto n .

Gro up o f Samian Ware,Co lchester Museum

Roman G las s Jugs fo und at Co l chesterThaxted from t he So uthSt Peter s

,Bradwel l -o n -Sea

Dedham ChurchWestern Fro nt o f St Bo to l ph ’s Pr io ry

,Co l chester

St O syth ’s Abbey near C lacto n -o n -Sea

Co l chester CastleAudley End Ho useFaulkbo urne Hal l near WithamGo sfi e ld Hal lNew Hal l near Bo rehamMo yn s ParkThe To w n Hal l

,Co l chester

Thomas Cromwel l,Earl o f E s sex

S i r Charles LucasGeo rge Gasco igneWi l l iam Harvey

,M .D .

Co nstable ’s B i rthpla ce,Fl a t fo rd

Diagrams

MAPS

E s sex,To po graph i calGeo lo gical

England and Wales,shewi ng annual ra i n fal l

The I l l ustrat io ns o n pp . 7, 1 1,2 3 , 2 4 , 4 3 , 4 6 , 4 8 , 6 3 , 67, 76

and 8 7 a re from pho to graph s by Messrs F . Fr i th and CO .,Ltd .

,

Reigate ; and tho se o n pp . 4 , 1 2,1 6 , 1 9 , 57, 72 , 8 1 , 8 3 , 9 3 , 9 8 ,

1 0 0 , 1 0 2 , 1 0 7, 1 0 9 , 1 1 4 , 1 1 5, 1 3 7, and 1 50 are from pho to graph sby M r A . Wire

,Leyt o n st o n e .

1 . County a n d Sh i re . Th e Word Essex .

It s Or igin a n d Mea n ing .

Essex is one of the largest of th e six Home Counti es,

and i ts mari t ime pos i t ion gives i t considerable importance .It was one o f the early E n gl i sh k ingdoms

,and for more

than a thousand years i t has represented in br ief th e h i storyof England . In many of i ts towns and v i l lages the re aremon uments o f an ti qui ty and treasures of art wh ich helpus to real ise the past h i st ory of our country ; and we shal lunderstand much better the progress and development o fEngland as a whole

,i f we fi rst carefully study the geo

graphy and h istory of th e county of Essex .

In th i s chapte r we wi l l cons i de r th e meanings of th etwo words

,s/yz

'

re and coun ty, and then endeavour t o traceth e or igin o f th e county o f Essex and the mean ing of i tsname . Fo r a thousand years and more the county

,or

sh i re,i n England has been considered the ch ief un i t o f

local gove rnment,i n much th e same way that the canton

is regard ed in Switze rland,th e department in France

,and

the state in America . We n o w have the t w o words sh i re,

and county,but before the Norman Conquest the word

sh i re only was used .

B . E .

ESSEX

In the earl i es t per iod of our h istory the word sh i resimplvmeain t t a d ivi s i on , and we find the word was thus

to dqnp t q t‘

he ‘Va rio us port ions of Cornwall,and the

k ingdoms: of Kent . Then , as t ime passed o n,the

word acqu i red a new mean ing,and was a ppl ied to any

port ion that was shorn o f? o r cut o ff from a larger d iv i s ion .

The port ion cut o ff was a share or sh i re,and hence many

o f our count ies have retained th i s affix since the settlementof th e Engl ish in o u r land .The word county is due to the Norman invaders who

ident ified the old Engl ish sh i re wi th th e i r own comit a tus,

th e d istr ict o f a comes or count . And thus i t comes aboutthat we use th e two word s sh i re and county to denote thelarge r d iv is ions of o ur land that were mad e long ages ago .

The count ies of England difi e r conside rably i n the i ro r igins . Such count i es a s Essex

,Kent

,and Sussex had

a difl'

ere n t orig in from Nott inghamsh i re,L e i cestersh i re

,

and Northamptonsh i re . Th e former are p robablysurv ivals o f forme r kingdoms

,wh i le the latte r a re un

doubted ly shares,or sh i res

, o f th e kingdom of Merc ia .Essex

,Kent

,and Sussex have kept the i r nam es and

boundar ies from the earl iest t imes,perhaps for more th an

fourteen hundred years , and i t is - th e knowledge of suchfacts as these that makes th e study o f county geographyand h istory so i nterest ing . Indeed i t i s not too much tosay that some of our count ies a re an epi tome o f o u r

national h istory,and t o i l lust rate th e t ru th of th is we

could not hav e a bette r example than th e county o f Essex ;-It i s rathe r diflicu l t to trace the or igin o f some of o ur

counties and th e mean ing of the i r names,but we have no

COUNT' AND SHIRE 3

such d iffi cul ty in the presen t case . Here we have a countywith a d ist inctly Engl ish name

,which was d eri ved from

the Saxons who settled in th is part o f England . TheSaxons were perhaps the strongest o f th e va rio us in vaderso f o u r country in the fifth century

,and they were d is

t in guished by the port ions they sett led along the easternand south e rn d ist ri cts . Thus we read of the East Saxons

,

South Saxons,West Saxons and so on

,wh i le the oth e r

invaders,th e Angles and Jutes

,se tt led el sewhere . The

word Essex is thus derived from th e East Saxons,and in

th e E nglis/y Cbram'

cle we find i t wr i tten Easte seaxe . Late ri t appears as East saxe

,and in Domesday Book i t i s

wr i tten Exsessa . T hen th e ‘form Essex was used by ou rh istor i ans

,and so i t has con tinued to th i s day .

The East Saxons formed the kingdom of Essex in ad istr i ct that had been settled by a Keltic t r i be known asthe Tr inobantes

,o r Trinovantes

,a word wh ich means

battle- speare rs,or bat t le- stabbers . Th e te rr i tory of th e

Trinobantes was fa i rly compact,compris ing as i t d i d th e

mode rn county o f Essex and a part o f Middlesex,from

beyond the Lea to th e S tou r o n th e north . M idd lesexw as included for a long pe r iod in the kingdom o f Essex

,

and then for some reason,perhaps owing to th e growth of

London,i t was separated from the East Saxon kingdom

a n dfmadei in t o a

i

county . And th is po in t o f i nte res tdeserves - noti ce he re

,for

.

the East Saxon k ingdom was alsothe see of the b ishop of London

,and so i t co n t in ued t il l

qui te recent t imes,when owing to th e growth o f p0 pu la

t i on Essex w as annexed to th e see of Rocheste r,and then

t o that o f S t Albans. Now Chelmsford i s l ike ly to be

I—Z

4 ESSEX

the see of a b ishop of Essex, thus l i nking the county wi ththe earl i est per iod of ou r h isto ry .

Thus we may say that the modern county of Essexgrew o u t o f th e East Saxon kingdom

,wh ich was formed

B o w B ridge a n d W ha rf

the te rri to ry that had been occup ied by the Trinohantes

,a Kelt i c tr i be l i v ing in B r i ta in when the Romans

fi rs t landed in o ur country .

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS 5

2 . Genera l Ch a ra cter i st ics . Its Posi ''

tion a n d Na tura l Cond itions .

Essex is a large mari t ime county o n th e east ofEngland

,and i ts long coas t- l i ne both along th e North

Sea and the es tuary of the Thames i s o f great adva ntage . From at least o n e of i ts sea -ports there is constanti ntercourse with the Cont inent

,and seve ral of th e small er

ports are fish ing s tat ions o r yacht ing centres .As an agr icul tural county Essex is o f consi derable

importance,and al though in recent years i t has passed

th rough a pe r iod o f depression,th e re are s igns that i t wi l l

ere long take i ts forme r rank as one o f th e lead ing agr icul tural count ies . Notwi thstand ing the long success iono f lean years

,about two- th i rds o f th e county is now under

cult ivat ion,and on every hand i t i s ev ident that Essex

farmers are now working in a more sc i ent ifi c way,and are

turn ing th e i r attent ion to dai ry farm ing and frui t farm ingon new princ ip les .Essex has l i ttle claim to rank as an industr ial county .

I t i s true that many minor industr ies are carr ied on insome of the towns

,and that the extensive ra i lway works

at S tratford employ several thousand men,but there is no

staple i ndustry such as flourishes in Yorksh i re o r Lancash i re .Next t o i ts importance as an agri cultural county

,Essex

ranks as o n e of t he metropol i tan count ies,and thus shares

wi th Surrey and Kent the many advantages ar is ing fromthe p rox im i t y of London .

' That port ion near London ,

6 ESSEX

wh ich l ies in th e hundred of Bea co n t ree,has considerably

more than half th e population o f the whole county .

West Ham,East Ham

,Leyton

,Walthamstow

,Bark ing

,

I l ford,Wanstead

,and Woodford—al l these places l i e

close toge the r,and have been wel l cal led London-over

the—Border . He re i t is that a large number of t he

workers of London l ive . Th e c i ty man,th e clerk

,th e

art isan,and th e laboure r l eave London eve ry even ing and

trave l to the i r homes i n Kent,Essex

,and Surrey

,and o f

th ese many thousands Essex claims a large proportion .

Th‘

is London- ove r- th e-Border i n Essex is unl ike anyother part of the county . Forty o r fi fty years ago i t w as

a d istr ict of green fie ld s and pretty gardens,of farms and

orchards . Each parish had i ts large houses owned by r ichmerchants and bankers who d rove to and from Londonin the i r coaches and carr iages ; whi le th e cottage rs dwe l ti n pleasant homes wi th many of th e advantages o f acountry l i fe . Now there are countless m i les of st ree tswith commonplace houses of ident ical pattern

,whi le most

of the large houses have d isappeared and th e r i ch peopleh ave re t reated fur ther i n to the county . Th is suburbanport ion of Essex with i ts immense populat ion forms but asmal l part o f the whole county

,wh ich fortunate ly retains

i ts rural character .Essex is a county that needs to be known to be

apprec iated,and al though i t has not so many charm ing

spots as Surrey,the re i s much that p leases th e trave l le r i n

search o f pastoral and beaut iful scene ry . Many wri te rshave descr i bed i t i n glowing terms

,and from the t ime of

John Norden,we have ample ,

eviden ce that i t has com

8 ESSEX

mend ed i tsel f to the most d ive rse and exact ing minds .Norden

,who l i ved in El izabe th ’s re i gn

,says Th is sh i re

is moste fatt,fru t efu l ]

,and ful l of p rofi tab le th ings

,

excedin g (as far as I can finde) an i e oth e r sh i re , for th egeneral l co m o de t ies

,and the p len t ie th is sh i re seemeth

to m e to deserve the t i t le of th e En glishe Goshen , thefattest of the Lande comparable to Palest in a that flowedwith m i lke and hun n ye .

” Pe rhaps Norden ’s descr ip t ionis rathe r flatter in g

,but i t i s i n terest ing from the fact that

i t was wri tten by a very compe tent observe r more thanth ree hundred years ago .

Arthur Young,who knew wel l the England of th e

e igh teenth century,declares that some of the Essex scene ry

was equal to anyth ing “ even in the west o f England,that

region of landscape .” A mode rn wri te r on the Englando f to-day has recorded his impress ions of Essex in “ ATour in a Phaeton th rough th e Eastern Counties . ” Mr

Hissey, i n that book, is aston i shed that“ Spots of so much

beauty should be so n ear town and so l i tt le known .

” Hesums up th e ch ief po ints that attracted h i s attention wh i letravel l ing th rough Essex as follows ‘ “ Ruined abbey sand anc ien t church es fraugh t w i th i nterest for the ecclesio lo gist and ant iquary ; romant i c homes of the o ld days—many of these moated st i l l— al l abound ing in pastmemories and h istor i c associations ; old- t ime coach inghostel r ies whe re in o u r forefathers made merry ; o ld

fash ioned,oddly bui l t country towns ; p icturesque hamlets

pleasan t pastoral scenes var ied by wild wind- swept h ea thsand gorse- spr inkled commons . Here

,it must be admi tted

,

we have enough to commend Essex to o u r attention,and

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10 ESSEX

we shal l find in th is book a confi rmat ion of these statements that Essex is indeed a county with many attract ion sand a charm o f i ts o w n .

3 . S iz e . Sh a p e . B ounda ries . De '

t a ch ed Portion . Tra nsfer of

Pa r i sh es .

In the prev ious chapters we have learn t how Essexcame to be a county and of i ts character ist i cs . It wi ll nowbe wel l to cons ide r i ts s ize

,shape

,and boundar ies . At

th e outset i t may be noted that the anc ien t county o f

Essex is somewhat large r than the admin i st rat i ve county,

as there are port ions wh ich are i nclud ed i n Cambridge andSuffolk

,and th e re i s a smal l area wh ich belongs to Kent

but 18 now included in the county of London .

Essex may almost be cal led a pen insula,for i t has wate r

on fou r s ides . In shape i t i s an i rregular quad ri late ralhav ing a pe r imete r of about 2 25 mi les, i f we measure th ewind ings of the r ivers and the sea-coast . From S tratfordin the south-west to Harwich in the north- east the d iagonalmeasures 63 miles from Bart low in the north to Ti lburyin the south the l ength is ove r 50 mi les ; and from Roydonin th e west t o Walton- o n - the-Naze in th e east th e breadthis about 60 miles .The area o f the anc ient county o f Essex i s

acres,and of the admin istrat ive county acres . I f

we take the former area as equal to 1 542 square m i les, wefind that Essex is about one- th i rty- th i rd of the whole o f

SIZE SHAPE BOUNDARIES 1 1

England . There are n ine anc ient coun t i es larger thanEssex

,wh ich ranks j ust below Ken t

,but above Suffolk in

area .When we consid er th e boundar ies of o u r county

,we

are not confronted wi th th e same diflicul t ies that often

perplex us in try ing t o dete rmin e those o f othe r count ies .

Wa l t o n - o n -N a z e

If we look at a good map,th e fi rst th ing th at str ikes us

is that Essex has natural boundaries o n al l s ides,except

a smal l port ion on the north-west . The northernboundary i s th e r i ve r S tou r from i ts source at Haverh i l lt o the end o f it s wide estuary at Harwich . The NorthSea washes Essex on the east

,and the estuary o f the r ive r

Thames from S tratford to Shoeburyness i s the boundary

12 ESSEX

o n th e south . The rive r Lea enters Essex from Hertfordsh i re at Roydon

,and from that town southwards to i ts

j unct ion wi th the r ive r Thames,i t forms th e weste rn

boundary . From Haverh i l l t o B ishop S tortford theboundary is art i fic ial . Th e count ies of Suffolk and Cambridge are on th e north ; Hertfordsh i re and M iddl esexare on th e west ; and K ent is on th e south o f Essex .

F l a t fo rd B ridge

The s ize o f the p resen t county of Essex was doubtlessabout that o f the anc i en t k i n gdom of the East Saxons

,

who we re separated from the kingdom o f East Angl ia bythe r i ve r S tour

,and from th e k i ngdom o f Kent by the

SIZE SHAPE BOUNDARIES 13

r ive r Thames . The river Lea fo rmed the boundarybetween the later East Saxon kingdom on the o n e s i deand M idd lesex and Me rc ia o n the other . Perhaps fewcount ies i n England have al tered so l i t tle as Essex

,both

as regards s ize and boundaries,s ince the earl i est pe r iod o f

o ur h istory .

I t used to be qu i te a common th ing for a port ion o f

o n e county to be included in anothe r county . There areseveral coun ties where th i s is s t i l l the case

,but th e

tendency o f recen t years has been to remove th is anomaly .

There i s,however

,o n e port ion in the south of Essex wh ich

belongs to th e ancien t county of Kent . Th is d istr i ct i sknown as North Woolwich and for adm in ist rat ive purposes it belongs to London . Th e re i s no real ly sat isfactoryreason to be given why a port ion o f Kent should be i nEssex . Some h istor i ans th ink that th is i solated port iondates from the t ime when Essex and Kent were onekingdom : and that when they were separated i t wasarranged that Kent should re tai n th is terr i tory in Essex .

Th is i s p laus i ble,but another reason has found more favour .

I t appears that Count Haimo,Sherifi of Kent i n Wi l l iam

th e Conqueror’s re ign,had land on both s ides of the Thames

at Woolwich,and in th is way his possessions on the north

bank in Essex became i nclu ded in the county of Kent .A few changes have been mad e i n Essex during the

last twenty years by the transfe r o f some pari shes in thenorth and north-west to the adj o in ing count ies . In 1 8 88

,

Ball ingdon-cum-B randon was given to Suffolk ; and , i n1 8 94, Great and L i tt le Ch ishal l and Heydon we re t ransferred t o Cambr idge

,and Ked ington to West Suffolk .

14 ESSEX

4. Surfa ce a n d Genera l Fea tures .

The surface and structure o f Essex are more easi lyunderstood i f we conside r i t fi rst o f al l as part o f a large r ,

area . Its physical structure is the same as t hat of th eEast Angl ian counti es

,and the th ree count i es o f Norfolk

,

Suffolk,and Essex be long to the eastern plain o f England “

A glance at th e map o f England wi l l show that thesecount ies form a quad rant

,and are severed almost as com

p lete ly from the rest of England as th e th ree coun t i es o fth e Wealden pla in—Kent

,Surrey

,and Sussex .

It is i nte rest ing to note that Norfolk,Suffolk

,and

Essex have been shaped ro u n d ~ t he estuar i es upon wh ichthe original sett lements were formed

,and th e ch ief towns

in each county are o n th e r ive rs n ea r th e sea . Al l thech ief r i vers of th e th ree eastern count ies r i se i n the h ighland wh ich i s mostly si tuated in th e west

,and flow in a

general ly eastwardly course to the North Sea .There i s o n e poin t o f contrast to wh ich we must

refe r wh i le we are deal ing wi th the structure of the EastAngl i an count ies . The chalk wh ich forms so great afeature i n th e other easte rn count i es on ly passes over th e .

north-western port ion of Essex o n i ts way to Hertfordsh i re

,wh i le th e st r i p of al luv ial so i l wh ich edges the

easte rn count i es ‘ becomes i n Essex a b road belt of clayextend ing ove r the greater port ion of i ts surface . .

In dea lin g w it h the phys i cal features of Essex we shal l:

not be far wrong i f we say that about seven- tenths o f i tssurface is low

,i n many parts on a level Wi th t he sea,- an d1

’

SURFACE AND GENERAL FEATURES 15

i n some parts even below th e sea . Let us then consi derthe surface of the . co im ty under five d iv i s ion

'

s—th e chalkuplands

,the Essex h eigh ts, the. forests

,th e lowlands

,and

th e marshes .The chalk up la

'

n ds'

o ccupy a fai rly l arge a rea

’

in t he

north-West of. the county ; and the county westward of al ine d rawn from B ishop S tortford o n the Lea t o B i rdbrooknear the S tour would compr ise th i s h i l ly region . In partsthe appearance of th i s d istr ic t resembles that of the SouthDowns

,though i t is not so undulat ing . The wel l- rounded

h i l ls are separated by the val l eys,more o r l ess deep

,and

in the north-west co rne r some ten square m i les r ise tomore than 40 0 feet . The h ighest po int in Essex is ashort d istance north of Langley church

,wh ere th e e leva

t ion i s 485 feet .The Essex He ights extend from Colchester to Purflee t

on the Thames,and include th ree h i l ly d istr icts

,Tiptree

Heath near Witham,Danbury H i l l near Chelmsford

,

and Laindon Hi l l near B i l ler i cay . Tiptree Heath doesnot reach 3 0 0 feet, and is th e centre of a d ist r i ct that wasonce an extens ive wi ld wood land

,broken here and there

wi th heather wastes . The heath i s now most ly enclosedand cult ivated

,and has lost nearly al l of i ts anc ient w i ld

ness and rough beauty . Th e h ighest po in t of Danburyi s on the road above Lingwood Common

, 3 53 fee t abovethe sea . Although we wi l l n o t say th e scenery is grandin the Danbury d istr i ct

,we can safely cal l

,it really

charming . The V iew from Danbury H i l l i s a bold ‘andsweep ing panorama

,ful l o f wood and wate r

,parks and

v i l lages . O n th e one hand l ies th e sea,whi le on the

16 ESSEX

other there i s a spread ing landscape of typ ical Engl ishscenery . Laindon H il l

,r i s ing t o a he igh t o f 3 86 feet, stands

by i tse l f far from any othe r h i l ls . The prospect from i t i so n e worth going far to see

,and Arthur Young consi dered

i t the finest V iew in England . This,o f course

,i s exaggera

t ion , but from the summi t there i s a glor ious v i ew o f

Ep pin g Fo res t . Ty p i ca l Fo re st S ce nery

(Pol la rded Ol d H orn beams in H on ey La n e V a l e, H ig/z Beeck )

wav ing woods,green meadows

,and well- t i l led fields

,wh i le

i n the far d istance we get a gl impse of the Thames andthe h i ll s of Kent .The fores ts o f Essex now consist ch iefly o f Epp ing

Forest and Hainault Forest,which are the remains o f the

Forest of Essex,o r

,as i t w as cal led i n later t imes,Waltham

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I8 ESSEX

seaward,fresh st r i ps have been enclosed . The great

t rouble to res iden ts i n th e Essex marshes has h i the rtobeen th e want of fresh water

,but n o w deep wel ls sunk

th rough th e London Clay have gone far to remedy th isd rawback .

5 . Wa tersh ed . Rivers—Th a mes , Stour ,Le a , Rod ing , Bourne B rook , a n d

In g e rburn .

Essex is a we l l-wate red coun ty,and as th e slope of the

county i s t o the south- east,i t w i l l be seen that most o f the

longer streams fl ow in that d i rect ion . The ch ief watershed i s in the chalk downs in the north-west

,al though

there i s a r idge o f h igh ground in the south,i n wh ich the

Crouch and some oth e r streams r ise . Th ere are severalfeatures that are common to th e ch ief Essex r ive rs . Aglance at the map wi l l sho w

‘

t ha t the p ri nc ipal streamsfind the i r way th rough a leve l and often marshy countryt o the North Sea . Each of them has an estuary

,i n

wh ich o r near wh ich there are i slands,most of them be ing

separated by a ve ry narrow channel from the main land .We may class i fy the r i vers o f Essex as boundary r ivers

,

the Thames,the Lea

,and the S tou r ; a n d as inte rnal r ivers,

the Colne,the B lackwate r

,th e Che lmer

,the Crouch

,the

Rod ing,the Bourne B rook

,the In gerbu rn , and the Cam .

O f course, the Thames cannot be cal led an Essex r ive r,but as i t bounds the southern shore of th e county i t wi l lbe spec ial ly not iced i n the chapter on th e coast o f Essex .

WATERSHED RIV ERS 1 9

Here we need on ly remark that the Thames begins tobound Essex from th e po int wh e re the Lea jo ins i t andthe estuary of the Thames extends t o th e Nore l igh tsh i p .From London to the Nore “ th e Thames is th e world ’sexchange

,

” and al though th i s part o f the r iver is n o tbeauti ful as regards i ts scenery

,i ts commercial importance

i s un r ival led .

H a rwich . B o a t lea vin g P ie r

The S tour,forming the boundary betw een Essex and

Suffolk, r i ses n o t far from Haverh i l l o n th e border ofCambridgesh i re . The r i ver soon expands and becomes alake, or mere, giv ing i ts name t o the par ish o f S turmer o r

2—2

20 ESSEX

St o urmere . After rece iv ing two smal l t r i butar i es,i t passes

Sudbury and w i dens t i l l i t meets th e t i de at Mann ingtree .From that town to the sea i t forms an estuary ten m i leslong

,and as much a s o n e mi le wide . Harwich stands at the

en t rance to the estuary on the south,o r Essex s i de

,and i t

i s at th i s port that the O rwel l also reaches the sea . FromLa n dgua rd Fort on the north to Harwich i s a fine expanseo f water

,but owing to th e se t of th e t idal currents and

othe r causes,th e banks have a tendency to increase

,thus

render ing the harbour of Harwich less easy of approach .

The country th rough wh ich th e S tou r fl ows is of aquiet

,pastoral character ; much of i t i s typ ical Engl ish

landscape,wh ich Constable and Gainsborough loved to

pain t .The Lea

,o r Lee as i t i s somet imes wri tten

,i s the

boundary r i ver on th e west,separat ing Essex from

M i dd lesex and Hertfordsh i re . The name of the r ive ri s of Engl ish or igi n and al though th e L ea i s not now ofmuch importance as a commerc ial h ighway

,i t has p layed

an important part i n th e h i sto ry of o ur land from the t imeo f Alfred downwards . M ichae l D rayton sang i ts charms

,

and Izaak Walton walked by i ts banks and wrote lov inglyof i ts value from the angler’s po int of v iew . It may notafford many ve ry str iking features of landscape scene ry

,

yet i t p resents several of consi derable charm . WhenIzaak Walton sat o n a p r imrose bank and looked downthe meadows

,. he though t “ they were t o o pleasant to

look o n but only o n hol idays,and then adds

I i n these flowery meads would be ,These crystal streams should solace me.

WATERSHED RIV ERS 21

The Lea'

i s not enti re ly an Essex r iver,fo r i t r i ses at

Houghton Regis,not far from Dunstable

,i n B edfordsh i re .

Ente r ing Hertfordsh i re n ear Harpenden,i t p roceeds i n a

south- easterly d i rect ion th rough Hatfiel d Park,and then

incl in ing t o the north- east i t passes H ertford and Ware.From th e lat te r town i t bends again to the south

,a n d i s

j o in ed by the S tort near Roydon,from wh ich place i t

forms the boundary between Essex and Hertfordsh i re,t i l l

i t leaves th e latter county near Waltham Abbey . It thenseparates Essex from M i dd lesex

,cont inu ing to flow n early

south,t i l l i t en ters the Thames at Blackwal l

,oppo s i te

Greenwich marshes . By means o f cutt ings i t has beenrendered nav igable for barges as far as Hertford ; but itwas once a much large r r iver than i t n o w i s

,for more

than 1 0 0 0 years ago Alfred d ive rted i ts waters -to'

l ay the'

Dan ish fleet aground . Th e re i s every reason to supposethat from Ch ingford onward to i ts j unct ion wi th theThames

,th e Lea had a very consi derabl e estuary

,and

'

Danish boats have been dug up in recen t years in theneighbouring marsh- lands .The lower port ion o f the Lea from Ch ingford i s now

marked by a ser ies of 1 2 great reservo i rs hav ing a waterarea o f 479 acres, a total storage capac i ty of m il l iongal lons

,and a shore l in e of over 1 5 miles . These are

the reservo i rs of the Me t ropol i tan Water Board,and

furn ish the supply of water t o a populat ion o f nearlyt w o mi l l ion people . Every day upwards of 40 mi l l iongal lons are conveyed t o th is enormous populat ion

,th rough

1 0 3 6 mi les o f pi pes . Ten of these reservo i rs can be fi l ledby grav i tat ion ; and two can be so fi l led up t o half o f

22 ESSEX

the i r capac i ty,and the remainder by pumping . Besides

these open reservo i rs,th ere are several covered reservo i rs

,

numerous pumping stat ions,and th ree large fi l te r beds .

Owing t o t he large and increasing populat ion of Londonover- the—Border and East London

,i t i s contemplated to

construct othe r reservo i rs so as to mee t th e great demandsof th i s d ist ri ct .After the Lea

,the Rod ing i s the princ i pal tr i butary

of the Thames in Essex . I ts name used to be wri ttenRoden

,and Ro o t hin g, but ne i the r of these forms is now

used . The Rod ing ri ses i n Easton Park,near Dunmow

,

and passes th rough an agricul tural d istr ict known as theRo o t hin gs,

” which comprises e igh t par ish es bearing th i sname . The r iver is j o ined by numerous l i ttle streams onit s southward j ourney

,wh ich l ies th rough fe rt i le tracts of

meadow land,oft en fl anked by be l ts of wood land and rich

c o rn fi e lds. The length of the Rod ing from its source toi ts j unct ion with th e Thames at Barking Creek i s about

3 4 miles . During a we t season floods often occur i n i tslower course

,and i f th e wate r from t he forest above i s

met by the t idal water from be low,the banks or “walls

,

”

as they are cal led,give way

,the meadows are flooded

,and

much damage i s the resu lt . Th e t ide ascends beyondIlford

,and th e Rod ing has been embanked as far as that

town .

The two l i ttle feed e rs o f th e Thames—the BourneB rook and the In gerbu rn—need not de ta i n us long. TheBou rne B rook has i ts source i n the h igh ground to th esouth of Navestock

,and fl ows past Romford t o the Thames .

The In ge rbu rn r i ses not far from the Bourne i n th e

RIV ERS 23

neighbourhood of B rentwood . Thence i t fl ows southward by Upminste r and Rainham

,and afte r a short

course of 1 2 miles j o ins the Thames .

6 . R ivers—Co lne , B la ck w a ter , Ch e lme r ,

Crouch a n d Ca m .

In the last chap ter we read about the border r i ve rs ofEssex

,and about the tri butar ies o f th e Thames in th is

county . We have now to consider the remain ing r iverswhose courses are enti re ly with in the county .

Th e R i ve r Co l ne a t C o lches te r

Let us begin with the r i ve r Colne,which is th e most

importan t r i ver in the north . I t takes it s name fromCo lo n ia

,the Roman Colcheste r

,and in th is respec t d iffers

24 ESSEX

from most o f our r ivers,wh ich often give th e i r n ames

‘

t o

the ch ief towns . Th e Colne r ises near B i rdbrook in thenorth-wes t of Essex

,not far from th e source of the S tou r .

I t flows south- east th rough a p icturesque d ist r i ct,pass ing

Yeldham and Hed ingham on i ts way to Halstead andColcheste r . At Wivenhoe i t rece ives a l i ttle stream

,th e

Roman River,and th en forms an estuary

,on wh ich stands

Th e B a th W a l l,Ma ldo n

B rightl ingsea , a yach tin g centre . From its source toColne Po int the length o f the Colne is about forty m i les

,

and i t i s nav igable for smal l c raft as far as Colcheste r .Proceed ing southwards we come to the Blackwater

,

wh ich is cal led the Pant in the earl ie r part of i ts course .Its source is at Wimb ish

,n o t far from Saffron .Walden

,in

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26 ESSEX

that Canewdon,Hockley

,and Ash ingdon claim to have

been the scenes of battles in the re ign of Canute . Theestuary o f t heCrouch extends for

,

a d istance o f th i rteenmi les

,and oppos i te Burnham

,which i s a cap i tal yach t in g

centre,there is qui te an arch i pe lago of i slands . Th is

b road t idal r i ve r fl owing between lo w h i l ls o n e i the r s i deand carry ing hundreds of pleasure yachts forms a mostp icturesque scene

,qui te un ique of i ts k i nd .

Th e last r ive r we shal l not i ce i s the r iver Cam,

wh ich has the smal lest r i ve r basi n in the county . I t iscomposed o f t w o b ranch es

,one r i s ing in B edfordsh i re

,

wh i le the other,bear ing th e class ic name o f the Gran ta

,

has i ts source in Quendon among th e chalk h il ls i n thenorth-west o f Essex . I t then fl ows th rough the beau t i fulgrounds of Audl ey End

,and leaves th e county at Ch ester

ford,on i ts way t o Cambridge .

7 . Geo logy a n d So i l .

By Geology we mean the study of the rocks, and wemust at the outse t expla in that th e term r ock i s used bythe geologist wi thout any reference to the hardness o r

compactness of the mater ial to wh ich th e name i s appl ied ;thus h e speaks of loose sand as a rock equal ly with a hardsubstance l ike grani te .Rocks are of two kinds

, ( 1 ) those la id down mostlyunder water

, ( 2) those due to th e act ion of fi re .Th e first k ind may be compared to shee ts of paper

one ove r the oth er . These sh ee ts are cal led beds, and such

GEOLOG' AND SOIL 27

beds are usual ly formed of sand (often contain ing pebbles),mud o r clay

,and l imestone or m ixtures of th ese mater ials .

They are laid down as fl at or nearly fl at sheets,but may

afte rwards be t i l ted as the resul t of movement of theeart h ’s c rust

,just as you may t i l t sheets of paper

,fold ing

them in to arch es and troughs,by press ing them at e i th e r

end . Again,we may find the tops o f the folds so pro

duced washed away as the resul t of th e wear ing action o f

r i vers,glac ie rs and sea-waves upon them

,as you m igh t

cut o ff th e t0 ps of the folds of the pape r wi th a pai r o fshears . This has happened wi th the anc ien t beds formingparts o f th e earth ’s crust

,and we therefore often find them

t i lted,with th e uppe r parts removed .

The oth er kinds o f rocks are known as igneous rocks,

wh ich have been mol ten unde r the act ion o f fi re andbecome sol id o n cool ing . When in th e mol ten stateth ey have been pou red o u t at th e surface as the l ava o f

volcanoes,o r have been forced in to othe r rocks and cooled

in the cracks and oth er places of weakn ess . Muchmater ial is also th rown out of volcanoes as volcan i c ashand dust

,and is p i led up o n th e s ides of th e volcano .

Such ashy mater ial may be arranged in beds, so that i tpartakes to some exten t of the qual i t i es o f th e t w o greatrock groups .The product ion of beds is of great importance to

geologists,for by means of these beds we can classi fy the

rocks accord ing to age . If we take two sheets o f pape r,

and lay one on the top of th e other on a table,th e uppe r

o n e has been lai d down after the other . S im i larly wi thtwo beds

,the upper i s also th e newe r

,and th e n ewer wi l l

28 ESSEX

remain on the top after earth-movements,save i n very

except ional cases wh ich need not be regard ed by us h ere,

and for general purposes we may regard any bed or set ofbeds rest ing on any other in our o w n country as be ingthe newer bed or se t .The movements wh ich affect beds may occur at

d ifferent t imes . O n e se t of beds may be lai d down fl a t,

th en thrown in to folds by movement,th e tops o f the

beds worn o ff,and anothe r se t of beds la id down upon th e

worn surface of the older beds,th e edges of wh ich wi l l

abut against th e oldest o f th e new se t o f fl atlydeposi tedbeds

,wh ich latte r may in turn und ergo d isturban ce and

renewal o f the i r upper port ions .Again

,aft er th e format ion of th e beds many changes

may occur i n them . Th ey may become hardened,pebble

beds be ing changed into conglome rates,sands

.

in to sandstones

,muds and clays in to mudstones and

i

shales,soft

depos i ts of l ime in to l imestone,and loose volcan ic ash es

i n to exceed ingly hard rocks . Th ey may also becomecracked

,and th e cracks are often ve ry regular

,runn ing in

two d i rect ions at righ t angles on e to th e o th e r . Suchcracks are known asj o z

'

n t s,and th e j o ints are very importan t

in affect ing th e physi cal geography of a d istr ict . Th en,

as the resul t o f great pressure appl ied s i deways,th e rocks

may be so changed that they can be Spl i t i nto thin slabs,

wh ich usual ly,though not necessar i ly

,spl i t along

i

pla'

n es

stand ing at h igh angles to the hor izon tal . Rocks affectedi n th is way are known as sla t es.

If we could flatten out al l th e beds of England,and

arrange them o n e over the oth er and bore a shaft through

Recen t 85 Pl eist o cen e

Pl io cen e

Eo cen e

Cr e ta ceous

Jura ssic

Tria ssic

Ca rb o n iferous

Devo n ian

Ordo vicia n

Camb rian

CHA RACT E RS o F Ro c k s

san d s, superfi c i al depo s i tsclays a n d san d s ch ieflychalk at t o psan d ston e s, mud a n d clays be low

sh ales, san d ston e s a n dooliti c l im e ston e sred san d ston e s a n d m arls, gyp sum a n d

saltred san d ston e s m agn e sian lim e ston e

san d ston e s, shale s a n d coal s at t o psan d ston e s in m iddlel ime ston e a n d sh ale s below

red san d ston e s,shale s, slate s a n d l im e s t on es

san d ston e s a n d sh ale sth in lim e ston e s

3 0 ESSEX

them,we should see them o n the s i des o f th e shaft

,the

newest appearing at th e top and the oldest at the bottom,

as shown in the figure . Such a shaft would have a deptho f between and fee t . The strata beds ared iv ided into th ree great groups cal led Pr imary or Palaeozoic

,

Secondary or Mesozoic,and Tert iary or Cainozo ic

,and

be low the Pr imary rocks are the oldest rocks o f Br i ta in,

wh ich form as i t were th e foundat ion stones on wh ichth e other rocks rest . These may be spoken o f as thePre-Cambr ian rocks . Th e th ree great groups are d iv idedinto m inor d iv is i ons known as systems . Th e names o fthese systems are arranged in ord er in the figure witha very rough i nd icat ion o f the i r re lat i ve importance

,

though the d iv is ions above the Eocene are made t o o

th ick,as otherwise th ey would hard ly show in the figure .

O n th e r igh t hand side,th e general characte rs of the rocks

o f each system are stated .

With these pre l im inary remarks we may now proceedto a br ief account o f the geology o f th e county .

Essex is part o f a tract known as the London Bas in,

wh ich has for it s framework the chalk format ion . Thesouth r im of th i s bas in comes t o the surface in Essex atPurflee t and Grays

,and the north rim appears in the

chalk uplands of north -west Essex at Heydon , SaffronWalden

,and elsewhere . The hollow of the bas in i s

known as th e London Clay,wh ich covers about four

fift hs of the county . Th e succeed ing depos i ts i n Essexare ch iefly smal l outly ing tracts o f c rag

,and some a ccumu

la t io n s o f glac ial d r i ft . These l ie over the uplands asgrave l and boulder c lay

,and in r iver val leys in the form o f

GEOLOGY AND SOIL 3 1

gravel,bri ck-earth

,and al luv ium . From th is b ri ef outl ine

i t wi l l be seen t hat the geology o f Essex i s not so var iedas in some counties

,and by the ai d of th e geological map

i t wil l be qui te easy to understand the fol lowing detai ls .The most anc ien t rocks known t o geologists are the

Primary o r Palaeozo i c,but none o f them come to the

surface i n Essex . In 1 858 , as a result o f boring to adepth o f 1 0 29 fee t below the surface at Harwich , th e coalmeasures were n o t reach ed

,

‘ but there were ev idences ofsome slaty rock . Wi t h th i s except i on

,the oldest format ion

in Essex is th e gaul t,wh ich consists o f st iff blue and grey

clay and marl,hav ing a th i ckness of 72 fe et at Loughton .

Although the gaul t does no t appear at the surface inEssex

,i t i s p robably everywhere presen t beneath the

chalk.

The chalk i s seen at th e surface ove r a smal l port iono f Essex

,and where i t does occur i ts presence i s ind i cated

by p i ts and l ime-k i lns . What i s known as the m iddlechalk i s exposed in th e ne ighbourhood o f Heydon

,Great

Cheste rford,and Hadstock i n the north-wes t . I t i s a hard

rock chalk,about ten feet th ick

,wel l-bedded in layers

,

and with very few fl in ts . The upper chalk appears aboveground at Grays and Pu rflee t i n the south

,and in parts

of the north -west . It i s general ly soft and has layerso f fl int . At Hangman’s Wood near Grays there aresome remarkable excavat ions in the chalk known asDen eho les. Shafts are carried th rough fifty or s ixty fee to f gravel

,and then cont inued about twenty feet in to

chalk . Who made these Den eho les,with thei r remark

able and extensi ve chambers,and what purpose they were

3 2 ESSEX

intended to serve,wil l be considered in another chapter .

The chalk i s important as a water-bear ing format ion,and

from i t suppl i es are obtained for many o f the Essex wel ls .O verly ing th e chalk th ere is general ly found a mass

o f pale and green ish-grey sand,and sandy clay . This

formation i s known a s the Thanet Beds,wh ich are exposed

between Purflee t and Ave ley,at S t ifford

,Chadwel l

,and

e lsewhere . The Thanet Beds are succeeded by theWoolwich and Read ing B eds

,wh ich cons ist of mottled

clay,clay and sand

,green ish -grey sand

,and fl in t pebbles .

These beds are from twenty-fi ve fee t to sixty feet inth ickness and are seen at the surface at O rsett andS tanford- le-Hope in the south

,and at Thaxted and

Ca stle Hed ingham in the north .

Afte r the Blackheath B eds,wh ich have been recog

n ised at Barkings ide and Shoeburyness,we come to the

London Clay . Th is format ion,upwards o f 40 0 feet

th i ck,may be seen exposed in th e cl iffs at Southend

,

C lacton,Fr in ton

,and Wal ton- o n - th e-Naze . I t occurs

at the surface along the val ley of the C rouch,and ove r

Epp ing and Hainaul t Forests,i n the south of Essex

,and

along the val leys o f th e Colne,Blackwater

,and Che lmer.

I t is a st iff brown clay wh ich soaks up a good deal o fwater i n we t weather

,and sh rinks and cracks in ve ry dry

weather . The London C lay i s extensi ve ly dug fo r br ickand t i l e making in South Essex .

The Bagshot Beds are found over the London Clayand cons ist of fine

,l igh t- colou red sands wi th laye rs of

p i pe clay,and

,i n places

,pebble beds . This formation

occurs in outl i e rs at Epp ing,High Beech , B rentwood ,

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3 4 ESSEX

and i ron,and port ions of the skeletons of the dog

,fox

,

horse,deer

,re indee r

,e lk

,and beaver .

Although Essex i s general ly flat,and espec ial ly along

the r i ver and sea -coasts,wh ich are bounded by the

marshes,yet i nland there i s an abundan t var i ety o f soi l

,

and many parts of th e coun ty are pleasantly d i vers ifiedwi th arable land and pasture

,with woodlands

,commons

,

and well- t imbered hedgerows .

8 . Na tura l H istory .

Various facts,wh ich can on ly be shortly ment ioned

h e re,go to show that the B ri t i sh I sles have not ex isted as

such,and separated from the Cont inent

,for any great length

of geological t ime . Around o ur coasts,fo r i nstance

,are in

several places remain s of forests n o w sunk beneath th esea

,and only to be seen at extreme low wate r. Between

England and the Cont inent th e sea is ve ry shal low,

but a l i tt le west of I re land we soon come to very deepsound ings . Great B ri ta in and I rel and were thus or iginal lypart o f the Cont inent, and are examples o f what geologistscal l cont inental islands .But we also have n o less certain proof that at some

anterior pe riod th ey were almost ent i rely submerged .

The fauna and flora thus be ing destroyed,the land would

have to be restocked wi th an imals and plants from theCon t inent when un ion again took place, the influx

'

o f

course coming from the east and south . As howeve r i tw as not long before separat ion occu rred , not al l thecont inental spec ies could establ i sh themsel ves . We should

NATURAL HISTOR' 3 5

thus expect t o find that the parts in the neighbourhoodof the Con tinent were r icher in spec i es

,and those furthest

o ff poorest,and th i s p roves to be the case both in plants

Jo h n R ay ,F .R . S .

and an imals . While B ri ta in has fewer speci es than Franceor Belgium, I re land has st i l l less than B r i ta i n .

ESSEX

The flora o f Essex i s smalle r than that o f Kent,owing

no doubt to the greate r un i form ity of i ts so i l . The longl ine of sea- coast wi th i ts extens ive sal t marsh es m igh thave been expected to p roduce more rar i t ies than arefound in i t ; for al though there are a few mari t ime plantsof a local character

,the re i s gene ral ly a great sameness i n

the vegetat ion of these marshes .Epping Forest

,a fine woodland tract of nearly 60 0 0

acres,i s,for i ts exten t

,r ich in i ts flora . This i s owing t o

i ts variety o f so i l and aspect,and the contrast of extremely

dry posi t ions wi th damp hol lows . Among the flowerswh ich are e i th er rare o r remarkab le

,may be mention ed

the sundew,the grass o f Parnassus

,th e bo g bean , and th e

l i ly of th e vall ey .

On e of the most inte rest ing plants of Essex i s th et rue oxl ip

,a very beauti ful pr imula wh ich 18 abundant in

that part of th e county that borde rs on S uffolk,Cambridge

,

and He rtfo rdsh i re . Essex,howeve r

,has n o t many rari t ies

in '

it s flora,but th ree plants may be noted

,v iz .

—thes ickle- leaved hare’s ear

,th e Fyfi e ld pea, and the smal l

fru i ted goose grass .There is much that might be sa i d of th e trees of

Essex,espec ial ly those growing in Epp ing Forest . Th e

hornbeam,oak

,hawthorn

,b i rch

,beech

,are among the

bette r know n,but the hornbeam is perhaps th e most dis

t in c t ive of them . Epp ing Forest is a wood of hornbeams,

wh ich are n o t common in Great B ri ta in save in Essexand He rtfordsh i re . The hornbeam grows in al l so i ls, andi t i s sa id that i t was or iginal ly planted for the sake o f th edee r

,who browse o n i ts leaves .

NATURAL HISTOR' 3 7

The wi ld an imals o f Essex are s im i lar to those thatare

.

found in most Engl i sh counti es . The fox,stoat

,

and wease l are common throughout the county,but th e

badger,mart en

,and polecat are now rare . The squ i rrel i s

not we l l represen ted,al though i t i s i ncreasi ng in numbers .

The otter is to be found in several of the Essex r ivers .The fal low dee r i s the most consp icuous and d ist i nct i ve

o f th e wi ld an imals l iv ing in Epp ing Forest,where i t h as

wandered fo r many centur i es . I t h as remained unchangedin type and i s almost a d ist inct b reed . The dee r aresmal l in s ize and o f a un i form dark brown

,never spotted

w i th wh i te o r fal low coloured . They number about 1 3 0 ,and are decreasing. Th e red dee r is the largest andhandsomest o f the dee r t r i be of Great B r i ta in , andwas common in th e Forest t i l l th e early part of then ine teenth century . I t has been re- i n t roduced in recent

years, but is so misch i evous that i t i s not looked uponwith favour . The roe- dee r

,the smal lest and most

beaut i ful o f our dee r,had become ext inct

,but was

re—introduced into th e Forest by Mr E . N . Buxton in1 8 83 , and there are now some forty o f them .

Essex i s r ich both i n the spec i es o f b i rds,and also in

th e abundance o f ind iv iduals . The county is wel l placed,

be ing near the Continent and o n th e h ighway fol lowedby th e migrants across the North Sea . Its coast—l i ne i sspec ial ly sui ted to attract al l k inds o f shore- lov ing b i rds

,

and a large exten t o f the su rface,al though i t lacks

mountainous tracts and large moors,has the advantage

of Epping Forest and Hainaul t Forest,wh ich are fine

preserves fo r al l k inds of warble rs .

3 8 ESSEX

Among the sea -b i rds the b lack—headed gul l,cal led in

Essex the peewi t,i s very nume rous . It i s a fac t worth

noting that no less than th ree i slands round the coast arenamed Pewit

,probably because they are th e breed ing

places of th i s b i rd . In the summer,th e shores are almost

devo id of b i rd l i fe,for there are n o rocks and cl iffs ; but

in the autumn and w inte r the re are swarms of gul ls,

d ive rs,grebes

,pe tre ls

,gui l lemots

,ducks

,and geese .

Throughout Essex the n igh t ingale i s found in everywoodland . Th e common wagtai l and k i ngfishe r frequentth e st reams

,and rooks congregate on th e borders o f the

Forest . Heronries may st i l l be seen at B i rch,Goldhange r,

and in Wanstead Park . Th e b i rds o f Epping Forestforme rly suffe red much at th e hands of b i rd-catchers

,but

fortunate ly they are now proh i b i ted by th e by- laws .

9 . Th e Coa st— from B o w Creek to

South end .

The coast- l ine o f Essex i s of cons id erable interest , fori t i s i r regular and inden ted i t has numerous r ive r-mouthsand creeks ; o ff the Crouch are many large i slands ; andin the shal low waters that border th e east coast the re areextensi ve sand- banks . In th i s and fol lowing chapte rs weshal l deal w i th these subj ects

,and also make reference to

the loss and gain along th e coast,the p rotect ion of the

coast,and final ly th e methods of l igh ting i t .Perhaps we shal l do wel l in th is chapter i f we make

a v is i t to the ch ief places round the coast commenc ing at

THE COAST 3 9

the j unct ion o f the r ive r Lea with th e Tham es nearB lackwal l . Essex begins at Bow Creek

,and stretch ing

along the shore fo r two or th ree m i les a re the V i ctor i aand Albert Docks

,wh ich give accommodation for the

l argest vesse ls . They have fine mode rn hyd raul ic cranesand hois ts

,and the warehouses sto re immense quan ti t ies

o f fore ign produce . B eh ind the docks are the levels o f

Plaistow and East Ham,wh ich extend t o th e populous

borough o fWest Ham and th e town o f Barking .

Barking is one of the oldest towns of Essex,and unti l

recent years i ts fi shin g- smacks used to convey the i r suppl iesof fi sh t o B i ll i ngsgate Marke t . Th e modern town o f

Barking i s not at al l pleasan t,and the Rod ing

,so charming

in i ts upper course,here becomes s luggish and muddy .

A glance at the map wil l show that London is muchindebted t o Barking

,for the great north ern outfal l o f th e

London main-dra inage sys tem is at the mouth of Barkingcreek

,o r Creekmo u th as i t i s cal led . Th is great sewer

,

after crossing the East Ham Level,ente rs an enormous

reservo i r at Creekm o u th,whence i t is d i scharged in to the

Thames a few hours afte r h igh t i de .The course o f the Thames to th e sea is marked on

the Essex side by low marshes protected by walls andembankments . Dagenham

,wh ich we soon reach

,i s

famous in our h i story for i ts contest wi th ove rwhelmingh igh wat e rs

,and we shal l refe r to what i s known as

Dagenham B reach in another chapter . As we pass along,

we find that each bend of the Thames has i ts o w n name .From Woolwich Reach we pass t o Barking Reach

,thence

to Halfway Reach,and on to Eri th Reach .

40 ESSEX

Th e monotonous level o f th e marsh es i s broken by thechalk cl iffs that appear at Purflee t . Numbe rs o f bargesare employed in carry ing away cargoes o f chalk and l ime .Pu rflee t is famous for i ts great powder-magazin e

,which

sto res about barrels o f gunpowder . B eyondPurflee t we come t o the Thurrocks —West Thurrock

, ‘

Grays Thurrock, and L i ttle Thurrock . Grays i s themost importan t of the th ree

,and has excellent anchorage

fo r sh ips . The train ing sh ip “ Exmouth ” i s stat ionedhe re

,and there i s frequent commun ication with G ravesend

on the Kentish shore .Leav ing L i ttl e Thurrock w e soon arr ive at Ti lbu ry

,

which i s exactly oppos i te Gravesend . We general lyassoc iate Ti lbury with the v is i t o f Queen El izabeth in1 58 8 , but i t had been famou s l ong before that date . Atleast two hundred years before 1 588 , the re had been somefortificat ions fo r the defence of th e r i ve r. Hen ry VIIIbui l t a block- house

,and erected a beacon

,so that i t i s

qu i te obv ious why o ur Engl ish troops were centred atTi lbu ry when th e Span ish Armada th reaten ed us wi thinvasion . S ince the defeat of the Armada

,Tilbury Fort

has been enlarged and strengthened,and at the present

t ime i t i s surrounded by a deep and wide d i tch . Whilei ts guns command the ri ver

,it s garr ison

,i n case o f

necess i ty,could flood the whole d istr ict .

The modern Tilbury is famous for it s fine and spac iousdocks

,wh ich are conn ec ted by the M i d land Railway wi th

London . Bes ides be ing p rov ided with deep-water andd ry docks

,the re are baggage sheds and extens ive ware

houses . Th e Tilbury Docks are the place of departure

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42 ESSEX

inland to P i tsea and Ben flee t,and remind ing us of th e

Dan ish p i rates who once landed h e re and ravaged thecountry fo r mi les around . These c reeks are a commonfeatu re on the Essex coast

,and were exact ly su i ted t o th e

shal low boats o f th e Danes . Pass ing th is creek we see

th e lo w i sland of Canvey,wh ich is d escr i bed in Chapte r 1 1

,

and then the quaint l i ttle fi shin g- town of Le igh comes ins igh t . Leigh i s the last place o n th e Essex coast that maybe said to be in th e Thames

,for a boundary stone

,o r the

C row ston e,

”as i t i s cal led

,marks the boundary o f the

Thames Conse rvancy Board ’s author i ty .

Leigh is rapid ly changing in character,and the o ld

world fi shin g-v i l lage unde r th e cl iffs is be ing superseded

by the mode rn L e igh o n th e cl iffs . The large andanc ien t par ish church

,with its mass ive square towe r

,

has memories o f Leigh ’s worthy seame n with in i ts wal ls,

and such notable members o f Trin i ty House as Salmonand Haddock wil l not soon be forgotten . Leigh is fastbecoming a popular hol iday resort

,and is now connected

by marine walks wi th Westcl iffe- o n- Sea, the pleasantwestward extension of Southend .

The cl iffs from Le igh to Southend are of some elevat ion,

and be ing more or less wooded are no t the least p icturesquepart o f th e Essex coast . Southend has made wonderfu lst r ides o f late years

,and now offers numerous att ract ions

to the thousands of summer v is i tors . The v iew acrossthe estuary of the Thames is both extensi ve and an imated

,

and the fam il iar p ie r st retch ing fo r more than a mile anda quarter into the r ive r i s o n e o f the sources o f mun ic ipalweal th . Southend has gained a reputation th rough the

THE COAST 43

enterprise o f i ts mun ic ipal authori t ies,and i t also cla ims

to be o n e o f the d r i est and sunn iest places in England .

S o uthe nd B ea ch

1 0 . Th e Coa st— from South end to

Ha rw i ch .

From South end the coast becomes lo w and bendssomewhat to the sou th- east t i l l Shoeburyness is reach ed .

Shoeburyness,rath e r more than th ree mi les from Southend

,

i s a garr ison town,and has a School o f Gunne ry .

” Mosto f the b ig guns used in o u r army are tested here

,and long

ranges seawards have been establ ished . A walk along thebeach wi l l br ing to v i ew targets o f various th ickness and

44 ESSEX

afte r gun- p ract i ce the shot are recove red from th e sand inwh ich th ey have been embedd ed .

The Essex coast now turns t o th e north- east and wepass a grou p of islands ly ing at the mouth o f th e Crouch .

Fo uln ess Point i s th e extreme point of the largest islan d,

and Holywe l l Po int i s o n th e oppos i te coast . From th islas t po in t to Sales Poin t th e coast runs almost due north

,

and the d i str i ct known as Dengie Flats is not wi thoutin te rest. Th is low marshy coas t betw een th e Crouchand th e Blackwate r i s typ ical o f many other parts o f theEssex coast . I t has been often d escr i bed

,bu t we se lect

th e account gi ven by Mr Ride r Haggard,who v is i ted th is

ne ighbourhood i n 1 9 0 1 . He wri tesThe v iew look ing ove r the Dengie Flats and S t

Pete r’s San ds from th e summit of the earthen bank wh ichkeeps o u t th e sea

,was ve ry d esolate and s t range . B eh ind

us lay a vast,d rear expanse of land won from th e ocean in

days bygon e,borde red o n o n e s id e by the B lackwate r and

o n the othe r by th e Crouch Rive rs,and saved

,none t o o

well,from th e maste ry of the waves by th e slop ing

earthen bank o n wh ich we stood . In front,thousands of

acres o f grey mud where grew dul l,unwholesome- looking

grasses . Far,far away o n th i s waste expanse two t iny

,

moving specks,men engaged in seeking for samph i re o r

some other t reasure o f th e ooze-mud . Then th e th in,

wh i te l i p of the sea,and beyo n d ,

it s sapph i re edge i n thehalf- d istance the gaunt skeleton o f a long-wrecked sh i p .T o the north on th e hor izon a l ine o f t rees to the west

,

over th e great pla in,where stood one o r two lonely farms ,

another l ine of trees . O n th e d istan t deep some sai ls,

THE COAST 45

and in th e middle marsh,a barge gl id ing up a h idden

c reek as though she moved across the sol i d land . Th en,

Spread l ike a golden garmen t over the vast expanses o fearth and ocean

,the flood of sunsh in e

,and in o ur ears th e

rush of th e north-west gale and the th r i l l ing song of larkshanging h igh above the yel low

,sal t- soaked fields .

Not far south of Sales Poin t are th e ru ins o f S t Pete ro n - the-Wall

,wh ich i s supposed t o mark the s i te of a

Roman ci ty,which was o n e of a se ri es bu i l t fo r th e

defence of the “ Saxon shore,and of wh ich very smal l

port ions yet remain . About half the s i te has,howeve r

,

been destroyed by the in roads of the sea . Round ing SalesPo int we ente r the large estuary of th e B lackwater

,and

o n our way t o Maldon we pass th e l i ttle green i sland ofO sea . Maldon i s one o f the most anc ient towns andboroughs in Essex

,and has the un ique d ist inct ion o f a

church wi th a t r iangular tower .Following the low marshy coast from Maldon to th e

north-east,we reach B righ tl ingsea

,wh ich l i es o n th e

Colne opposi te Mersea Island . Th is l i ttl e port i s thecentre of the yacht ing in terest

,and i ts peopl e are

mainly dependent o n th is past ime . There are alwaysmany yach ts lying in B r ightl ingsea Creek

,and many more

further up th e Coln e at Wivenhoe . I t i s a curious fac tthat B rightl ingsea used to be a member ” o f the CinquePorts

,and belonged to the borough and port of Sandwich

,

i n Kent . From Brightl ingsea th e coast bends to th e southeast as far as Colne Po in t

,and then makes a curve general ly

to the north- eas t,pass ing C lacton and Frin t o n

,to th e

Naze .

46 ESSEX

C lacton has grown rap id ly in favour,and i s a wel l

l a i d o u t and brac ing water ing place . From C lacton tothe Naze there are cl iffs

,wh ich are not h igh

,al though the

sea-v iews from the i r summits are fine . Near Clacton i sS t O syth ’s Abbey

,with a good entrance gate-house .

Walton-o h—the—N aze l i es o n a narrow stri p of land,

C la c to n - o n - S e a

approached by a long wind ing creek on the north wh ichh as i ts open ing in Hamfo rd Wate r . T o th e north- east ofthe old v i l lage of Walton the land ri ses to a k ind of headland

,and forms the p romontory cal led the Naze . In

Hamford Water are t he l i t tle i slands o f H o rsea andHolmes

,and al l th is part o f Essex br istles with Dan ish

names .

THE COAST 47

Dovercourt,fac ing th e sea

,i s h al f-a-mile from Harwich

on the wide estuary of the O rwel l and S tou r . Harwichhas n o t much accommodation fo r v is i tors, but i t i s nearlyalways busy with sh ipp ing . The town i s mean and dul l

,

with an un -Engl ish look about i t,but th ere i s a pleasant

v iew across the estuary . Harwich is the term inus o f theGreat Easte rn Rai lway

,whose fine boats run da i ly t o th e

Cont inent from the quay at Parkeston . The anchorageand shelter at Harwich are so good that i t i s an importantyacht ing centre . The estuary of the S tour bounds theres t of the Essex coast

,and the t ide i s fe l t beyond

Mann ingtree,a l i ttl e j unct ion on th e Great Eastern

Rai lway .

1 1 . Th e Coa st—t h e Is la nds .

A glance at the map of England wi l l show that - theinsular features o f Essex are qui te d ifferent from those (ifany other county . Essex is the on ly county that has somany islands

,l arge and small

,qui te close to it s shores

,

and i t w i l l be wel l t o cons ider th em accord ing t o th e r i ve rmouths in wh ich th ey are s i tuated . Canvey i s in theThames an arch i pelago consist ing of Fo u ln ess

,Wa l lasea

,

Potton,Havengore

,and N ew England are at the estuary

o f the Crouch Northey and O sea are i n the B lackwater ;Mersea i s at the estuary of the Colne ; and Ho rsea

,

Holmes,Pew i t

,and many smalle r i slands are i n Hamford

Water,t o rt he south of the estuary o f the S tour . All

these islands have ce rtain characteri st i cs in common .

48 ESSEX

With the except ion o fMe rsea,wh ich is a l i ttl e h i lly

,they

are al l very low and marshy,and embankments have been

constructed to p reven t i nundations . Most of them canbe reached on foot at low water

,and i n al l cases the

su rrounding sea i s very shal low .

O se a Is la n d

Canvey Island,probably mentioned by Ptolemy as

Kan on as,i s most eas i ly approach ed from Ben flee t . I f the

t ide i s lo w,th e island may be reached by means of planks

and stepp ing- stones,but i f othe rwise th e ferryboat pl i es

across th e narrow channe l . Canvey has been termed themost cur ious p lace i n England

,and there i s certain ly much

that s tr ikes the v is i to r as be ing qu i te d ifferen t from anyother part of our country . It is pe rhaps th e nearestapproach to Hol land that we can imagine . There is a

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50 ESSEX

upon wh ich i t i s safe to walk at low water . The islandi s best reached from Waker ing S ta i rs

,some d istance north

o f Shoeburyness . Across th e channel b rooms are placedabout every th i rty yards

,and th e re are nearly 40 0 of them .

Every year they are renewed,but i t i s n ecessary t o repai r

many o f them at shorte r in te rvals . Across th is passagea pony- cart can be d ri ven

,but trave l le rs general ly walk

barefoot .Th e re i s another road to Foulness from Burnham .

A walk o f four m i les along th e sea -wal l br ings o n e t o

Holywel l Po in t,and th ere an oyste r watch- boat can be

obta ined t o reach the island . Approach ed from the sea,

the i sland presents a d reary aspect,th e foreshore be i ng

backed by th e long brown l in e of th e sea-wal l . Fromthe wal l th e prospec t is not unpleasing

,for the re i s a w ide

expanse o f pasture,with

'

farmsteads and cottages,a wind

mil l,and th e sp i re of S t Mary ’s church . Foulness, l ike

Canvey,i s a min iature Hol land . There are dykes o r

sea-wal ls with th e low- ly ing land beh ind th em ; th e re aregreen pastures ; th ere are br igh t-colou red , brown- sai ledbarges ; and there are herons, wh ich remind us of th elow country across the North Sea . The island so i l wasformerly the r ichest i n the county

,and now i t produces

good crops of wheat,beans

,c love r

,and wh i te mustard .

Wa l lasea,th e next la rgest i sland of this arch ipelago

,

i s reach ed from Burnham,and the fe rry i s the means o f

communicat ion wi th the othe r i slands . These i slandshave s im i lar character i st ics to those of Fo u ln ess

,for there

is the same Dutch landscape o f marshes,dykes

,windmi l ls,

and cattle .

THE COAST 51

Mersea i s the larges t o f the many low islands wh ich,

separated from th e main land by wind ing “ fleets ” and“ rays

,

” l i e o ff th e Essex coast . Th e i sland i s h i l ly,and

much more p icturesque than e i ther Canvey or Foulness .Th e value o f i ts pos i t ion between the B lackwater andthe Colne w as grasped by the Romans and the Danes

,

who both settled in i t and have left traces of the i r o ccupa t io n . The island may be app roach ed from Peldon

,

and i t i s connected wi th the mai nland by a causeway,

marked out on e i th er s i de by a row o f wh i te stakes. Thisnarrow passage

,fi rst constructed by th e Romans

,is called

the St r ood,and w as formerly v isi bl e on ly at lo w water .

I t has been recently raised,and i s now passab le at al l

t imes . Th ere was a Roman res idence of some importance at West Mersea

,and Roman pavements and

foundat ions have been d iscovered . O n the north- easts ide o f the island is Pyflee t Channel, which i s famousfor i ts oysters . Th e marshes around the i s land are p rot ec t ed from inundat ions by the sea-wal l

,a bank o f s tones

and rock about e ight feet h igh form ing a path wh ichfol lows al l the wind ings o f th e coast . Mersea has t w o

par ish es,East Mersea and West Me rsea, wh ich are s i tuated

at e i the r end o f the island . The island farms are d iv idedby th i ck hedgerows

,and the enclosed fie lds are general ly

smal l . Th e land r ises steeply about West Me rsea v i l lage,whose church i s a grey Norman bui ld ing o f fl in t and stone

,

with some Roman b rickwork .

Final ly,a word as to the names o f these islands . I t

wi l l be noticed that many end in ea o r ey . Th is is th eAnglo- Saxon equ ivalen t to the Scand inav ian ea o r i sland

,

52 ESSEX

and we have th e sam e root again in o ur Thames wordeyo t , o r as i t i s somet imes spelt

,a it .

1 2 . Th e Coa st . Its Loss a n d Ga in . It s

Protection . Sa ndb a nk s . Ligh t '

h ouses a n d Ligh tsh ip s .

In th is chapte r we are going to conclude ou r studyo f the coasts of Essex by consider i ng th e loss and gainround i ts shores

,the p rotect ion o f the coast from the

i n roads o f th e sea,and the l igh t ing and buoying o f the

sandbanks and d ifficul t channels .The east coast of England has suffe red ve ry severe ly

from marine erosion,and every year we lose land equal

i n size to the i sland of He l igoland . In Norfolk and Suffolkseveral places have been submerged

,and al though Esse

has n o t fared so bad ly,yet we find that Walton- o h -the

Naze and Harwich have decreased in s ize owing to thedemol i t ion o f la n d by the sea . At Clacton-o u- Sea th e cl iffsare c rumbl ing away in many places

,and a few years ago

several h undred acres of land were ru ined by the greatflood . S i r Charles Lyel l , the great geologist, examinedthe coast from Harwich southwards

,be tween the years

1 82 9 and 1 8 3 8 , and h e had fears that the i sthmus onwh ich Harwich stands would

,at no remote per iod

,be

come an island . His fears have been just ified to th isextent

,that between 1 824 and 1 84 1 th e Essex p romontory

at B eacon Cl iff lost n o less than 3 50 feet .Whi le the Essex coast ‘i s los ing i n some places

,there

THE COAST 53

has been a correspond ing gain i n others . Land that hadbeen overwhelmed by the sea has been regained , andspec ial ly noticeable is th is i n the Thames estuary . Therel and wh ich was once under water has been w o n from thesea by the unceasing toi l o f man . I t is worthy of remarkthat th is work was accompl ished in several instances byfore ign engin ee rs

,espec ial ly those from Hol land and

Flanders . V e rmuyde n and Joas Cro ppen bu rg are twonames that are worthy of remembrance

,for they reclaimed

marsh lands,and rescued and embanked Canvey Island in

th e Thames .Canvey Island is very low

,and in parts i t i s actual ly

below th e sea - level . In 1 62 2 th ere was danger that i twould become noth ing but a sandbank and the ownersagreed to give a th i rd o f th e i s land to Cro ppen burg i f hewould keep out the sea . Th is Dutch engineer broughtover a company of h is countrymen

,and fough t success

fully against th e sea with th e same courage that theyd isplayed in the i r own country . Cro ppen burg and manyo f his fr i ends afte rwards se ttl ed i n Canvey

,and bu i l t

Dutch houses and cottages .From the earl i est t imes i t has been necessary to em

bank the Thames and th e Essex coasts . From Richmondt o the sea th e Thames i s real ly a channel confined with inart ific ial embankments

,and by th is means a large extent

o f fert i l e land is protected from inundat ion o n both s ideso f the r iver. The banks fi rs t ra i sed were often of insuffic ien t st rength to keep o u t the wate r

,espec ially when

a st rong north- easterly wind w as blowing at Spring- t ide .Down to th e end o f the seven teenth century

,scarce ly a

54 ESSEX

year passed wi thout an i r ru pt ion of the water and a consequent breach in th e sea -wal ls .Such a breach took place at Dagenham in 1 62 1

,wh ich

was stopped by V e rmuyden . His work,however

,was

undone in 1 70 7, du r ing a flood and Spring- t i de d r iven bya north- easte rly wind

,when h is slu ice was damaged and

the bank was breach ed . Many acres of the marsh we reutterly lost and washed in to the r i ve r

,th e re form ing a

shoal nearly a m ile long that blocked up th e channe l .With eve ry t ide 1 0 0 0 acres o f the marshes weredrowned

,and at low water two great r iver- l ike arms

Were le ft,st retch ing across th e Dagenham and Haver ing

Levels .Many efforts were mad e to repai r the damage

,and

although the owners Spen t much money the i r endeavourswere long baffl ed . At length the ai d o f Parl iament wasobtained and a grant w as voted for th is work

,wh ich

was o f nat ional importance . The ri ft i n the wal l wasfifty fee t deep and two h undred feet wide when Captai nPe rry

,who had don e some enginee r ing work in Russia

,

took Dagenham B reach i n hand and successful ly a ccom

plished h i s task by an outlay of He d rove i nlong pi les wel l fi tted to each oth e r , and p rotected the i rfounda t ion by th rowing in loads of clay . For five yearshe laboured at th i s task

,and though h e succeeded in

stopp ing the breach,h e der ived n o profi t from the und er

tak i ng . The top of the bank is now fifty feet above lowwate r

,and the broad slope on each S i de shows that the

th ickness is also conside rable . The sto pp ing o f Dagenham Breach was a great tr iumph fo r Captain Perry

,

THE COAST 55

whose enginee r i ng ab i l i ty was afterwards d i splayed inth e Fen d istr i ct .All round the Essex coasts i t has been found necessary

to bu i ld sea-walls ; or to construct groynes for the p rot ec t io n o f th e land . In many respects th e county presentsa Dutch- l ike appearance

,and the d is tr i ct beh ind Clacton

i s known as Hol land .”

Let us now turn our attent ion to th e depth of thesea

,and the sandbanks o ff th e coast . The sea round o u r

coast i s ve ry shal low,and at a d i stance of 2 0 or 3 0 mi les

from the shore i s not deepe r than 1 0 o r 1 2 fathoms,wh i le

at the entrance of the Thames i t i s on ly 6 or 7 fathoms .Great care has to be exerc ised in nav igat ing, and vessel sgeneral ly take a p i lot on board to gu ide them up t o

London . A glance at the map wi l l Show how extensivea n d numerous are the sandbanks

,wh ich in some ca ses are

nearly d ry at low water . The largest of th ese banksare the Maplin s, wh ich are covered at h igh t i de wi thabout ten feet of water . O ff th e Map lin s is the measuredm i le

,where vessels o f the Royal Navy test the i r speed .

Among other Essex sandbanks are the Fo u ln ess Sands,

Ray Sands,and D engie Sands .

It w i l l at once be seen that so d ifficu l t a coast asEssex needs to be careful ly l ighted and buoyed . Th iswork i s done by the Elder B reth ren o f Trin i ty House

,an

authori ty that has the duty of e rect ing and maintain ingl igh thouses and oth er marks and signs of the sea .” Theyde r i ve the i r i ncome from l ight-dues lev i ed on Sh ipp ing

,

and are thus able to erect and mainta i n l ighthouses,l igh t

sh i ps,beacons

,buoys

,e tc . They also have the power

56 ESSEX

to appoint and l icense p i lo ts,and remove wrecks wh en

dange rous to nav igat ion . I t i s worth noti ng that wh ereasa hundred years ago there we re only about th i r ty l igh thouses and l ightsh i ps around the B ri t ish coast

,th ere are

now nearly 9 0 0 .

The fi rst Essex l igh t was e rected at Harwich in 1 666

by S i r Wi l l i am Batten,who in re turn for h is expense i n

maintain ing th i s beacon was al lowed t o levy a tax oncoals and fore ign Sh ipp ing that ente red Harwich . H egained a considerable income by th is m eans

,and we find

that th is l igh t w as thus maintained down to 1 863 , wh enthe present l igh thou se at Dovercourt was e rected . In1 8 3 3 , the Trin i ty House bui l t a smal l l ighthouse at Purflee t for expe riments with new invent ions

,and s ince that

date many l igh thouses and buoys have been placed aroundth e Essex coast . The Nore Lightsh i p marks the entrancet o the Thames

,and i ts wh i te l ight revolves every hal f

m inute . The Maplin L ight is on th e south - east part ofthe Sand

,and i ts red and wh i te l igh t occul ts every hal f

m inute .Among th e l igh tsh i ps placed between th e sands

,th e

ch ief are the Sw in Middle,Sunk

,Lon g Sand

,and K ent ish

Knock . Th e latte r has a wh i te l igh t revolv ing everym inu t e

,and is connected wi th th e shore by te legraph for

l i fe- sav ing purposes . B esides th e var ious l ighthouses andl igh tsh i ps on or n ear the sands

,most o f th e seaports and

coast- towns have the i r own p ier- l igh ts,some of wh ich are

of considerable importance .In add it ion to prevent ing wrecks eve ry effort i s made

to rescue l i fe,and for th is purpose several of the seaports

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58 ESSEX

have l i fe—boats . Those stat ioned at Harwich,Walton

o n -Naze,Clacton-o n -Sea

,and Southend are th e most

important,and add i t ional help i s often rendered by l i fe

boats from the Kent i sh and Suffo lk seaports .

1 3 . C l ima te a n d Ra infa l l .

Cl imate depends on the temperature,the prevai l ing

winds,the d ryn ess or moisture of the ai r

,the characte r

o f th e so i l,and oth e r factors ; and we may define th e

cl imate o f a d istr i c t as the state of that d istr ict wi th re

gard to weather th roughout th e year . In cons ide r ingthe cl imate of Essex

,we must bear i n m ind that i t i s

a mari t ime county,hav ing the mod i fy ing influence of th e

sea along a coast- l in e of more than one hundred mi les . I twi l l also be we l l to remembe r that i t i s a large county

,

and consequently subj ect to more variet i es o f cl imate thanw e should expect t o find in Surrey o r i n M i dd lesex .

Again,as Essex is further north than Kent

,i ts cl imate is

n o t qu i te so warm as the more southerly county .

I t i s o f the greatest importance to have accurate informat ion as to the p revai l ing winds

,the temperature

,and

th e rainfal l of a d ist r ic t,for th e cl imate o f a county has

considerable influence on i ts p roduct ions . Ou r knowledgeof th e weather is now much more defin i te than i t wasforme rly

,and eve ry day th e re appears in o ur newspapers

a great deal o f i nformat ion on th i s subj ect . The Meteorological Soc ie ty in London col lects part iculars from al lparts o f th e country relat ing t o th e t empera t ufe of the ai r,

CLIMATE AND RAINFALL 59

th e hours of sunsh in e,the ra infal l

,and the d i rect ion o f the

winds . A glance at o n e of our dai ly papers wi l l Showthat th e Meteorological O ffice d iv i des t he B ri t i sh Islesin to ten d istr icts

,and gives the p robable weather for th e

twenty- four hours end ing midn igh t o n th e day the weathercond i t ions are publ ished . Thus

,for O ctober 2 1

,1 9 0 7,

the fol lowing was the forecast for Essex,wh ich is placed

i n th e East England d istr i ct Southerly and southeasterly w inds

,strong in p laces ; weather cont inu ing mi ld

and ve ry changeable,with occas ional rai n .

” Warn ingsare also i ssued by the same offi ce

,so that certain d istr i cts

may be prepared for the rough weath e r that i s expected .In add i t i on t o all th is i n formation

,some o f th e newspapers

p r in t maps and charts to convey th e weather in te l l igencei n a more graph ic manner.There are no fewe r than 40 0 0 stat ions i n the B ri t ish

Isles wh ich col lect very exact part iculars of the ra infal li n the i r d istr i cts. These resul ts are arranged in a bookcal led B rit t

'

s/J R a infa l l,i n wh ich we find exactly reco rded

th e numbe r o f i nches of rain that fe l l at certa in stat ions .I n Essex alon e

,the re are over 80 observers who keep a

ra i n-gauge and ente r i n a register the dai ly rainfal l . Everyyear these facts are tabulated for that stat ion

,and then

forwarded to the ed i tor of B ritisl) R a infa l l .We thus have ve ry defin i te and ful l i n formation about

th e c l imate of Essex,and are able to compare i t wi th

other counti es and w ith th e whole o f England and Wales .There are so many ci rcumstances that dete rmine th ecl imate of a p lace

,that perhaps i t wi l l be wel l to take o n e

town,Clacton- o n -Sea

,and consi de r why i ts popular i ty as a

60 ESSEX

seas i de resort i s so great . Fi rst we note th at th e townfaces nearly due south

,and i s protected by cl iffs from

northerly w inds,and also partly from easterly winds .

Whi le the surround ing country i s flat and wooded,th e

town i s bu i l t on grave l rest ing enti re ly on the LondonClay . The ai r i s b r ight

,c lear

,and brac ing

,and the re IS

much br i l l i an t sunsh ine . Fogs are very rare,and the

ra in fal l i s smal l . Flowers flourish wel l,and ge ran iums

often l ive i n the gardens th rough th e winter . The

springs are cold,th e summers a re d ry and warm

,the

autumns are br igh t,and th e winters gene ral ly mi ld . Here

one can see that Clacton has many e leme n ts i n i ts favourfrom a cl imat ic standpoin t

,and we can read i ly understand

why i t i s such a popular resort .O f course we cannot go in to deta i ls about al l the towns

in Essex,but a few facts wi l l g ive us a general idea o f th e

cl imate of the county . . Fi rst le t us take some of th e factsre lat ing t o the tempe rature . In 1 9 0 6, t he mean temperatu re o f England was and that of Essex w as

Thus th e Essex temperature i s above that of th e countryas a whole . With regard to th e hours of brigh t sunsh inei n 1 9 0 6, we find that

,wh i le th e average for al l England

was l 53 5°

5, Essex had an average of O f coursesome parts o f Essex had much more sunsh ine than th is

,

and to take o n e i nstance C lacton had no less than 1 9457hours of br igh t sunsh ine . Thus wh i le places in the neighbo u rho o d of London had dul l , cloudy , foggy days, thenorth e rn coast of Essex was revel l ing in sunsh ine .The rainfal l of England and Wales general ly decreases

as we travel from west to east . In 1 9 0 6 th e h ighest

62 ESSEX

rainfal l occurred at Glaslyn,i n the Snowdon d istr i ct

,Wh ere

no less than i nch es o f ra i n were registered . Thelowest ra i nfal l recorded in that year was at BoytonRectory, i n Suffolk, with a total o f 1 9 1 1 inch es . Theseare both extreme records

,but they wi l l serve o u r purpose

,

as we find th e' same law o f ra in fal l i n Essex,the h ighest

be ing gene ral ly in th e w est

’

a n d north-west,and the

lowest in the east . Newport,i n the north-west

,had 1 8 1

ra in-days and a ra infal l o f i nch es,wh i le Clacton i n

th e east had a rainfal l o f i nches,wh ich was the lowest

recorded in Essex . Shoeburyness w i th 1 9 95 inches, andFoulness w ith inches had also a very lo w ra infal l .Th e h ighest rai nfal l i n Essex was at Have r ing- atte-Bowein th e south-west

,wh e re i t measured inches . This

i s t o be expla ined not on ly by the weste rly posi t ion,but

also by the place be ing 3 42 feet above th e sea leve l , andby var ious local cond i t ions .Th e rain fal l records of course vary from year to year

,

but as they have now been co l lected for a numbe r o fyears

,the average may eas i ly be obtained for any place

wh ich i s a stat ion for th e col lect ion of weathe r andra infal l stat i st i cs . Thus at Che lmsford , th e county town ,the ave rage annual ra infal l for 3 0 years was inches

,

and fo r 1 9 0 6 i t was or rather more than one i nchabove the average . From a furth er study o f rain fal lStat ist i cs for Essex

,i t appears that January

,February

,

O ctobe r,N ovember

,and D ecembe r were th e wettest

months,and Apr i l

,July

,and August the dr i est months

i n 1 9 0 6 .

Now to summarise the main facts w i th regard to the

CLIMATE AND RAINFALL 6 3

cl imate we may say that Essex is general ly d ry, theaverage ra infal l be i ng lowe r than that i n any oth er county .

Round the coast and along th e Thames the county issubj ect to cold winds and th ick fogs at cer tain seasons .The table- land of th e i n ter ior and the e levated port ion in

Th e R i ve r C a n n a t Che lm sfo rd

the north-west are d ry and h ealthy . The sever i ty of thewinter i s somewhat mod ified by the p rox im i ty to the sea ;and the marsh lands along th e Thames and the sea-coastare less unheal thy than they once were

,as they have

been dra in ed . Wh en D efoe wrote his Tour tbrougly

64 ESSEX

tbe Ea st er n Coun ties of E ng la nd i n 1 72 2 , he made somevery strong statements a s to the extreme unhealth iness o fthe south and south- east o f Essex

,but two hundred years

have worked a great change in th i s part o f th e county,

and the author o f R obin son Crusoe would be ab le to wr i tea very d ifferent account o f the cl imate i f he were al ivet o - day .

14 . Peop le—Ra ce . Dia lect . Sett le '

ments . Pop u l a tion .

Th e earl iest inhab i tants of Essex were p robably immigran ts from th e South and East when the B ri t i sh I sles weresti l l part of Europe . At fi rst th ese people we re ignoranto f th e use of metals

,but as t ime went on they learn t to

work i n stone,i n bronze

,and in i ron . There are few

written record s about these early people t i l l the invasionof th e Romans in 55 when Jul ius Caesar found th eB r i tons belonging to var ious races

,using d ifferent lan

guages,and i n d ifferen t stages o f c iv i l isat ion . The people

i n Essex were the Trinobantes,a branch of the Ke l ts

,and

from various accounts there i s ev idence that th ey wereski lful i n war and were under the leade rsh ip o f brave ch iefs .As far as Essex was concern ed the re i s no doub t that

i ts conquest by th e Romans was complete,and that the

nat ives were Roman ised in many ways . After the departure of the Romans at the beginn ing of the fifth cen turyEssex fe l l an easy prey to the Teutons from the Continent ;and as the Saxons se ttled i n th i s county a great change

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66 ESSEX

the French o f S tratfo rd- atte—Bowe,to wh ich Chauce r

refe rs,i s only an index to what w as go ing on th roughout

the county .

Th e Norman invasion marks an epoch in our h istory .

S ince the e leventh century,the re has been no host i le

i nvas ion of our land,but there have been several per iods

wh en fore igners have come over and settled among ourpeople . Th e Flem ings in the re ign of Edward III settledin some o f the towns in Essex ; and the French and Dutchprotestants in th e re ign of El izabeth and in the t ime ofthe S tuarts found a we lcome in Colchester

,B raintree

,

Bocking,Halstead

,and e lsewh ere

,when they fled from

persecut ion in the i r own land . In return fo r th e refugeafforded in Essex, these Huguenots and oth e r protestantstaugh t our people many useful hand ic rafts . The latterport ion of the n ineteenth century saw an influx o f Jews

,

Poles,and Russ ians

,who

,d ri ven from the i r own country

,

settled large ly in th e east of London,and in smaller

numbe rs in Wes t Ham and the adj o in ing par ishes .From the forego ing remarks i t wi l l be gathered that

th e people of Essex are main ly of Teuton ic stock and ofEngl ish speech . There is an Essex d ialect wh ich i s thesurv ival of forme r cond i t i ons

,and may be heard in the

v i l lages far removed from the busy centres,o r the rai lways.

No th ing has done more to spoi l the Essex speech than th ei nfusion of the “ Cockney ” e lement

,which has worked

sad havoc in the par ishes near London .

Hav ing consi dered th e early facts re lat ing to Essexpeople

,we may turn our attention to the people o f Essex as

w e

'

fi n d them to-day . With regard to the populat ion and

68 ESSEX

other stat i st i cs we have no ce rta in information t i l l 1 80 1,

th e year of th e un ion o f Great B ri ta in and I reland . Thenthe fi rst census was taken

,and from that date onwards

,

there has been a number ing of the people eve ry ten years .The county o f Essex was pract ical ly the same size in 1 80 1as i t is now

,so that we are i n a posi t ion to compare the

var ious resul ts.

In 1 80 1 th e populat ion o f Essex wasand in 1 9 0 1 i t w as Th is means that thepopulat ion has increased n early fivefold in 1 0 0 yéa rs, aresult wh ich is Shown by few oth e r count ies . During thelast ten years the i nc rease has been about or 3 8per cent .

,and no doubt the next census wi l l show a very

large add it ion to the numbe r . The dens i ty o f populat ioni n Essex is also str iking

,for whe rea s th e average populat ion

of a square mil e i n England and Wales i s 558 , i n Essex i ti s 70 4.

Thi s enormous increase i n the populat ion of Essex hasbeen mainly i n the sou th-west of the county

,i n the

d istr icts of West Ham,Eas t Ham

,Wal thamstow

,and

L eyton . In th is smal l area, known as -London-over—theBorde r

,there l i ve n early th ree-qua rt e rs ,

o f the wholepopulat ion of Essex . Th e cen sus re turns o f 1 9 0 1 Showthat about . people l ive in urban d istr icts

,and

in th e ru ral d ist r icts , and that th e females exceedth e males by Th e bulk of th ese people l ive i nhouses o r tenements o f which contained five ormore rooms

,and had less than five rooms .

The census figures are i n terest ing in many ways .In 1 9 0 1 , the re were on ly people i n Essex ove r

PEOPLE—RACE 6 9

65 years of age , and the re we re no less thanpersons l iv ing in workhouses

,asylums

,and other publ i c

inst i tut ions . In barracks the re were 4766 people, and o nH .M’

s. Sh ips,o r on other vesse ls 3 40 8 people .

Perhaps o n e o f th e most in teres t ing tables i n the Essexcensus is that giv ing the place o f b i rth of the people . Welearn that were born wi t h in the county

,

were born in London,

i n S cotland,I reland

,and

Wales,and 1 642 i n othe r parts o f th e B r i t i sh Emp i re .

Persons of fore ign b i rth numbered 9657, and we re mainlynat ives o f Germany

,Poland

,Russia

,Italy

,and France .

With regard to the occupat ions of the people,the men

were ch iefly engaged in agricul ture,in house- bu i ld ing

,as

coachmen and servants,i n the army

,on the rai lways

,or

as commerc ial men and clerks ; wh i le the women fol lowingoccupat ions were main ly domest i c servants

,teachers

,dress

makers,and mi l l iners .

In 1 9 0 1 the re were 675 bl ind persons in Essex , and

429 people who were deaf and dumb .

15 . Agr i cu lture—Ma in Cu ltiva tions .

Woodla nds . Stock .

Before beginn ing th i s chapter i t wi l l be best to referto the d iagrams deal ing w i th agriculture

,and form in our

mind ’s eye a p icture of the relat ive areas growing th evar ious crops . The two outstand ing facts we must fi rstgrasp are that Essex has an area o f acres

,and that

acres of th is are under crops and grass . This

70 ESSEX

proport ion is a very h igh one and enables us to real ise thatEssex is one of th e ch ief agri cul tural count i es o f England .Down to the end o f th e th i rd quarter o f the n ineteenthcentury the agricul ture of the county was in a mostflour ish ing cond i t ion the landowne rs got good rents, thefarmers obtained cap ital p r ices for the i r p roduce

,and the

labourers were num e rous and wel l pai d .

Th e last quarte r o f the n ine teenth century witnesseda str iking change in the prosper i ty o f the county . Rentsdecl ined

,farmers sold th e i r produce often at a loss, and as

a resul t thousands of acres went out of cult ivat ion,and in

common with the rest of the agricul tural count ies Essexw as sore ly h i t . O f late th ere has been some improvement

,

but noth ing l ike a return t o the days when wh eat fetched

50/ and more per quarte r . We Shal l find cons iderablei n te rest i f we fi rst Study the State of agr icul ture i n Essexas i t is to- day and th en note a few o f th e crops that aren o longer raised in th e county .

In a p rev ious chapte r we have made some referencesto the so il o f Essex

,but he re we may remark that the best

so i l i s a friable loam,we l l su i ted to the cult ivat ion of

cereals and beans . This r ich so i l runs along the coast,

forming a bel t of e igh t o r n ine miles in depth ; indeedmost o f the good land in Essex l ies low

,and the r ichest

pasture i s found along t he r i vers and the marsh lands bythe borders of th e r iver—mouths and creeks .We get al l o u r facts about the cond i t ion o f agri culture

from a report i ssued annual ly by the Board of Agricul ture .That report is o f great value and in terest

,and so we wil l

take i t for o u r gu ide and d i scover what i t has t o tel l us

AGRICULTURE 71

with regard to our county . I n 1 9 0 5, as we have said ,the re were acres

,o r four-fi ft hs of the county,

under crops and grass . The corn crops we re wheat,barley, oats, rye, beans, and peas, which were grown on

acres,o r th ree- tenths of the county . Wheat

,

barley,and oats were the most importan t crops

,and

together account for acres,o r upwards of o n e

fourth o f the ent i re county . Here i t may be mentionedthat in the acreage under these th ree crops Essex is on lysurpassed by Linc oln and Norfolk .

B eans and peas are most extensive ly cult ivated inEssex

,wh ich has acres growing these cr0 ps againstacres in L incolnsh i re . The green crops

,com

prising among oth e rs potatoes,turn ips

,mangold

,cabbage

,

and vetches o r tares,are grown o n acres

,or o n e

tenth of th e ent i re county . Permanent pasture in Essexaccounts for acres

,and clover

,sainfo in

,and grasses

under rotat ion c la im acres . Ve ry l i ttle flax i sgrown

,but smal l fru i t i s a rap id ly increas ing produce and

has reached an area of 2 0 1 8 acres . Essex has a largeextent of woodland

,which is est imated at acres

,

wh i le the bare fal low land was acres .The cul t ivat ion of fru i t and vegetables for th e early

London marke t i s becoming of great importance,and in

the ne ighbourhood o f Waltham Cross,Hockley

,and

many other parts there are glass-houses cover ing hund redso f acres i n extent fo r the growing o f grapes

,tomatos

,

cucumbers, etc . The fru i t farms and seed farms are' of

cons iderable in te rest,and are y ield ing a good return to

the i r owners . Tiptree fru i t farm,one of the most famous

,

72 ESSEX

covers an area of 3 0 0 acres fo r the production of strawberr ies

,currants

,gooseberr ies

,and raspbe rr i es . In the

neigh bourhood o f Witham,there are hund reds of plots

devoted -to the cu l t ivat ion of var ious seeds,such as Sh i rley

popp ies,mangold

,parsley

,swede

,nasturt ium

,and pansy .

Wa l tham Ab b ey Church

In the flower i ng season,th i s d istr i ct is qu i te a blaze o f

colour and may be seen from the tra ins travel l ing towardsColchester . There is o n e flower

,the rose

,for wh ich

Essex has obtained a world-wide fame,and nurser ies

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74 ESSEX

Army have a colony o f 1 2 0 0 acres,wh ich

,i n return

for labour,prov ides food and lodging to any ablebod ied

men who are ready to work . All sorts of agriculturalWork is the re p ract ised

,bes ides stock and poultry rear ing

,

and br ick—making . O n th e whole,the colony has been

successful,and o n derel ict land has been the means o f

giv ing hundreds of men work wh ich has been remunerat e .

16 . Industr i es a n d Ma nufa ctures .

The i ndustr ies and manufactures o f a county arelargely determ ined by th e phys ical cond i t ions of the d istr ict

,

and by th e fac i l i t ies offe red for the transport o f goods .Some o f the Essex industr ies connected wi th it s agricul ture

,

with i ts fishe r ies,and wi th the cul t ivat ion o f flowers

,seeds

,

fru i ts,and vegetables have been descr i bed i n othe r chapters

,

and i t has been Shown that the so i l o f the county,or the

fact o f it s be ing a mari t ime county,has favoured th i s class

of industr ies . The good ra i lway transport has also e n co uraged some o f them

,for i t is necessary to convey such

art ic les as m i lk and garden produce t o th e marke ts of themetropol is as rap id ly as poss i bl e . O n th e othe r handsome of the Essex industri es have been ruined by thetransport faci l i t ies . Thus the evaporat ion of sea -water forit s sal t

,the growth o f hops

,and th e manufacture o f

cheese have al l y ie lded to th e in troduction of these arti c lesfrom more d istant count ies .Before we deal wi th the present industr ies of the

INDUSTRIES AND MANUFACTURES 75

county,we may glance fo r a momen t at a few of those

that once flour ished,but are now extinct . Unti l about

s ixty or seventy years ago,the mak ing of potash from

’

th eashes of burnt weeds

,hedge tr immings

,and other vegetable

matter was one of the oldest and commonest indus t r ies ofrural Essex . There are many fie lds and some farms

,

wh ich by the i r names record the fact that a potash factoryw a s o n thei r s i te ; and there i s at Radwinter a countryinn known as

“The Potash .

” The place of potash foruse in soap-making

,clothes-wash ing

,e tc .

,has n o w been

taken by soda .Roman cement w as an industry of much importance

at Harwich and other coast towns . I t was manufacturedfrom sep taria

,hard stone- l i ke concret ions found in the

London clay,notably at Harwich and Dovercourt . Roman

cemen t w as somet imes known as Parker ’s cement,from

the fact that i t w as patented by James Parker in 1 796 .

Fo r more than 50 yea rs after that date between 40 0 and50 0 men were employed in the cement trade at Harwich ,supply ing about t w o mi l l ions o f bushels annual ly . Romancement has bee n extingui shed by the in troduct ion o f

Portland cement,wh ich is n o w made in the south o f the

county .

x St raWplait in g was carr ied o n i n the north o f thecounty

,and has on ly decl ined i n qu i te recen t years . I t

was i ntroduced at Go sfi e ld in 1 79 0 , and as a cottageindustry i t flouri shed at Castle Hed ingham

,Halstead

,and

B raintree . Cal ico pr inting was carr ied o n at WalthamAbbey

,and si lk was manufactured at West Ham . Copper

roll ing was o n e o f th e industries o f Walthamstow,and

76 ESSEX

from 1 80 7 to 1 845 the B ri t ish Copper Company had i tsworks i n that town . Th is fact accounts for th e name o f

o n e o f i ts roads,wh ich i s known as Co ppe rmil l Lane .

The ch ief industry of Essex for seve ral centuries wasthat connected wi th the manufacture of wool len goods .The re i s ev idence that wool was manufactured in Essexin Roman and Saxon t imes

,and in the Domesday Book

B o ck i n g,V i l la ge S tree t

we have many refe rences to sh eep and wool . In 1 250

we know that the monas t i c houses o f Essex exportedwool to Italy

,and the re was a lso a great d emand for i t i n

Flanders . At the beginn ing o f th e fourteen th centurysome cloth-workers from B ruges landed at Harwich

,and

set t led at B ra intree,Halstead

,and Dedham . Edward I II

gave a great impetus t o the wool trade by h i s -encourage

INDUSTRIES AND MANUFACTURES 77

ment of the Flemings to se tt le in Essex and teach th epeople the art of weav ing . Th e ch ief influx of Flemingswas i n the re ign o f El izabeth

,and numbers se t tled in

'

and around Colchester in 1 570 , and flour ished t i l l about1 748 . The cloth ing towns we re Colchester

,B rain tree

,

Coggeshal l,Bock ing

,Halstead

,and Dedham

,and we find

that about fam il ies we re employed as sp inners,

weavers,and combers . The fabri cs woven by the

Flemings were known as bays ” and “ says,and

corresponded to our modern baize and serge . Colcheste rwas famous fo r th e bay and say t rade

,whi le Bo o kin g

was noted for i ts wool len d rugget,o r baize

,wh ich was

also known as “ B o ckin gs.

We must now devote our atte n t ion to a few o f themore important o f the i ndustr ies that are carr i ed o n at thep resen t t ime . Romford

,Che lmsford

,and Colchester are

th e ch ief towns engaged in brewing and malt ing,wh il e

the last two and Maldon have some trad e in corn-mi ll ing.Charcoal- burn ing was formerly more importan t than i t isto-day

,but i t is St i l l an industry of some note at Wri ttl e

and Ha n n in gfi e ld. The chalk quarr i es i n the north atSaffron Walden

,and i n t he south at S t iffo rd

,Grays

,and

Pu rflee t,give employment t o many hands

,and large

quanti t i es of th i s mater ial are used in the manufacture ofPortland cement .Gunpowde r was made at Waltham Abbey as fa r back

as 1 560 , and the works became Government p rope rty in1 787. Th e work is now carr ied on in 3 0 0 separatebu i ld ings

,which cove r 4 1 1 acres , and have a water-way

o f -

5 miles . As many as 1 2 0 0 men are employed,who

78 ESSEX

make annual ly 2 0 0 0 tons of cord i te,2 0 0 tons of gun

powde r,and 1 50 tons of gun- cotton .

The making o f br icks and t i les has been pract ised inEssex from Roman t imes

,and owing to th e abundance

of br ick ea rt h‘

t his industry is one of cons iderable importance at Hed ingham

,I lfo rd

,Rainham

,Dagenham

, Grays ,Pitsea

,Shoebury

,and oth er places in the south . The last

census records the fact that 2 1 3 6 people were engaged inbr ick and t i le making .

Soap and cand les are large ly manufactu red at S tratfordand S i lve rtown . Chemicals, such as campho r, qu in ine,sulphuri c ac id

,tar

,c reoso t e

,pi tch

,naphtha

,and turpent ine

are produced in large quant i t i es at S tratford and Uphal l,

a part of I l ford . The manufactu re o f photograph ic platesi s carr ied on at I l ford

,wh ere th e works are sa id to be the

largest in the world and recently add i t ional works havebeen Opened at Great Warley . Guttape rcha and ind iarubber goods are made at S i lvertown

,named afte r it s

founder,Mr S i lve r ; and at the same place there i s some

sugar- re fi n in g.

The manufacture of si lk and c rape gives employmentto 20 0 0 persons at B ra i ntree

,Bocking

,Halstead

,and

Earls Colne . The crape made at B raintree i s ofWorldwide fame

,and th is town had the d ist inct ion of making

the robe of cloth - o f-gold for King Edward VII,and th e

purp le velvet robe for Queen Alexand ra,wh ich we re

worn by th em at the i r co ronat ion . Lace-making i s ahome i ndustry wh ich employs many cottagers at Coggeshal l

, Great Tey, Marks Tey, and Chappe l .Sh ip- bu i ld ing on the Thames i s not so important as i t

INDUSTRIES AND MANUFACTURES 79

was once,but the Thames Iron Works on the Essex si de

of Bow Creek employ many hund reds of m en in the i rsh ip-yards and engineer ing works . There is some yach tbu i ld ing at P i tsea

,Maldon

,and Rowhedge

,on the Colne .

Chelmsford,Maldon

,and Colchester make agri cul tural

implements,and the county town has also e lectr ical

engineer ing works,and i s develop ing a trade for bu i ld ing

steam motor- omn ibuses . The Great Eastern Rai lwayCompany have very extensi ve works at S tratford

,where

thousands of men are employed in making steam engines,

ra i lway carr iages,and other rol l ing stock . The Xylon i te

Company ’s works are at Mann ingtree and Walthamstow ;and the manufacture of explosives i s carr ie

/d on at Kyn o ch

town,i n Corr in gham ,

and at S tanford le Hope .

17 . Fi sh eries a n d Fish ing Sta tions .

The fish eri es round the coasts of England are veryimportant

,and give employment to many thousands of

people . Those o n the east coast are four t imes moreproduct ive than those o n the wes t o r the south

,and th is

i s ch iefly owing to the banks and Shoals of the North Sea,

which afford so constant and so large a supply o f fish.

‘As we should expect from the S i tuat ion and harbours o fEssex

,he r fisher ies

,both in the North Sea and in th e

estuary o f the Thames,are o f considerable importance

,

and th e number o f fishermen employed in the season isvery large .The Essex fisheri es are carr ied on from fourteen o r

fifteen stat ions be tween Leigh and Harwich,and the

8 0 ESSEX

coast i s pecul i arly favourable for those spec ies o f fish wh ichl ive in a shal low sea with a bottom o f sand and mud .

Th e character of the coast l in e has been ful ly descr i bedin prev ious chapters

,but i t wi l l h el p us i f we remember

that there i s consi derable sameness and flatness o f aspectth roughout .Th e sea- fi sheries o f th e county may be thus class ified .

Fi rst th ere is the North Sea,o r deep- sea fish ing

,i n

wh ich boats from B rightl ingsea are engaged . Secondly,

th ere i s o ff- shore and ih - shore fish ing,wh ich i s p ract i sed

by th e fishe rmen of Harwich,Tollesbury

,and West

Mersea . Th i rd ly,there i s estuar ine fish ing at Maldon

,

South end,and L e igh . Fourthly

,there is th e she l l-fi sh

branch,i n wh ich Burnham and Wivenhoe are engaged .

There are many methods o f catch ing the fi sh . Thusfor deep- sea fish ing th e trawl-net and d ri ft-net are used

,

although on the Dogge r Bank some fi sh,such as cod

,are

caugh t singly o n long l ines and not with ne ts . Wh enth e fish were caugh t

,the old method w as to place them

i n the wel l of the boat,where th ey were kept al i ve by a

constant change o f wate r . I t i s stated that the wel l- boatwas invented at Harwich in 1 71 2 , and that by i ts meansfish we re de l ive red i n London in a good

,and sometimes

almost in a l iv ing cond i ti on . S i nce the use of steamcarriers and ice

,howeve r

,these we l l-boats have lost the i r

former importance,al though they are st i l l used in the

Dogge r Bank fish ery .

The other methods of catch ing fish around the Essexcoasts are by means o f sh r imp-nets

,dredge-nets

,kett le

nets,and crab and lobste r pots . Ke tt le

,o r k edde l l

,

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8 2 ESSEX

the fi sh fol low the r is ing t ide they pass between the nets,

and thus find themse lves between these and the shore .As th e t ide fal ls they are carr ied in to the purse o f th en e t at the apex . The nets are v is i ted at th e ebb ing ofth e t ide

,and the fish are qu ickly removed .

Sein e-nett ing i s rarely used on the Essex coast,but

there i s a form o f t rawl ing fo r eels o n the shores n ear themouths o f the r ivers and on the sand banks of the embo uchures. S tow-nett ing is also carr ied o n extens ive ly

,

and by i ts means enormous quant i t i es of sp rats are capturedin a good season . Another method o f fish ing pecul iar tothe Essex coast is known as “ peter ing” o r pete r-nett ing.”

A peter-net is about 1 2 0 feet long and 1 0 feet wide,with

corks on the h ead- rope and leads o n the ground rope,and

by th is means large numbe rs of cod l ing,mul let

,and other

fi sh are caught . Th e methods o f catch ing crabs andlobsters are we l l known to al l v is i to rs t o ou r sea- coasttowns . The oyste r-d redge is l ike a smal l t rawl

,bu t the

mouth is made by a rectangle of i ron bands,and th e net

i s usual ly composed o f i ron r i ngs l inked togeth e r .We do not p ropose to name al l the mar ine fi sh caugh t

along the Essex coasts,but we wi l l ment ion some o f th e

best known and most useful . Flounder,dab

,plaice

,and

sole are common,but hal i but

,turbot

,and br i l l are rarer .

Co d,haddock

,and wh it ing are not numerous

,but catch es

of them are landed at Harwich . The h e rr ing is foundal l round our coast

,but there is no Spec ial herr ing fishery

,

al though some are taken in d r i ft-nets in the B lackwater .Sprats are caught in enormous quant i t ies both at thebeginn ing and th e end o f th e year . The importa nce of

FISHERIES AND FISHING STATIONS 8 3

sp rats i s shown by the fact that in Colchester they areknown as weavers’ beef.”

Among shel l-fi sh,oysters

,cockles

,and whe lks may

be ment ioned . Essex oysters are deservedly famous,

and those taken from the beds at Burnham and in theColn e fetch a h igh pr i ce . Colchester celebrates th e

F l a t fo rd M i l l

beginn ing of the oyste r season in O ctober by a mun ic ipaloyster—feast

,and th i s shel l-fi sh br i ngs a large amount o f

money to the town . Th e fishermen of L e igh carryon an act ive trade in sh r imps

,for wh ich they trawl in

the Thames estuary,and also in cockles

,wh ich are

prepared for the London market . The “ cock l ing ”

6—2

8 4 ESSEX

sheds and th e mounds of cockl e- shel ls are famil iar t oal l v i s i tors to Le igh .

W i th regard to th e r i ve r fisheries of Essex,we find

that the Thames has been poisoned by th e d ischarge o fsewage

,and that port ion o f the r iver belonging to Essex

is no longer a salmon r ive r . In the Lea and the S tort,

t rout,barbel

,chub

,ruffe o r pope

,and bleak are caugh t

,

bes ides such wel l- known fi sh as perch,pike

,and dace .

Afte r the Lea,th e Colne and th e S tou r are the most

fi shfu l Essex streams,where al l the common Spec ies may

be found . Th e Cam,i n the north-west

,has one spec ies

,

the grayl ing,wh ich is absent from the other Essex r ivers .

Except ing the Lea,i t may be stated that wherever the

t rout occurs in any Essex river,i t has been of late int ro

duct ion . Tak i ng the Essex r ivers altogethe r,we find the

carp,gudgeon

,roach

,rudd

,dace

,chub

,minnow

,and

tench are common,wh i le the sa lmon

,trout

,and grayl ing

have almost ent i rely d isappeared .

1 8 . H istory of Essex. I .

When Essex fi rst comes into the l ight o f h istory,we

find that i ts people,th e Trinobantes

,were under the

leadersh ip of a brave ch ief,Cassive l laun us

,who led a great

force o f the B ri tons t o oppose Jul ius Caesa r . It wouldseem that th e nat ional defence had been entrusted to

Cassivel laun us, who offered Caesa r a strong resistance .In th e prel im inary sk i rm ishes the h eav i ly armed Romansold ie rs suffered seve rely from the dash ing onslaught and

HISTORY OF ESSEX 8 5

rap i d ret reat of the B ri t i sh char iots and caval ry . AS t imepassed on

,the work o f Caesar w as rende red easie r

,for

domest i c d iscord broke up the B ri t ish forces,and some of

the tr i bes made the i r submiss ion to Caesar .The great struggle between the B r i t i sh and Roman

leaders w as at Ve rulamium,the modern S t Albans . This

town was fi l led wi th a mul t i tude o f men and cattle,and

defended by forests and marshes . Caesar attacked th isst ronghold

,and after a br ief defence

,the n at ives were

defeated,and subsequently Cassive l la un us offe red h is sub

m iss ion to Caesar . The Roman gene ral accepted th isoffer

,and hav ing rece i ved hostages he departed . O f

Cassive l laun us we have no further in format ion .

After Cassivel lau n us,we hear o f a ch ief named

T ascio va n us who ruled over the d istr ict we now cal lM i ddlesex

,Herts . and Essex . His capi tal was Veru lam ium .

We know l i ttle or noth ing o f th is ch ief except from h iscoins ; and

,

o n h is death about A .D . 5, he was succeededby t w o sons

,one o f whom Cun o be lin us

,or Cymbel ine

,

re igned at Camulodunum (Colchester) ove r the Trinohantes . Cymbel ine has been rendered famous for al l t imeby Shakespeare ’s play

,and h is coins are both numerous

and wel l known . When Cymbe l ine was re ign ing atColcheste r

,Claud ius march ed against the town with a

great army,i nclud ing

,i t i s sa id

,a number of elephants .

The cap i tal o f the Trinobantes fe l l i n to the hands of theRomans and Claud ius took possession o f the palace o f

Cymbe l in e . The capture of Colcheste r involved thedownfal l of th e house of Cymbel ine

,and Essex fel l under

the sway o f the Romans for n early 40 0 years . Cymbel ine

8 6 ESSEX

had a brave so n,Caractacus

,who fled t o Wales and held out

aga inst the Romans unt i l h e was captured and sent t o theimperial c i ty .

There i s on e other event in the Roman h istory o f

Essex that i s worth not ing. In A .D . 6 1 Boad icea, ( l ueen

of th e Icen i,led an army against th e Romans

,and severe ly

defeated them . Th is caused Sueton ius,th e Roman gene ral

,

to hasten in to Essex in order to avenge the defeat . Thet w o arm ies met somewhe re i n the d i st r ict be tween Londonand Colch este r . The B ri tons came on with Shouting ands inging

,wh i le th e Romans rece ived them in perfect order

and si lence,t i l l th ey were with in reach of a j avel in ’s th row .

Th en at a given S ignal,th ey rushed at the B ri tons

,broke

th e i r ranks,and pierced th rough the dense mass . The

Romans won a great v ictory,and Boad icea is sai d by

Taci tus to have ended he r l i fe by po ison .

Th e Romans made Camulodunum the i r ch ief colonyin Essex

,wh ich was i n cluded in the d iv i s ion of B ri ta in

known as Flav ia Caesa rien sis . What the Romans did i nEssex

,and th e results o f the i r conquest

,wil l be told in

later chapters .For som e years before the Roman s left ou r country

the coasts of Essex and th e adjo in ing count ies we re oftenattacked by the Saxons . The Romans had a number o ffortresses along the south—east coast to protect i t frominvasion

,and al l these fortresses were placed unde r the

“ Count of the Saxon Shore . ” The ch ief Roman fortressin Essex was O t ho n a , wh ich w as probably th e l i tt le townof B radwell

,fac ing th e North Sea .

When between 40 0 and 43 5 the Romans gradually

HISTORY OF ESSEX 87

left our shores,Bri ta in fel l an easy prey to the attacks of

the Saxons,Angles

,and Jutes . Essex was attacked by the

Saxons,who ente red i t by the Che lmer and th e S tour

,

and took possess ion o f the Roman cap i tal,cal l ing i t

Colne-ceast er,that is Colcheste r . The k ingdom o f the

R o ma n Wa l l a t Co l ches te r

East Saxons took it s r i se about A .D . 49 2 , and probablyincluded for some t ime the modern count ies o f Essex

,

M i dd lesex,and part o f Hertfordsh i re . Erken w in e w as

the fi rst of fifteen k i ngs o f Essex,and he began to re ign

about A .D . 527, hav ing London fo r his capi tal . Essex

8 8 ESSEX

had a chequered h i story in those early days,and i t was no

uncommon th ing fo r two and even three k ings to bere ign i ng at o n e t ime . O n e o f the most important eventsin i ts h istory was i ts convers ion t o Christ ian i ty by Mel l i tus .Th is was succeeded by a reve rs ion to h eathendom

,but at

length Gedd,o n e of the most devoted miss ionar ies o f th e

Early Ch u rch,succeeded in convert ing fi rst the king and

then th e East Saxons to the true fai th .

I n A .D . 8 2 3 , Essex ceased to be a k ingdom ,and became

merged in the larger domin ion of Egbert,King of

Wessex . During th e n inth century the coasts o f Essexwere ravaged by the Northmen

,who found i ts creeks and

open ings wel l su i ted to the i r long boats . I t was ch ieflyin the re ign o f Alfred that the Danes were fight ing inEssex

,under the i r famous ch ief Hast ing . The island o f

Mersea w as the i r camping place,and they appeared at

Shoebury,Ben flee t

,and elsewh e re . After a few years o f

confl i ct,Alfred mad e peace wi th the Danes

,who were

al lowed to settle in the Danelagh,

” a d istr ict includ ingEssex and reach ing from the Thames to th e Humber .In 896, a more determined attack was made by Hasting,who took a large fleet o f sh ips up the Lea . Alfredfol lowed h is enemy

,and besides constructing two forts

,

o n e o n e i the r S ide of the r iver, he d iverted the main stream ,

and so compelled the Danes to leave the i r boats and fleeoverland . Th is was Alfred ’s last v ictory

,and Hast ing

troubled England no more . Thanks be to Go d,

” saysthe o ld ch ron icler,

“ th e Danish army had n o t utterlybroken down the Engl ish people .”

Afte r an interval,th e Danes re-appeared

,and during

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9 0 ESSEX

1 9 . History of Essex. I I .

The Norman Conquest was a great event in o u r

h istory,and affected Essex in many ways . After the

battle o f Hast ings,Will iam l ived at Bark ing wh i le the

Tower of London was be ing bui l t but i t does not seemthat the people of Essex offered any resistance to theNorman Conqueror . We know

,however

,that Wi l l i am

was ve ry severe i n h i s deal ings wi th the Essex lords andlandown ers

,for we find tha t w ith few except ions the

manors o f th is county were given to h i s own fol lowers .Odo , B ishop o f Bayeux

,Geoffrey de Mandevi l le

,Eudo

Dap ifer and many other Normans took the place of theSaxons to such an extent that the natives had l i ttl e o r

noth ing left to them .

From the Domesday B ook we l earn much that is o fi n teres t relating to Norman England

,and pe rhaps th ere i s

no county wh ich rece i ves such ful l t reatment a s Essex .

So thorough was th e survey o f i t by Will i am’s men thatwe are told “ the re w as not a single mi le nor a rood ofland

,nor was th ere an ox

,o r a co w

,o r a p ig passed by

that was not se t down in the accounts .” I t i s est imatedthat the populat ion of Essex in Wi l l iam ’s t ime was about

o f whom about we re v i ll e ins or s laves .The names o f some o f th e Essex par ish es such as Layerde- la-hay

,S tanstead Mo n t fiche t

,and To l leshun t D’

Arcyare ev idently of Norman origin .

We must now pass ove r th e Norman period and cons ider t w o events o f th e greates t importance i n the h istoryo f Essex . The year 1 3 48 was marked by one o f th e

HISTORY OF ESSEX 9 1

greatest plagues that ever v is i ted our land . The BlackDeath

,as i t w as cal led

,swept over Asia and Europe

,and

no plague known to h istory was so destruct ive o f l i fe .O n e half of the populat ion certainly per ished

,and some

H ed i n gham Ca s t le

th ink that th e number of those w ho d ied must be reckonedat two- th i rds . Many v i l lages in Essex were desolated,and there were few people left t o t i l l the land . When atlength the p lague was stayed

,the p r ice of food increased,

9 2 ESSEX

and owing to the scarc i ty o f l abour,wages rose . Parl ia

m ent mad e an attempt to regulate the rate of wages andalso th e terms o f serv ice of the labourers . AS a resul tth ere was much d iscontent

,and to make matters worse

i t was decided t o l evy a pol l- tax in order t o meet theexpenses of the French War .The peasants revolted in 1 3 8 1 , and in al l parts of

Eastern England the revol t spread . The Essex rebel l ionw as th e work of John Bal l

,a pries t of Colchester

,and

Jack S traw o f Fobb ing,who j o ined the i r forces t o those

of th e Kentish peasants at M i le End,j ust ove r th e Essex

border . I t i s a matte r of h istory how King Richard me tthe r iote rs

,and adv ised them to d isperse . Although th e

p romise o f a free pardon w as given,the King broke h i s

word,and a commiss ion und e r Walworth

,Lord Mayor

o f London,was sent in to Essex t o try the malefactors

,

n ineteen of whom_we re executed .

The Wars of th e Roses d id not affect Essex in anymarked d egree

,al though some of i ts nobles lost th e i r l ives

on the fie ld of battle . The neares t battlefield to Essexwas at S t Albans

,where two battles were fough t

,i n 1455

and 1 46 1 .

The end of th e Wars o f the Roses in 1 485 brough tthe Tudors t o the Engl i sh th rone

,and began a new epoch

in o ur h istory . H en ry VI I curbed the powe r of thenobles

,and on o n e occas ion h e v is i ted the Earl of Oxford

,

a powerful Essex nobleman,at Castle Hed ingham. A

great company of re ta ine rs was drawn up to do honour tothe K ing

,and for th is the Earl had to pay dearly . My

lord,sai d Hen ry

,

“ I thank you for your entertainment,

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9 4 ESSEX

county,and the year 1 588 was rendered memorable by

the defeat o f the Span ish Armada . I t was though tprobable that th e Span iards would effect a land ing inEssex

,e i ther at Harwich or at Ti lbury . Both these

ports We re strongly ga rriso n ed, ,

a n d at West Ti lburythere was an army wh ich compr ised 40 0 0 Essex sold iers ,clad i n blue . Th e Earl of Le iceste r

,w ho l ived in Essex

,

had command o f th ese troops,and the i r courage was

strengthened by a v isi t o f the great Qieen .

When the S tuarts ruled,Essex had many troubles to

face . I ts people included a large company of Puri tans,

some of whom qui tted th e i r o w n l and for Amer ica,

where many settlemen ts we re named afte r Essex townsand v i l lages . In 1 642 , th e C iv i l War broke out betweenCharles I and his Parl iament

,and i t would appear that

the Essex people mainly sided w ith C romwell . Howeve r,

Colch este r declared fo r King Charles in 1 648 , and fo-

r

some weeks i t sustained a severe s iege by Fai rfax . Thetown w as gal lantly defended for upwards o f e l even weeksby S i r George Lisle and S i r Charles Lucas

,but at th e

end o f that t ime surrendered to Fai rfax,who barbarously

Shot both Lisl e and Lucas,whose hero i c defence was

worthy of bette r treatment .The Great Plague of 1 665 worked much havoc in

Essex,and in Defoe’s your n a l of t lye P lague 'ea r we h ave

a graph i c account o f th e efforts to p revent the Londonersc rossing the Lea in to Essex . The south-wes t of Essexwas ch iefly affected

,and many people d ied at Waltham

Abbey,Epping

,B rentwood

,Romford

,and Bark ing .

At the beginn ing of the n ineteenth century,Essex

HISTORY OF ESSEX 9 5

was prepar ing to resi st the invasion of Napoleon . Martel lotowers were constructed along the coast at C lacton and

S ir Geo rge L is le

elsewhere,and camps were formed at Danbury, Warley,

and Lexden Heath . Everywhere a patr iot ic sp i r i t pre

9 6 ESSEX

vai led,and Essex was thorough ly al i ve to i ts respons i b i l i t ies

as a mari t ime county .

Perhaps the two most important events in th e n inet een th century as far as Essex is concerned we re the passingof th e Reform B il l in 1 83 2 , and the Repeal of th e CornLaws in 1 846. The fi rst resulted in a better representat ionof th e county

,and th e latte r worked a revolut ion in i ts

agri cul tural affai rs . We cannot close th is b r ief survey ofth e h istory of Essex wi thout not ing the v is i t o f Qieen

Victori a to H igh Beech in 1 882,when she declared

Epping Forest open t o the publ i c fo r ever.

2 0 . Antiq uities—Preh i storic , Roma n ,

Sa xon .

Th e earl ies t h istory of the people who fi rst dwelt inEssex is n o t der ived from wri tten records, but from theantiqu i t ies that have been found in var ious parts o f th ecounty

.Antiquar ies have d iv ided the earl iest periods of

o ur country’s h istory into the S tone Age, th e B ronze Age,and th e I ron Age . Th ese th ree pe r iods cover a wideextent of time

,and i t i s not necessary to say ho w many

years are includ ed in each o f th em,for we cannot be

certa in when one age ended,and the n ext began .

Fol lowing these th ree per iods,we wi ll consider th e re

mains o f the B ri t ish or Kel t i c, the Roman , and the Saxon

times . Antiqu i t ies representing al l these pe riods havebeen found in Essex

,but perhaps those

“of the Romanper iod are the most interest ing and numerous .

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9 8 ESSEX

The S tone Age men have left some traces of thei rhand iwork wh ich have been found in th e valleys of th eLea and th e Thames . Fl in ts were used for weapons

,

and celts have been found wi th the bones of the mammoth,

musk ox,re indeer

,and I rish e lk at I l ford

,Walthamstow

,

and Walton- o n -Naze . As t ime passed on the fl in ts weremore careful ly worked

,and arrow- heads

,scrapers

,and

even pol ished celts were fash ioned . Examples o f th ese

P a la eo l i th i c Imp leme n ts fo und a t Ley to n

have been d iscovered at Colchester,Epping

,and Temple

M i l ls,Leyton .

The people o f the B ronze Age and the Iron Agewere probably o f a d ifferent race from those o f the S toneAge

,for we find that the latter used long barrows fo r the

bur ia l of the i r dead,and th e former used round barrows .

The B ronze Age has y ielded weapons, ornaments, and

ANTIQUITIES 9 9

pottery,o f wh ich good spec imens may be seen in Co l

Chester museum . Bronze cel ts and par t of a sword- bladehave been found at Shoebury

,wh i le bronze spear- heads

,

leaf- shaped,and hav ing a broad socket

,have been un

earthed at Pla istow and Walthamstow . I n the B r i t i shMuseum there is a fine bronze bowl 1 6 inches i nd iameter wh ich came from Walthamstow .

The people o f the Iron Age were probably the Keltso r B ri tons

,and spec imens o f the i r work i n the shape

o f i ron vessels have been d iscovered at Colchester andShoebury

,wh ile i ron cel ts have been obtained from

Walthamstow . Much Kelti c pottery has been found atAudley End

,and some “good urns were d iscovered at

B raintree,i n 1 9 0 3 , when a Ke l t i c urn -fi e ld, or place of

bur ial,w as dug over . Br i t ish co ins , espec ial ly - those o f

T ascio va n us and Cu n o be lin us,a re frequently found at

Colchester,and on the borders o f Hertfordsh i re .

O n e o f the most interest ing d iscover ies o f the B r i t is hper iod was made near Walthamstow in 1 9 0 1 , whena Br i t ish dug- out c anoe was found embedded in the gravelat a depth o f about 6 feet from the surface . The boati s about 1 5 fee t long and 2 feet 4 i nches wide, and washol lowed o u t o f a single p iece of oak . Near i t wereseveral p ieces o f early pottery and a wel l-made i ronspear- head .

We wi l l n o w turn to some ve ry important remainsthat are general ly considered as belonging to the Kel t ic

,

o r B ri t i sh per iod . In Epp ing Forest there are t w o anc ien tcamps or earthworks

,the o n e

,Loughton Camp

,covers an

area o f about 1 2 acres,and the oth er

,Am bresbury Camp ,

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100 ESSEX

is general ly assoc iated with the name o f Boad icea . Bothcamps have a d i tch and a rampart

,and each enclosure has

the shape of an i rregular oval . The camps were recentlyexamined

,and among th e rel i cs were several fl i n t flakes

and axes,and fragments o f rough hand-made pottery .

Gro up o f S ami a n Wa re,C o l ches te r Museum

(Red po t tery, cha ra cteristic of Roma n times)

There are 50 o r 60 “ dene holes near Grays, andseveral have been examined wi th great care . They cons isto f narrow shafts or wel ls about three fee t wide and 60 feetdeep wh ich are d r iven into th e chalk

,lead ing at th e bottom

of th e shaft into clusters of chambers, usual ly six innumber

,and arranged in th e form of a double trefo i l . It i s

not certain why these dene holes were dug, but poss i bly

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102 ESSEX

some “ remarkable p ieces o f ancient sculpture,known

as the Sph inx and the Centur ion . At East Ham somelead co flin s and a stone sarcophagus were found, and at

R o m a n G la ss Jugs fo und a t Co l che s ter

(In t lt e Brit t'

s/t Museum)

Ch igwel l were d iscovered a lead coffin,i ron nai ls

,urns,

and glass cups . Roman co ins and medals have been dug

ANTIQUITIES 103

up in immense quant i t ies at Colchester,Leyton

,and

Saffron Walden . Colchester had the rare priv i lege o f i tsown mint

,and i ts co ins bear th e mark C . o r CL . There

is one other Roman obj ect of spec ial i n terest,an al tar

,

which w as found in 1 8 8 1,i n the Ba lk ern Lane

,Col

chester . It has an inscr i ption to the mother-goddesses o fthe heathen world

,and the re i s on ly o n e other example

of th is in B r i ta in .

The most remarkable ev idence of the Roman o ccu

pa t io n of Colchester are the wal ls wh ich enc i rcle thetown . There is no doubt that a large port ion o f the wallsi s the original Roman work

,and when we find that the i r

c i rcu i t i s 3 1 0 0 yards we real ise th e importance o f the c i ty.Ins id e th e Roman Colon i a the re were the forum

,temples

,

baths,and theatres

,and during recent years many beauti ful

tessellated pavements have been d iscovered . If the Romanwal l is the most important h istor ical monument o f

Colch este r,the great Roman cemete ry that l ies on each

side o f i ts p rinc ipal road i s o f hardly l ess inte rest . I t hasfo r many years been explored

,most valuable d iscover ies

have been made,and Colcheste r Museum has n o w a

col lect ion o f Roman sepulch ral remains wh ich is un iquein England .

When we come to the Saxon per iod,o r early Engl i sh

t imes, we have ev idence that the Saxon conquest w as verythorough . Nearly al l the names o f places in Essex are o fSaxon origin

,and that fact alone speaks more eloquently

than the find ing of many rel i cs beneath the surface .S i l ver penn ies and scea t t a of the Saxon period have beenfound at B radwel l

,and other co ins at Leyton and Bark ing.

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Some sepul ch ral po ttery w as d iscovered at B ro omfi eld,

near Chelmsford,and vases

,j ewels

,gold r ings

,glass cups,

and finger r ings have been found in many parts o f Essex .

The church es that were bui l t by the Saxons in Essex wil lbe considered i n another chapter .

2 1 . Arch itecture . (a ) Ecc lesia stica lCh urch es .

Essex abounds in churches,many o f them be ing of

considerable in te rest . I t i s t rue that Essex has n o great

Th a xted (fro m t h e S o uth)

eccles iast ical centre,such as Canterbury or Rochester in

Kent,but i t has some churches of great s ize and beauty

,

espec ial ly those at Saffron Walden,Thaxted

,and Co gge

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106 ESSEX

of al l the mater ials,t imber was undoubtedly the most

important,and the early church bu i lders in Essex made

th e most sk i lful use of i t,n o t only i n the in ter ior work

,

but also in the outer wal ls and porches .There are ch urches of fine S ize and proportions in the

county,but speak ing general ly th e bu i ld ings are smal l

,

often consist ing o f chancel and nave,with only a wooden

be l fry . Many of the large r and finer churches are i n thenorth

,north-west

,and m idd le

,whi le the smal ler are i n

the south . There i s l i ttle doubt that a beautiful churchl ike that at Coggeshal l was bui l t when th e wool len trademade i ts people very r ich and prosperous .Towards th e end of the twelfth century the round

arches and h eavy columns o fNorman work began gradual lyto give place t o the po in ted arch and l igh ter Style of thefi rst per iod o f Goth ic arch i tecture wh ich we know asEarly Engl ish

,consp icuous for i ts long narrow windows

and lead ing in i ts turn by a transi t ional per iod into theh igh est development o f Goth ic—th e Decorated period .Th is

,i n England

,prevai led throughout the greater part o f

the fourteenth century,and was part icularly character ised

by i ts w indow trace ry . The Perpend icular,wh ich

,as i ts

name impl ies,i s remarkable fo r the perpend icular arrange

ment of the tracery,a n d

'

a lso for th e flattened arches andthe square arrangement of the mould ings over them

,was

the last of th e Goth ic styles . I t developed gradual ly fromthe Decorated towards th e end o f the fourteenth centuryand was in use t i l l about the m iddle o f th e s ixteenthcentury.The churches are of al l styles ranging from what is

ARCHITECTURE 107

known as Saxon to Perpend icular . I t is d ifficul t to say

when a church was bui l t,as i n many cases the records o f

i ts foundat ion are lost ; and sometimes an o ld church o f

wood gave place to one bu i l t,o f more durable mater ials .

B ede te l ls us that in h is day there was not a stone churchin al l the land

,but that the custom was t o bu i ld them o f

S t P e te r’s , B ra dwe l l - o n - S e a (fro m t h e S o uth )

wood . Hence there is no doubt that the early woodenchurches were destroyed by fire

,or by some other cause

,

and the presen t churches may stand on th e i r si tes .Among the most anc ient churches in Essex

,and most

probably of Saxon date,we may ment ion S t Peter ’s at

B radwel l- o n -Sea,S t Gi les’ at Great Maplestead , and Holy

108 ESSEX

Tr in i ty at Colchester . O f these th ree,th e first i s the

most interest ing,and probably th e most anc ient . The

ruins of th i s l i ttle church,here figured

,occupy the

s i te o f part o f the Roman station o f O tho n a . Th echance l has gone

,but the nave

,now used as a barn

,i s

fai rly comple te . It i s general ly agreed that i t i s th echurch mentioned by B ede as having been bui l t by Gedd

,

after he had been made B ishop o f the East Saxons,in 653 .

If th i s i s th e case,we have here a bu i ld ing that has stood

through th i rteen centur ies,and reminds us o f the re

i n troduct ion o f Chri st ian i ty into England .

Among churches o f the Norman per iod,S t Botolph ’s

at Colch es ter i s constructed o f much Roman br ick,and

S t Mary’s at East Ham is almost un ique in hav ing adouble chance l . Churches of Early Engl i sh style occurat Maldon and Great Sampford

,whi le those that deserve

most attention o f Perpendicular and Decorated stylesare S t Mary’s at Thaxted

,S t Mary’s at Saffron Walden ,

S t Mary ’s at Dedham,and S t Pe te r ’s at Coggeshal l . The

first two are among the finest churches of th i s k i nd inEngland . Thaxted church dates from a per iod prev iousto 1 3 49 , when i ts construct ion was stopped by th e BlackD eath . The towe r and sp i re

,and the fine north porch ,

are late fourteenth century work .

The church at L i ttle Maplestead is in terest ing asbe ing on e o f the four round churches in England . I tconsists o f a round-ended chancel

,with a six- sided western

tower,surrounded by a c i rcular a isle

,wh ich was spanned

by arches from the lower arcade . This pecul iar plan wasdue to the fact that the church be longed to the Kn ights

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1 IO ESSEX

churches a re i n a l ine with each othe r,and the two

bui ld ings are 1 50 feet apart .Some of the Essex churches have fi ne and lofty towers

,

espec ial ly those at Dedham,N ewport

,Pr i ttlewe l l

,and

Ingatestone,whi le stone sp i res occur only at Thaxted

and Saffron Walden . Th e tower of Al l Sain ts ’,Maldon

,

is tr iangular,and i s p robably the on ly one of th is Shape i n

England . Essex has a few churches w ith round towers,

but these occur more frequently in Norfolk and Suffolk .

The churches o f Pentlow,Lamarsh

,Bardfi e ld

,Sal ing

,

B i rchanger,Bro omfi e ld

,Great L e ighs

,and O ckendon

have round towers .The north porch at Margare tt ing

,the screens at

S tebb ing and Great Ba rdfi e ld,and the octangular font at

South O ckendon are among the best o f the i r kind . The rei s n o t much stained glass in th e church windows

,but th e

monumental b rasses are numerous and of considerablei n terest .

2 2 . Arch itecture . (b ) Ecc lesia stica l

Re l igious Houses .

In the prev ious chapter we considered the arch i tectureof the churches of Essex . We must now turn ourattent ion to the rel igious houses wh ich once ex isted in thecounty

,but o f wh ich we can now see only th e ru ins .

B efore the Reformation in the m idd le of the sixteenthcentury

,England was dotted over wi th abbeys

,monaster ies

and other re l igious houses,wh ich were often_fi n e_speci

ARCHITECTURE I I I

mens of the arch i tect’s ski l l . In some o f o u r count ies,

especial ly in Yorksh i re,th ere yet remain enough o f these

bui ld ings,e i th er ent i re or in ru ins

,to impress upon us

the i r beauty,and to conv ince us of the large sums o f

money Spent on the i r construct ion . While there are norel igious houses in Essex that can compare wi th thebeauty o f Kirkstal l Abbey in Yorksh i re

,or o f Tintern

Abbey in Monmouthsh i re,we shal l ye t find that many of

those i n our county were of consi derable importance,both

from the i r rel igious and social influence .Before deal i ng wi th some of th e ch ief re l igious

houses we wil l consider shortly th e mater ial parts ofa monastery

,and i ts great officers . In any account of

the parts o f o n e o f these establ ishments the church mustcome fi rst

,for i t was o f necess i ty the very centre of th e

regular l i fe . I t was general ly s i tuated on the north S i deof the monast i c bui ld ings

,and i ts h igh and mass ive walls

afforded th e i nmates a good sh e l ter from th e rough northwinds . In every monastery the clo isters came next inimportance

,the i r four walks forming the dwe l l ing- place o f

the commun i ty,and surrounding the clo ister-garth . The

refectory w as th e common hal l for al l conventual meals,

and was almost always placed as far as poss i ble from thechurch . Near to th e refectory was the k i tchen

,wh ich

was often of great s ize,and a smal l courtyard with the

usual offices adjo ined i t . The chapter-house was o n th eeast s ide o f th e clo ister

,as near the church as possi ble .

I ts shape was usually rectangular, and seats were arrangedalong the walls for the monks . Th e dorm i tory containedthe cub icles o r ce l l s

,and every monk had a l i ttle chamber

I 12 ESSEX

to h imself; Th e in fi rmary, or house for the S i ck andaged ; the guest-house always open to give hosp i tal i ty tostrangers ; the parlour, or place of business ; th e almonry,wh ere the poor could come and beg ; the common- roomwhere the monks warmed themselves i n winter ; and thel i brary

,Where th e books and manuscr ipts were kept

,com

ple t e th e ch ief parts o f a monastery .

Now with regard to the rule rs and great officers ofa monastery

,th e abbot (i. e. the fath er) was supreme, and

the enti re government depended upon h im . Th e p rior,

or second super ior,was appo in ted by the abbot

,and was

concerned wi th the d isc i pl ine o f the monastery ; and thesub-pr ior was th e pr ior ’s ass istant in the dut ies of th e office .Besides these th ree great rulers

,there were many othe r

o flicia ls,each o f whom had extensi ve powers i n h is own

sphere . Thus , among oth ers, there were the chambe rlain

,who presi ded over th e dorm i tory

,paid the st i pends

and pensions,and looked after th e vestments ; the sacr istan ,

who had charge of the church ; and the ce l lare r, w ho wasresponsi ble for the food .I t i s general ly admi tted that most o f the re l igious

houses were seats of learn ing,and the homes o f men and

women who helped the peasants and promoted the pros

perity of the country-s ide . There were no less than fortyn ine rel igious houses in Essex

,and the major i ty were

founded dur ing th e two centur ies after the Norman Conquest . Many o f these abbeys and monaster ies were veryweal thy

,for they possessed hundreds

,and

,in some cases ,

thousands of acres o f th e best land surrounding th e i rhouses. It was no doubt wi th a v iew to enr ich h imsel f

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I 14 ESSEX

confiscated,i ts house destroyed

,and i ts ch ief officers d is

m issed . The ru i ns of S t Botolph are extremely interest ing,

from present ing some cur ious spec imens of br ick ornaments

,and of in ter laced arches . The west front was

h ighly decorated,and o n th is S i de w as the pr inc ipal

Weste rn Fro n t o f S t B o to lp h ’s P rio ry , Co l chester

en trance,which st i l l remains . The doorway is a fine

semi-c i rcular arch,hav ing var ious mould ings constructed

with smal l,th in br i cks and hewn stone . Above the

doorway is a double ro w of interlaced c ircular arches ofRoman br icks . Some o f the columns and arches o f the

ARCHITECTURE 1 15

nave yet remain,and are pr inc ipal ly bu i l t wi th Roman

br icks,cove red with a kind of stucco . S t Botol ph ’s Pr iory

is probably un ique among Norman churches, and i ts ru insare certain ly beaut iful and in terest ing.

Another o f the famous rel igious houses in Essex wasS t O syth ’s Abbey

,near Clacton

,whose fine gate-house of

r ich in la id flin tw o rk may yet be seen . This monastery is

S t O sy th ’

s Ab b ey ne a r C la c to n -o n -S e a

said to have been bu i l t upon the si te o f o n e founded byS t O syth

,who w as martyred by the Danes in 63 5.

When the house was refounded in 1 1 1 8,the bones of the

sain t were enshr ined in the new church . The abbey w as

surrendered in 1 53 9 , when i t w as worth £677, o r fromto a year at present value .

The remains o f the other re l igious houses in Essex are

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1 16 ESSEX

scanty,and not very int erest ing. There is l i ttle left of

the great nunnery at Bark ing,which was the earl iest

,as

i t was th e most famous and important in England . Theabbey at Coggeshal l has recently been most careful lyrestored

,and at Le ighs the fine gateway remains . Th e

ru ins of Beleigh Abbey, near Maldon , are of in terestat Dunmow the church alone i s preserved . Of th efamous abbey o f Waltham Holy Cross

,the church

remains,and is o n e of the fines t and earl i est examples

o f Norman arch i tecture i n England . A rel igious houseex i sted at Waltham from the days o f Canute

,but i ts

h istory i s inseparably connected wi th it s foundation byHarold

,who is sa id to have been bur ied in i ts church

afte r the battl e of Hast ings . I t was from th is abbey thatthe Engl ish took the i r war-cry o f “ Th e Holy Cross I”

h eard not only on Sen lac,but o n many anoth er fie l d o f

battle .

2 3 . Arch itecture . (0 ) M i l ita ry—Ca stlesa n d Moa ted Houses .

The bui ld ing o f castles i s usual ly assoc iated wi th th eearly Norman kings

,but many strongholds o r castles

we re bu i l t by the Saxons . Perhaps th e very earl i est i deaof these strongholds may b e traced i n th e camps andearthworks wh ich were formed in many parts of Essex

,and

to wh ich we have referred in a prev ious chapter . Someachurch towers were used as places o f refuge

,and often the

old houses were surrounded by moats .

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l 18 ESSEX

It is now general ly admi tted that Colcheste r Castlewas the work of Wil l i am the Conqueror

,and no doubt

played i ts part in the subjugat ion o f Essex . Th e cast l econsists of an enormous Norman keep stand ing on theedge o f a steep slope

,with in an i rregular enclosure o f

earthworks . It is noteworthy as the largest o f al l theNorman keeps now remain ing in England

,the others

C o l che ster Ca s t le

most nearly approach ing i t i n s ize be ing those at London,

Norwich,and Canterbury . It bears a remarkabl e resem

blance to th e Tower of London,and th is i s probably due

to the fact that th ey were designed by th e same arch i tect .Th ere i s no doubt that Colchester Castl e was bui l t o f

the Roman masonry,t i les

,and other mater ial from th e

ARCHITECTURE

ruins of the basi l i ca,forum

,and baths o f Roman Co lon ia .

The area of i ts ground plan i s cons iderably larger thanthat of the Towe r o f London

,and

,l i ke the latter

,i t has

at the south- east corner a semi—c i rcular project ion,form

ing the apse o f the crypt . Th e uppe r half of the keephas been destroyed

,but i t con tained a great hal l

,of wh ich

part o f a window yet remains . The stai rway,s ixteen

feet i n width , the widest in the k i ngdom ,i s at the south

west angle o f the bu i ld ing . The keep is entered by anarched doorway

,wh ich was probably cut th rough the wal l

after the tower was bu i l t .Though i t was the m ight iest Norman castle in

England,Colchester Castle never p layed an importan t

part in o ur h istory . It was taken and retaken in the re igno f John ; suffered l i ttle damage in the s iege of Colchesteri n 1 648 ; and was afterwards sold to a man who bough ti t for the sake o f i ts mater ials. Fortunate ly

,owing to the

hardness of the Norman cement,and the sol id i ty of the

masonry,he was baffl ed in h is des i gns

,and was glad to

sel l the ru ins to one who knew how to preserve th is finekeep . The castle i s n o w i n safe custody

,and in the chapel

sub-vaul t is the museum o f antiqu i t ies found in Colchesterand the ne ighbourhood .

Hedingham Castle,dat ing from the twelfth century

,i s

by far the most perfect Norman keep in England . Thepresent tower

,over 1 0 0 fee t h igh , was only part o f th e

castle,wh ich actual ly consisted o f two large bai leys

separated by a wide and deep d i tch . The inner ba i leyw as a mound o f more or less ar tific ial character, formed bythrowing inwards the mater ial taken out o f the deep d i tch

120 ESSEX

wh ich surrounded i t . The keep i s bui l t of rubble-work,cased

,o r ash lared

,as i t i s te rmed

,wi th finely squared

ston e,and i ts wal ls are from ten to twe l ve fee t th i ck . The

bui lder was Alber i c de Vere,and i t remained in th e

possess ion of th is important fami ly for nearly five centur ies .Hed ingham Castle i s one of the best preserved Normantowers

,for wi th th e exception of the parape ts and two o f

th e four corner turrets,th e structure i s complete from top

t o bottom .

There i s no need to descr i be the castles at O ngar,

Plesh ey, Hadle igh , Rayle igh , SaffronWalden and Claver ing,for in some i nstances i t i s d ifficul t even to trace the plan

,

and in others th e ru ins are scanty . We may,however

,

fi t ly conclude th is chapter by a br ief refe rence to thehomestead moats

,of wh ich Essex possesses the large

number of th ree or four hundred examples . These watermoated enclosures were usual ly the s i te of an ancientmanor house or ha l l

,_farmho use o r church,but in some

cases church,hal l

,and hamlet were al l included wi th in

the moat . As a rule th e works are rectangular,and the

only defence a deep moat,vary ing from twe l ve or fifteen

fee t to s ixty fee t i n width . Some o f these moatedenclosures may date from th e t ime of the Danes

,and were

probably constructed as defences against those raiders .There are

,however

,many houses

,espec ial ly in th e

Ro o thin g country, north o f Ongar,wh ich were bui l t i n

the fifteenth and S ixteenth centur ies,and th ese are water

guarded in a sim i lar manner .

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122 ESSEX

tee ts was to bu i ld a b ig house round a quadrangle hav ingthe hal l in the midd le

,and the wings o n e i ther s ide .

The character ist ics o f the bui ld ing were the quain t gables,

large mul l ioned windows,and grotesque ch imneys . The

hal l was often supported by mass ive beams of o ak ; thelofty rooms h ad h igh wa inscott ing

,ornamen t al plaste r

ce i l ings,and beauti ful ch imney-p ieces . Anothe r con

spicuo us feature in such a bu i ld ing w ould be the nobleo ak sta i rcase wi th i ts carved balusters and heavy handrai l .Th e arch i tecture of a county is always influenced by

the bu i ld ing mater ials that are found wi th in i ts borders .In Essex few bui ld ings are o f stone on account o f theabsence of that mater ial

,but br ick o f varying degrees of

mer i t en ters into the construct ion o f many large houses .Wood o f course was very abundant

,and there i s n o lack

o f good timber work both in the mansions and the smal lerhouses and cottages .We wi l l n o w br iefly cons ider a few o f the large r

mansions o f note i n Essex,and then devote a l i ttle space

to the manor houses and cottages . Those that are descr i bed must be taken as typ ical o f the i r class

,for i t would

be imposs i ble even to mention al l those of inte rest,e i ther

from the i r h istory or the i r arch i tecture .The finest and most comple te example of a state ly

house is Aud ley End,near Saffron Walden . I t w as bu i l t

i n the re ign of James I,and in i ts or iginal plan i t con

S isted o f two large quad rangles,and was approached by

a br idge across the Cam . Round the western cour t wereapartments above an open clo ister

,and steps on i ts eastern

s ide led to a terrace o n wh ich stood the presen t west front

ARCHITECTURE 123

o f the house . The inner court w as beyond,and the east

s ide was formed by a long and state ly gallery . Eve lyn,

the d iar ist,descr i bes i t as o n e o f th e state l iest palaces of

the k i ngdom,

” and remarks on the fine decorations andornaments. The house was so large and the expense o fi ts upkeep so great

,that the western quadrangle was pul led

A udley E nd H o use

down in the e i ghteenth century . S ince th en the rest o fthe bui ld ing has been careful ly restored and i t may be sa idt o be o n e of th e best Jacobean houses i n England .

At Layer Marney,Six miles south-west of Colchester

,

stand the remains of a fine tower,or gateway . It forms

124 ESSEX

part on ly o f an unfin ish ed mansion o f the courtyard type,

and w as begun about 1 52 0 by S i r Henry Marney, captainof the guard to Henry VIII . Th e bu i ld ings of LayerMarney Towe r consist of the gatehouse with towers atthe four corners

,a wing on th e west s ide now used as

a pr i vate dwe l l ing,and a range of outbu i ld ings on the

west of the house . The walls of the tower are of redbr i ck with chequer-work of black

,and there are some

Fa u lk b o urne H a l l,n e a r Witham

fine ch imney- stacks of twisted patterns . The two octagonal towers are of e igh t stor i es

,and th ere i s much

decorati ve work in terra-cotta . Indeed the tow er is analmost un ique example of the early use of terra—cotta inEngland . Judging from th is noble tower

,i t i s qu i te

certain that the proj ected bu i ld ing must have been a mostmagnificent des ign .

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126 ESSEX

south-west of Halstead,was original ly a br ick house of the

re ign o f Henry VII . I t w as bui l t round a quadrangle,in to w h ich al l the windows opened

,leav ing the exter ior

face a dead wal l up to th e fi rst story fo r the sake ofdefence . Th e west side remains almost in i ts or igi nals tate

,and contains o n the first floor a fine gal lery

,1 0 6 fee t

long by 1 2 fee t wide .

N ew H a l l n ear B o reham

New Hall,not far from Boreham

,is a fine red br ick

bu i ld ing o f Tudor age and arch i tecture,with bay windows

and p i l lared ch imneys . It be longed successi ve ly to theEarl of O rmond

,grandfather o f Anne Boleyn , George

Vi l l iers Duke o f Buck ingham,O l iver C romwe l l

,and

oth er great personages,and i t is thus of interest owing to

ARCHITECTURE 127

th e great names o f i ts many owners an d for i ts numerousroyal v isi tors

,among Whom was Henry VII I .

Mo yn s Park, i n the extreme north-west corner of thecounty

,i s an El izabethan mansion and a good example

o f th e ornamental style o f that per iod,with i ts mass ive

bay windows r is i ng up to the ful l h e igh t o f th e house,i ts

quain t gables,and i ts clustered ch imneys . Like many o ld

manor houses, Mo yn s Park has i ts moat, over wh ich

access is gained by a br idge .

M o y n s P a rk

Th e manor houses o f Essex are very numerous,fo i

many par ishes have two o r th ree o f th em . They aregeneral ly cal led “ hal ls

,

” and good examples o f th is typeof arch i tecture are t o be found in most parts of the county .

The pretty l i ttle v i l lage of Feer ing has a t imber- bu i l tmanor house known as Feerin gbury wh ich st i l l reta ins i tsmoat and the re is an o ld manor house at Rayne

,n o t far

128 ESSEX

from Le ighs,wh ich was the dwel l ing- place o f a powerful

Essex fam i ly,the Capel ls, w ho were the ancestors of the

Earl of Essex . Rochford Hall,once a Splend id mansion

,

and th e reputed b irth place of Anne Boleyn,i s n o w but

a shadow o f i ts former magn ificence . The bu i ld ing is ofred br ick

,covered with plaster

,and the most noteworthy

features are the gab les and th e fine tal l ch imneys o f

ornamental br ickwork .

Many real ly good houses were bui l t when the cloth ingtrade was making Essex tradesmen very wealthy . Therei s a remarkable house at Coggeshal l wh ich Was the worko f Thomas Payco ck , who d ied in 1 580 . The bu i ld ing

,

kn o w n°

as Payco ck’

s House,is constructed throughout o f

t imber,and has much fine carv ing o n th e ce i l ing beams

and other parts .The cottages o f Essex are not so p icturesque as those

of Kent or Surrey,but many v i l lages of our county have

good examples of cottage arch i tecture . Th e v i l lage streetso f Messing

,Bocking

,Dedham

,and Ch igwel l have real ly

p icturesque houses and cottages w ith old gabled fronts .They are general ly simple i n design

,but very pleasing to

the eye . The v i l lage o f Ford S treet,a l i ttle hamle t not

far from Colcheste r,i s a typ ical

'

example of old Engl i shrust ic arch i tecture

,and makes a very p icturesque v iew .

While we are consider ing the subject o f p icturesquehouses

,we may mention the almshouses at Audley End

,

a de l igh tful group of bui ld ings in red br ick,wi th i rregular

gables and ch imneys ; and the row o f almshouses,dat ing

from 1 527, i n Walthamstow churchyard . They too are

o f red br ick, roofed w i th red t i les, and so me l lowed by

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1 3 0 ESSEX

be tween the i r var ious forts and stations was careful lyguarded . These roads were not only used as greatchanne ls of communication

,but they also served as the

l im i ts of the var ious d iv is ions of the i r conquests,wh i le the

boundar ies were marked by mounds,stones

,or trees .

Th e ch ief Roman h ighways are known to us for themost part by the names given to them by o ur AngloSaxon forefathers . Most of the Roman roads converge o nLondon

,and co inc ide i n a remarkable manner wi th o u r

modern rai l road communicat ion . Thus in Essex,Ick n ie ld

S tree t,correspond ing to o ur Great Eastern Rai lway, ran

from London to Colch ester,o r Camulodunum

,as i t was

cal led in those days . Thi s was the main road,and other

roads led from Colchester th rough th e north-weste rn partso f the county to th e adjoin ing counties . Th e importanceof the Roman road from London to Colchester i s qu i teev ident when we remember that upon i t al l the pr inc i palRoman towns were s i tuated . After a t ime th is main roadwas extended to Harwich and Ipswich . Th e great roadfrom London to Norfolk passed th rough Leyton and otherpar ishes to Cambr idge . Another Roman road of importance was known as S tone S tree t

,and led from Colchester

to Dunmow ; and the re i s ev idence that a Roman roadconnected Ti lbury on the Thames wi th the main h ighway a t Brentwood .

We must now leave the t imes of th e Roman and comedown to a more recent per iod . Even as late as the sevent ee n th and e igh teenth centur ies the roads of Essex werei n a deplorable cond i t ion

,and i t was almost impossi ble to

trave l wi th speed or comfort in any d irect ion . Everyth ing

COMMUNICATIONS I 3 1

was carr ied o n h orseback,and some t imes o n bu l lo ckba ck .

Corn,coal

,wool

,i ron

,and othe r articles were carr ied on

pack-horses . The roads were mere tracks,an d when the

old tracks became dangerous through depth of mud,new

tracks were struck o u t across th e adjo in ing fie lds . Guideswere employed to keep travel lers out o f th e mud

,wh ich

was often very th ick .

The Essex h igh roads were also beset by h ighwaymen,

and the travel ler passed along br i dleways th rough fie lds,

where gi bbets often w arned h im of his per i ls . Pepys,th e

d iar ist,gives us many de ta i ls of th e d ifficul t ies h e en

countered when travel l ing in Essex,and at a later date

w e know the terror that D ick Turp in was to Essex folk .

In the m iddle of the e igh teenth century some attemptwas made to improve the roads and make them su i tablefo r carts

,waggons

,and carr iages . Th e stone was put o n

,

and the roads were left to manage themse lves . Even nearLondon

,the Essex roads were often impassable gul fs of

mud,and i t took longer for a coach to reach a place

twenty mi les out o f London than i t now does to reachYork or Manchester .We can ge t an excel lent idea of what the Essex

roads were l ike i n the e igh teenth century by referr ing toth e travels of Arthur Young. In 1 767 h e was in Essex,and thus descr i bes the road from Ti lbury Ferry toB i l ler icay : “ O f a l l the roads that ever d isgraced th i sKingdom in th e wry ages of barbar ism none eve requal led that from B i l ler i cay to th e ‘ King’s Head ’ atTi lbury . It i s for 1 2 mi les so narrow that a mousecannot pass by any ruts are o f an incred i ble

1 3 2 ESSEX

trees everywhere overgrow the road so thati t i s total ly imperv ious to the sun except in a fewI must not forge t e ternal ly mee t ing with chalk wagons

,

themse l ves frequently stuck fast t i l l a col lect ion o f themare in th e same s i tuat ion that 2 0 o r 3 0 horses may betacked to each to draw them out one by o n e .

”

A change for th e better was made i n the cond i t ion o f

the Essex roads towards the end of the e igh teenth century,

and many Acts o f Parl iament were passed author ising theconstruction o f new roads and br idges . In the earlyyears o f the n ine teenth century a great improvement hadtaken place

,and such men as Macadam were appointed

to super in tend the roads . This was notably the case o n

the Epp ing Road,and the resul t was seen in th e nume rous

coach es that we re runn ing be tween the ch ief Essex marke ttowns and London .

At the present t ime the Essex roads are i n an exce l lentcond i t ion . The most important h ighway enters Essex atS tratford and proceeds due north—east to Colch ester

,and

then ce to Ipsw ich . The second ch ief l ine of road leavesthe main road at Che lmsford

,and proceeds th rough

B raintree,Halstead

,and Sudbury to Bury S t Edmunds .

The th i rd,or Newmarke t Road

,leaves the main road at

S tratford,and proceeds i n a north-weste rly d i rection

through Epp ing,Harlow

,and Saffron Walden to New

marke t .Not only d id the e igh teenth century wi tness a great

improvement in the cond i t ion of Essex roads,but the

county shared wi th the rest o f England in the new sp i r i to f commerc ial act i v i ty . Canals were made

,br idges were

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1 3 4 ESSEX

2 6 . Admin i stra tion a n d D iv i s i o ns

Ancient a n d Modern .

In order t o get a just i dea o f the present admin istrat iono f o ur county we must remember that many of o ur

i nst i tut ions can be traced back fo r a thousand years o rmore . Thus i t is o ur boast as En gl ishmen that wh i lecontinental nations have changed the i r i nst i tut ions andmode o f government by revolut ions

,we have made o ur

changes by gradual steps,o r by a process o f evolut ion .

In Saxon times the government of each county w as

partly central and partly local . Th e central admin istrat ionwas from the county town

,and the local admin istrat ion

was carr ied on in the hundreds and par ishes . Th e ch iefcourt o f the county o f Essex in the earl iest t imes was theSh i re-moot

,wh ich me t twice a year

,and i ts two ch ief

officers were the Ealdorman and the Sh er iff,the last of

whom was appointed by th e King . The Sh i re-moot maybe looked upon as the later form o f the older folk-moot

,

and th is assembly was held often in th e open ai r on ahaunted mound

,o r round some aged o ak o f sacred

memor ies . To the Sh i re-moot were sent representat iveso f each rural townsh ip and o f each hundred . Th e Sher iff

(Sh i re- reeve or Sh i re-steward) publ i shed the royal wr i ts,assessed the taxation o f each d istr ict

,and l istened to appeals

fo r just ice .In Saxon times

,each county was d iv i ded into Hundreds

,

or Lathes,or Wapentakes . Essex was d iv ided into n ine

teen hundreds and o n e Royal Li berty . Each hundred

ADMINISTRATION AND DIV ISIONS 1 3 5

probably consisted at first of o n e hundred free fami l ies,

and had i ts o w n court,th e hundred-court

,wh ich met

every month for business . Each hundred was sub- d iv idedinto townsh ips

,or par ishes

,as we now cal l them

,and every

townsh ip had i ts own gemo t , or assembly, where every freeman could appear . This gemot

,o r town-moot

,made

laws for the townsh ip,and appo inted officers to enforce

i ts by- laws, o r laws o f the by or town . Th e town-mootwas he l d whenever necessary

,and i ts ch ief offi cer

,the

reeve,acted as pres ident .

There was thus a kind of tr ip le arrangement fo r thegovernment o f each county ; but bes ides these cou rts ofthe sh i re

,the hundred

,and the townsh ip

,there were also

courts of the manor,as the separate hold ings o f land were

cal led . The manors var ied in extent, be ing somet imes aslarge as the townsh ip

,whi le i n many cases they were

smal ler . The manors were held by the i r owners,th e lords

of the manor,on var ious cond i t ions . Fo r i nstance

,the

lords had t o render serv ice , or homage, to the King andwere al lowed to sub- le t the i r manors . The manors hadthe i r o w n courts, such as court- leet, cou rt-baron , andcustomary court . In these courts

,the lord and h is tenants

me t,and se ttled the affa i rs belonging to the manor

,such

as those re lat ing t o the common fields,th e r igh t o f e h

closure,and the hold ing of fai rs and markets . These

manor- courts are st i l l h e ld in many parts of Essex,and

al though they have lost much o f the i r or iginal importance,

i t is i nterest ing t o remember that in them we have surviva ls o f the work o f our forefathers more than onethousand years ago .

1 3 6 ESSEX

Having glanced at the early admin istrat ion of Essex,

w e can now consider i ts presen t form of government .The ch ief office rs i n the county are the Lord-Lieutenantand the High Sher iff. The forme r i s general ly a nobleman o r a large landowne r

,and is appointed by the Crown .

T he Sher iff i s chosen every year o n the “ morrow o f

S t Mart in ’s Day,

” November 1 2 t h . The Coun ty c ounci li s now th e central author i ty and conducts the mainbusiness of th e county . I t was consti tuted in 1 8 88 andholds i ts ch ief meetings at the Sh i re Hall

,Che lmsford .

Th e members o f the Essex County Counc i l consist of24 Alderman and 79 Counc i l lors, the latte r be ing e lectedby the ratepaye rs wh i le the forme r are co -opted .

Fo r local government in towns and par i sh es,an Act

was passed in 1 894, when new names we re given t o thevar ious bod ies wh ich had previously been known asvestr ies

,local boards

,h ighway boards

,e tc . In the towns

and large r par ishes,th e ch ief govern ing bod ies are n o w

known as urban d istr i ct coun c i ls,o f wh ich there are 3 3 i n

Essex . Those smal ler par i shes wi th a population o f over

3 0 0 have a par ish counc i l, and those with a populat ionunder 3 0 0 have a par ish mee t ing . Th e d istr ict counc i lsand the par ish counc i ls thus represent the old town-moots

,

and the members are e lec ted by the people to manage theaffai rs of the i r local i ty .

Some o f the older and larger towns in Essex have ad ifferent form of government. These towns are cal ledMun ic ipal Boroughs

,and are as fol lows —West Ham

,

East Ham,Colchester

,Maldon

,Saffron Walden

,Che lms

ford,Harwich

,and Southend . Each borough is governed

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1 3 8 ESSEX

by a Corporat ion or Town Counc i l,cons ist ing o f Mayor

,

Aldermen,and Counc i l lors .

Essex has also 1 6 Poor Law Un ions,each of wh ich

has a Board of Guard ians,whose duty i t i s to manage the

workhouses,and appo in t var ious officers to carry on the

work o f rel iev ing the poor and aged .

For th e admin istrat ion of justice,Essex has one

Quarter Sessions at Che lmsford,and 2 2 Petty Sess ional

D ivis i ons,each hav ing magistrates or just ices o f th e peace

,

whose duty i t i s to try minor cases and award pun ishment .Reference was made i n the early part of th is chapter

to the Royal L iberty o f Haver ing- atte-Bower . Fo r along time i t had i ts own courts of justice

,but they were

abol ished in 1 89 2 .

We now pass t o eccles iast i cal adm in istration,and we

find that the mode o f government for the Church i s muchthe same to- day as i t was one thousand years ago . Th eChurch existed before th e S tate

,and had i ts own d ioceses

and courts . The northern d ioceses were under the careo f t he

‘

Archbisho p o f York,and th e southern d ioceses

under the au thor i ty o f the Archb ishop of Canterbury .

Essex then belonged to th e d iocese o f London,and so

cont inued ti l l th e county was transferred to the see o f

Rochester i n 1 8 3 6, and then to S t Albans in 1 876 . Iti s now in contemplation t o const i tute Essex in to a separatesee having i ts o w n bishop . The d iocese i s d iv ided in toarchdeaconr ies

,rural-deaner ies

,and ecclesiast ical par ishes .

At o n e t ime,the ecclesiast ical and c iv i l par ish were one

and the same,but n o w there are many more of the former

ADMINISTRATION AND DIV ISIONS 1 3 9

than o f th e latter,wh ich number 3 99 , and parts o f others

i n adjo in ing counties .Fo r purposes connected wi th educat ion , th e Essex

County Counci l has appo inted a County Educat ion Commit t ee

,wh ich has control o f secondary and e lementary

educat ion in the greate r part of Essex . There are separateeducat ion committees fo r 1 1 of the largest towns andpar ishes .Lastly we come t o th e parl iamentary representat ion of

the county of Essex . Fo r th is purpose there are e igh td iv is ions

,each return ing one member—the N . o r Saffron

Walden,the N .E . or Harwich

,the E . or Maldon

,the W .

or Epp ing,the SW . o rWalthamstow

,the S . o r Romford

,

the Mid o r Che lmsford , and the South-eastern . Thereare two boroughs

,Colcheste r and West Ham

,the former

be ing represented by o n e membe r,and the latter by t w o

members i n the House o f Commons .

2 7 . Th e'

Ro l l of Hon our of t h e County .

We shal l n o w find i t both interest ing and instructiveto take a br ief survey of the worth ies o f Essex . Its Rol lof Honour is a long one

,includ ing as i t does the names o f

many who have shed lustre not on ly o n th is county butalso on Br i tain . I t i s wel l for us to assoc iate the namesof great men with the local i t ies where they l ived

,as i t

gives an added interest t o know where the worth ies o f acounty passed the i r l i ves and to visi t the places wh ich theyhave rendered famous

,e i ther by the i r wr i t ings o r by the i r

deeds .

140 ESSEX

Le t us first glance at some o f the royal personageswho l ived in Essex

,or who frequently v is i ted i t . AS we

migh t suppose from the fact of Essex be ing one of theme tropol i tan counties many of our sovere i gns are assoc iatedwi th i t . Edward the Confessor bu i l t a palace at Haver ingatte-Bowe r

,where he passed much of h i s t ime . This is

no doubt th e reason why the d istr i ct formerly known asthe Liberty o f Haver ing had pecul iar pr iv i leges . Harold

,

the las t o f the Saxon kin gs,had large possess ions in Essex

a n d’

rebuil t the church at Waltham,where also h e founded

a col lege . Harold v is i ted Waltham Church on h is wayto meet Wi l l iam at Hast ings

,and after that great battle

was bur ied in the church he had rebu i l t . The Conquerorre t i red to Barking

,wh ich was then a great town with a

famous abbey,and there he l i ved wh i le h e w as bu i ld ing

the Tower o f London . Queen Mat i lda,wife o f Henry I

,

often v is i ted Barking Abbey,and i t was She who bui l t

a br idge over the Rive r Lea,so that Barking migh t be

reached with safe ty . Th is br idge was cal led Bow Br idge,

because i t was arched l ike a bow . I t was famous,too

,

because i t was the fi rst stone br idge constructed in England .

Epping Forest proved a great attraction to those ofo ur monarchs who loved h unting. Edward IV huntedwi th the ch ief C i t izens o f London in th i s forest . QueenEl izabeth was very fond of hunting and frequently enjoyedthe sport i t afforded . There st i l l remains at Ch ingford abui ld ing cal led Queen El izabe th ’s Hunting Lodge

,wh ich

commemorates th e great Tudor Queen . Not only d idEl izabe th v is i t the Forest

,but she also made several

Progresses ” through the county,v isi t ing her nobles at

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142 ESSEX

in Essex . Lord Audley,who worked h is way to the

Lord Chance l lorsh ip,was one of H enry V III’S most

wi l l ing agents i n closing the monaste r ies and appropr iat ingthe i r revenues . He came in for a large Share of theabbey lands in Essex

,and wi th the proceeds bui l t h imself

a lord ly house at Audley End . Thomas Cromwe l l,whose

caree r covered about the same per iod as that of LordAudley

,was anothe r of Hen ry ’s trusted agents in the

work o f spol iat ion . He was named the hammer of themonks

,and fo r h is se rv ice to Hen ry he became Earl o f

Essex . Passing from the s ixteenth century to the n inet een t h

,we come to a statesman

,Benj amin D israe l i

,

afterwards Lord Beaco n sfi eld,who was educated in Essex .

He spent some o f h is school days at the Rev . E . Cogan ’shouse at Higham Hi l l

,Walthamstow

,and there he came

i n contact wi th many clever boys who rose t o fame inafter l i fe . The house st i l l stands at H igham Hil l

,and

the schoolroom in wh ich the young D israel i stud ied mayye t be seen .

Among th e great Essex sold iers we shal l se lect S i rJohn Hawkwood

,S i r Charles Lucas

,and S i r George L isle .

Hawkwood was born at S i ble Hed ingham about 1 3 20 ,

and after serv ing unde r Edward II I,he became i l lustr ious

as the leader o f a band known as the White Company,

”

which fought against M i lan . He had a most adventurouscareer in Italy

,whe re he won a great name for h imse lf.

He d ied at Florence in 1 3 9 3 , but h is body was buried inh i s nat ive place . S i r Charles Lucas and S i r George Lislewere the defende rs o f Colchester when i t was besieged bythe Parl iamentary army unde r Fai rfax . Wh en the S iege

S ir Cha rles Luca s

144 ESSEX

was raised i t was dec i ded that th e leade rs of the Royal istsshould be executed . Both Lucas and L isl e were marchedto a spot on the north S i de of Colchester Castle

,and there

they bravely me t the i r d eath .

Let us now pass from the men of action to the meno f le tters

,and we shal l find i t best to consider them unde r

several d iv i s ions . Among the famous d iv ines,Samuel

Ha rsn e t t stands fi rst .

' For some years h e was v icar o f

Ch igwel l,and th en by success i ve stages h e was Archdeacon

of Essex,B ishop o f Ch ich ester

,and Archb ishop of York .

He founded th e Grammar School at Ch igwel l,wh ich i s

one of the best in th e coun ty,and at h is death i n 1 53 1

he bequeathed his valuable l i brary to the Corporat ion o f

Colcheste r . John Rogers,the fi rst martyr in th e Mar ian

persecut ion,was rector of Ch igwe l l . He suffe red death

at Smit hfi e ld i n 1 555. I t i s qu i te remarka ble how manyeminen t d iv ines have been connected with WalthamAbbey . Ful le r

,th e church h istor ian

,was curate o f

Waltham,and h ere he wrote Tbe Cburcb H ist ory of

B rit a in . B ishop Hal l , the great preacher, was for 2 2 yearscurate o fWaltham and John Foxe

,th e martyro logist

,i s

sa id to have wri tten h is Act s a n d M on umen ts in the sametown . Will iam Paley , author of the E viden ces of Cbristi

a n ity, w as v i car of Ch igwel l,and John S trype who wrote

much connected with the Reformation per iod was for68 years v icar of Leyton . Coming to more recent t imes

,

we find that Charles Spurgeon,the celebrated Baptist

preach er,was born at Ke lvedon

,i n 1 8 3 4 .

Th e poets who were born or who l ived in Essex formqui te a goodly

‘

company . George Gasco igne,o n e of the

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146 ESSEX

and after be ing educated at E ton and Cambr idge h e spentsome years at court and then turned h is attent ion t o

farming . H e wrote A H un dred P oin ts of Good H usba n dry,

wh ich h e expanded some years later in to Five H un dred

Poin t s of Good H usba n dry. Franc is Quarles,author of

Emblems,and other re l igious poems

,was born at Romford

i n 159 2 . George Herbert, who w as a contemporary ofQuarles and whose l i fe was wr i tten by Izaak Walton

,

wrote . Tbe Temple and other poems o f an ardently devo t io n a l character wh ich wi l l always render them im

per ishable . He l i ved wi th h is brother S i r Henry Herbertfo r some years at Woodford .Coming down to th e n ineteenth century

,Tennyson

l ived at Beech Hi l l House,Epp ing

,whe re h e wrote Tbe

Ta ll-ing Oa t° and Locbsley H a l l . Coventry Patmore was

born at Woodford in 1 82 3 , and al though h is rank as apoet i s not h igh

,h e i s remembered by Tbe Angel in tbe

H ouse. Thomas Hood,author of Tbe Song of ibe Sbir t

,

l i ved at Lake House,Wanstead

,where h e d ied in 1 845.

His nove l Tyln ey H a l l was suggested by the story of th efamous Wanstead House

,and one of h is poems Tbe

Epping H un t w as espec ial ly charact er i st i c of th i s wr i ter ’shumour .Will iam Morr is

,the greatest of the Essex-born poets

,

first saw the l igh t o f day at Walthamstow in 1 83 4. Inthat par ish and the ne ighbour ing Woodford

,Morr i s passed

h is early years and rece ived h is educat ion . Epp ing Forestand the features o f the Essex landscape made a d eepimpress ion o n h im . He descr i bes the “ wide green sea

o f the Essex marsh land ,” “ the dense hornbeam th icke ts

,

THE ROLL OF HONOUR 147

the biggest hornbeam wood in these i slands,and I suppose

i n the world,

” and t h ere i s no doubt that the author ofTbe Ea r tbly Pa radise and Tbe Li] ? a n d Dea tb of 7a sonowed much to the happy years h e passed in h is homeso n the borders o f Epp ing Forest . Elm House

,where

Morr i s was born,n o longer stands

,but Water House

,

Walthamstow,one o f h i s res idences

,a square

,h eavy

Georgian bui ld ing of ye l low br ick, i s careful ly preservedby the Distr i ct Counci l .Ph i l i p Morant

,the learned h istor ian of Essex

,was

v icar of Aldham towards the end of th e e ighteenthcentury . His H ist ory a n d An tiquities of the Coun ty ofEssex i s th e standard work, and in many respects i s notl ikely to be superseded . Will iam S tubbs

,who became

B ishop of Oxford,was for some years v i car of Navestock

,

where he gathered h i s mater ial fo r Tbe Con stitut ion a l

H ist ory of E ng la n d, a work of th e greatest learn ing .

Leav ing th e h istor ians,we wil l glance at some o f the

men o f letters who have l ived in Essex . John Lockestands first both in t im e and importance as a ph i losopher .For many years he l i ved at H igh Lave r

,wh ere h e was

bur ied in 1 70 4. I t was there that h e wrote Let t ers on

To ler a tion,wh ich i s worthy to rank wi th h is greater books

Essay con cer n ing tbe H uma n Underst a n ding and Tboug/ot s onEduca tion . Sydney Smith

,the wi tty canon of S t Paul ’s

,

w as born at Woodford i n 1 771 . B es ides works o f are l igious character

,h e i s famous fo r essays in the Edin burglo

R eview . Charles D ickens,i n many ways the greatest

novel ist o f the Victor ian era,Often v is i ted Essex . He

was part icularly fond o f Ch igwe l l,and o n e o f h is novels

,

I 0—2

148 ESSEX

B a r n a by R udge, i s connected wi th that pretty v i l lage .Dickens wr i tes o f Ch igwe l l as “ the greatest place in the

a de l i c ious o ld i nn facing th ea love ly forest an o ut -Of- th eway rural a Stat ion ' Besant’s nove l

,Al l

in a Ga rden Fa ir gains much o f i ts interest from thep icturesque descr i pt ions o f Hainaul t Forest

,wh ich the

novel ist knew SO wel l .Samuel Purchas w as born at Thaxted in 1 575. He

devoted much of h is l i fe to the great collect ion o f voyagesand trave l s known as Purcba s bis Pilg rims, and Purcba s bisPilgrimage. Samue l Pepys , the ce lebrated d iar ist, hadmany fr iends in Essex whom h e Often v is i ted

,and de

scr i bed ih the Dia ry. Danie l Defoe,the author o f

R obin son Crusoe,knew Essex we l l . H e had property in

Colches ter,and br ick and ti le works at Ti lbury

,where

he had a house by the r i verside . His your n a l of tbc

P lague 'ea r gives a v iv id account of the plague- str i ckenEssex par ishes

,and h is Tour in tbc E a st er n Coun ties i s o f

great value as i t portrays the state o f' Essex in the earlye ighteenth century .

Among Engl ish men Of sc ience,Essex can claim three

o f th e first rank . Will iam G i l bert,physic ian to Queen

El izabeth and James I,was born at Colchester i n 1 540 .

He declared the earth to be a magne t i n h is De M agn et o ,

the first great sc ient ific book publ ished i n England . Hed ied in 1 60 3 i n h is nat ive town . Will iam Harvey l ivedat Hempstead

,where h e d ied and was bur ied in 1 657.

Harvey made the great d iscovery of the c i rculat ion o f theblood and wrote several works o f great value . O n e o f

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ESSEX

our h istor ians asserts that “ only two d iscover ies o f anygreat value came from Engl ish research before the Re

storat ion,

’ and these were made by Gi l bert and Harvey .

John Ray,the so n of a blacksmi th

,was born at B lack

Notley in 1 62 8 . He w a s a great natural ist,and th e first

7

C o n s ta b le ’

s B i rthp la ce,F l a t fo rd

to raise zoology t o the rank of a sc ience . Modern botanybegan wi th h is H ist ory of P la n t s. His var ied labours havej ustly caused h im to be regarded as th e father of naturalh istory in th is country

,and as a botan ist h e has w o n the

h igh est commendat ion from h is successors.

THE ROLL OF HONOUR 151

Before we close th i s chapte r we must br iefly referto th ree persons—Will iam Penn

,Mrs Fry

,and John

Constable—w ho were int imate ly connected with Essex .

Will iam Penn,th e founder o f Pennsylvan ia

,l i ved at

Wanstead,and w as educated at Ch igwe l l Grammar

School . After a busy l i fe i n Amer ica h e re turned toEngland and d ied in 1 71 8 . Mrs El izabeth Fry spent hermarr ied l i fe i n Essex at Plashe t

,Plaistow

,and Bark ing

where she w as bur ied in 1 845. Mrs Fry was a pr isonreformer and interested herse l f i n th e we l fare o f thelowest classes . John Constable

,o n e of England ’s greatest

landscape art i sts,was a nati ve o f D edham

,and rece ived

h i s early educat ion at the school i n that town . Hepainted in h is own style qu1e t Engl ish landscapes

,such as

he was fami l iar wi th on th e banks of the S tour . Fora long t ime he worked wi thout recogn i t ion in England

,

but h is work i s now h ighly valued .

2 8 . THE CHIEF TOWNS AND VILLAGESOF ESSEX .

(The figures i n brackets after each name give the po pulat io n i n1 9 0 1 , and tho se at t he e n d o f t he sect io n s g ive t he referencest o t he text .)

Ardleigh ( 1 4 2 6) i s a pleasant rura l v i l lage fo ur and a hal fmi les no rth -east o f Co l chester . I ts church has a lo fty tower Offl i n t and bri ck

,which serves as a landmark .

Av e ley a large v i l lage,i s abo ut t w o mi les from

Pu rfleet . The church i s o f No rman and Earl y Engl i sh o r igi n ,and ha s some i nterest i ng bras ses . I n th i s pari sh stands Belbus,an excel len t example o f a Tudo r mans io n , surro unded by a parko f great extent

,with fi n e v iews acro s s the Thames .

Baddow , Gre a t ( 2 3 0 8) i s o n e o f t he pleasantest v i l lagesi n E ssex . I ts church

,wi th a large and handsome tower , dates

from t he fo urteenth century .

Baddow ,L it t le (5 1 0 ) i s s i tuated fi ve mi les no rth -east from

Chelmsfo rd . I ts church i s a smal l and ancien t s tructure ; and i nt he neighbo urho o d a re some very picturesque spo ts amo ng theextens ive wo o ds .

Ba rkin g a large market town o n t he R i ver Ro di ng,

was o nce famo us fo r a large fi sh i ng fleet . A nunnery w a s

fo unded here i n the seventh century,and became o f co ns i derable

impo rtance , hav ing many no ble and even ro yal abbesses . Littlerema i n s o f th i s abbey

,except t he Firebe l l Gate . Eastbury Ho use

,

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154 ESSEX

Bre n t w ood (49 3 2 ) i s o n the ma i n Co lchester and Lo ndo nro ad. I t is o f some ant iqu i ty and has a Grammar Scho o l

,dat i ng

from 1 557. The E s sex Lunat i c A sy l um ,a large bu i ld i ng i n

beaut i ful gro unds,i s i n th i s town . Brentwo o d i s S i tuated o n a

co ns iderable emi nence,and the surro und ing co untry i s wel l wo o ded

and pleasant . (pp . 2 3 , 3 2 , 9 2 ,

Brigh t lin gse a a fi sh i ng to wn a n d yachti ng cen tre ,i s S i tuated o n t he east S ide o f t he Co l ne estuary . The church

,a

large and fi n e bui ld i ng,o ccupies an elevated S i tuat io n and fo rms

an impo rtant sea -mark . Some bo at-bu i ld i ng i s carr ied o n,and

t he peo ple a re largely engaged i n t he o yster fi sheries . (pp . 2 4 ,

B ro om fi e ld tw o mi les no rth o f Chelmsfo rd , h a s alarge v i l lage green ro und wh ich the ho uses and co ttages arepicturesquely gro uped . It s church

,o f great ant iqu i ty and i n terest

,

ha s a ro und tower . (p .

Bu ckhurs t H il l pleasantl y s i tuated o n a h i l l - t o p ,has fi n e v iews o ver Eppi ng Fo rest

,and t he Ro d i ng val ley .

Burn h am (2 9 1 9 ) stands o n the R iver Crouch . I t has bo at ,barge

,and Sh ip bui ld i ng

,and i s o n e o f t he best yacht i ng stat i o ns

o n t he east co ast . The o yster fisheries a re exten s ive and o f co n

siderab le value . (PP. 50 , 73 , 8 0 ,

Burst e ad , Gre a t ( 1 8 59 ) i s the mo ther-par i sh o f Bi l ler i cay .The church i s a large bui ld i ng o f sto ne and rubble

,t he wal l s

being o f No rman a ge . Rema i n s o f a Roman encampment havebeen traced at a farm

, o n e mile fro m Bi l ler i cay .

Ca st le H edin gh am o n t he R iver Co l ne, five mi leswest from Hal stead , i s a large and attract ive par i sh . I t i sfamo us fo r i ts No rman Keep

,pe rhaps the mo st perfect example i n

England . The church i s a fi n e structure and has memo r ia l s Ofthe De Veres

,w ho fo r centuries held sway o ver th i s d i s tr ict .

(PP' 751 78 2 9 2 ) 1 1 7, I 1 9 °)

CHIEF TOWNS AND V ILLAGES 155

Ch adw e ll S t Ma ry (52 0 3 ) o verlo o ks t he marshes alo ngt he Thames . I n th i s par i sh a re t he Ti lbury Do cks , belo ngi ng t ot he Eas t and I ndia Do ck Company . They a re t he finesti n the k in gdo a re capable o f accommo dat i ng t he largestves sel s . (p .

Ch e lm sford the co unty town o f E s sex,i s s i tuated

i n t he val ley o f the Che lmer , near i ts junct io n wi th t he Cann . I thas co n s iderable trade i n agr icul tura l pro duce

,and there are

extens ive manufactures o f agricu l tura l implements and electr icalapparatus . The ch ief bui ld i ngs are t he Church

,Sh i re Hal l and

Co rn Exchange,and the Grammar Scho o l fo unded by Edward VI .

(pp ° 3 ) 2 5) 6 2 2 77) 79 ) 1 0 4 , 1 3 6,

Ch e st e rford , Gre a t i n no rth -west E s sex,was a

Roman stat io n o f great impo rtance, and many Roman rema i n shave been fo und here. (p .

Ch igw e ll (2 50 8) i s a pleasant par i sh o n t he b o fders o f

Eppi ng Fo rest . Tt s Grammar Scho o l was fo unded i n 1 6 2 9 , andhas s i nce been much en larged . I n t he “

Ki ng ’s Head I nn ” i s alarge ro om i n wh ich Dickens wro te po rt io n s o f Ba rn a by Rudge .

(pp

Ch in gford a pari sh i n the so uth-west o f E s sex,i s

much frequented by to ur i st s o n acco unt o f i ts pro x imity t o the

best parts o f Eppi ng Fo rest . The rui n s o f i ts o ld i vy-co veredchurch a re picturesque ; and (Amen E l i z abeth ’s Hunt i ng Lo dgedates from Tudo r t imes . (Pp . 2 1

,

C la c t on , Gre a t (7456) is a water i ng-place o n t he east co ast,

and has admi rable faci l i t ies fo r bath i ng . (pp . 3 2 , 4 6 , 58 , 59 , 9 5,1 1

Co gge sh a l l (2 8 8 2 ) i s a very anc ient town i n the no rth -eas to f E ssex , and has ru i n s o f a pr io ry . There a re manufactures o fs i lk

,velvet

,and i s i nglass . (pp . 77, 78 , 1 0 4 , 1 0 6 , 1 0 8 , 1 1 6 ,

156 ESSEX

Co lch e st e r is a bo ro ugh and market town o n theCo l ne . I t was a stro ngho l d o f t he Bri to ns ; t he Co l on ia o f theRomans ; and the Co l n ecea ster o f t he Saxo ns . The Roman wal l sa re almo st ent i re , and Roman rema i n s have been fo und i ngreat numbers . The castle i s the largest No rman Keep i nEngland ; and there a re ru i n s o f t w o abbeys . Co l chester i s thecentre o f an agricul tural d i s tr ict , and i ts o yster fi shery i s extens iveand famo us . I t has a go o d H igh Street wi th some fi n e publ icbu i ld i ngs ; and a large Town Hal l , o pened i n 1 9 0 2 . Co l chesteri s t he centre o f a mi l i tary d i stri ct and has m o dern caval ry andarti l lery barrack s . (pp . 66 , 73 , 77, 79 , 8 3 , 8 5, 8 6 , 8 799

2, 9 4 , 9 8 ,

9 9 , 1 0 8 , 1 1 3 , 1 1 7, 1 1 8 ,

Da ge n h am (60 9 1 ) i s a very large par i sh , o n e mi le eas t o fBark i ng . I n 1 70 7, a h igh t ide bro ke th ro ugh t he wal l s o f t heThames

,flo o di ng 1 0 0 0 acres o f r ich land and wash i ng away

1 2 0 acres i nto t he r iver . The breach was n o t sto pped t i l l2 5 years later , and a large po nd , near t he S i te o f the breach , i sn o w preserved as a fi shery . (PP 3 9 , 54 ,

Da n bury (849 ) i s abo ut fo ur mi les so uth-east o f Chelmsfo rd .On t he h i l l a re rema i n s o f a camp , pro babl y Dan i sh . DanburyPark was o nce the res idence o f the B i sho ps o f Ro chester . (PP. 1 5,

Dedh am a smal l qua i n t town o n t he Sto ur , was o ncea Seat o f t he wo o l len trade . The church i s large and fi n e , dat i ngfrom t he reign o f Henry I I I . Dedham was t he res idence o f

Co n stable the landscape pa i n ter . An i nterest i ng gro up Of ho uses,

fo rmerl y the res idence o f t he immigrant Flem i ngs engaged i n t he“ bay and say ”

(weav i ng) i ndustries , st i l l stands . (PP. 76 , 77, 1 0 8 ,

Dov e r court a suburb o f Harwich,i s a pleasant

water i ng-place . I ts church has a l ych -gate g iven by (b een

Victo r ia, and a sta i ned-glas s wi ndow the gift o f the GermanEmpero r . (pp 47. 56 .

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158 ESSEX

H a lst e ad (60 73 ) i s a market town o n the R iver Co l ne .The church o f fl i n t and sto ne dates from t he fo urteenth andfifteenth centuries ; and t he Grammar Scho o l w a s fo unded i n1 59 4 . There a re manufactures o f S i lk and crape . (PP. 6 6 , 75,

H a r low i s an ancien t market town o n t he R iverSto rt . I t was o nce o f some impo rtance, and i s n o w no ted fo r it sannua l fa i r .

H a rw ich (6 1 76) i s a bo ro ugh , wateri ng-place, and seapo rti n t he n o rthiea st Of E s sex . I t has been a place o f n o te fromearl y t imes

,and i ts harbo ur i s o n e o f the be st and safest o n the

east co ast . There i s regular dail y commun icat io n be tween Harwichand the co nt i nen t . The pe o ple a re engaged i n the sh i ppi ng andfi sh trades

,and there a re manufactures o f Ro man cement and

art ificial manure. (pp . 2 0 . 3 1 . 47. 52 . 56 . 58 . 75. 76 . 8 0 . 8 2 .

H orn chur ch (640 2 ) is s i tuated t w o miles so uth -east o fRomfo rd . I ts church has a l i fe-s i z e representat io n i n sto ne o f abul lo ck ’s head , wi th tw o rea l h o rn s i n serted . Ho rnchurch hasmanufactures o f brick

,t i les

,and dra i n—pipes .

I lford i s a large and rapidly growi ng town o n theR iver Ro di ng . St Mary ’s Ho spi ta l i s an i nterest i ng bu i ld i ngfo unded i n the reign o f Henry I I . I l fo rd i s n o w famo us fo r i tsexten s ive manufacture o f pho to graph i c plates . (pp . 6 , 2 2 , 3 3 , 78 ,

In ga t e st on e ( 1 74 8) i s an ancien t l i tt le town , Six mi les so uthwest o f Chelmsfo rd . I ts church has a fi n e embatt led tower o f redbrick . I ngatesto ne Hal l

,i n th i s pari sh

,o r ig i nal l y a quadrangular

bu i ld i ng,is i n the E l i z abethan style . (p . 1

Ke lv edon a large v i l lage,s tands o n the Blackwater .

Charles Spurgeo n the n on co nfo rmi st preacher was bo rn here.(3

°

CHIEF TOWNS AND V ILLAGES 159

L eigh (3 6 67) i s an ancient town , o n a creek o f t he Thames ,th ree mi les west from So uthend . I ts church wi th af fine towerhas a strik i ng effect

,and o ccupies a commandi ng po s i t io n o n the

edge o f the cl iff. The to wn i s a fi sh i ng stat io n,and has co n s ider

able trade in o ysters,sh r imps

,and co ck les . (PI) . 4 2 , 8 0 ,

L ey t on i s an ancient par i sh o n the Lea . It s po pu

lat io n i s rapidl y i ncreas i ng,but there is l i ttle o f i n terest i n t he

place . TheTo wn Hal l and Techn ica l I n st i tute a re go o d mo dernbu i ld i ngs . The E ssex Co unty Cr i cket Gro und i s at Leyto n .Lo dge the dramat i s t

,Strype the h i sto r ian

,and Bowyer

,the

celebrated pri n ter,were res idents at Leyto n . (pp . 6 , 6 8 , 9 8 , 1 0 3 ,

L ough t on (473 0 ) i s a picturesque pari sh o n the east o fEppi ng Fo rest .

,

.In t he neighbo urho o d i s Lo ughto n Camp , whichwas pro babl y a Bri t i sh earthwo rk . (pp . 3 1 ,

Ma ldon (5565) is a bo ro ugh , market to wn , and river po rt atthe i nflux o f t he Che lmer t o t he Blackwater . I t i s o f greatant iqu i ty

,and suffered much at t he hands o f t he Danes . There

i s some sh ippi ng trade . The o yster fi sheries a re o f impo rtance,

and there a re i ndustr ies i n bo at-bu i ldi ng,i ro n - fo undi ng

,and

brewing (pp . 45. 79 . 8 9 . H 0 . I 3 6

Ma n n in g t re e o n the R iver Sto ur,is a market town

with trade i n mal t,t imber

,and co rn . There i s al so a large

xylo n i te facto ry . (pp . 2 0 , 47,

Mist l ey ( 1 656) o n the R i ver Sto ur , a l i tt le east o f Mann i ngtree

,has an exten s ive quay and co ns iderable trade i n co rn

,

co al s,e tc.

On ga r ( 1 1 1 7) i s a smal l market town o n t he Ro d ing . I twas the s i te Of a Roman settlement

,and there a re rema i n s o f a

castle . (Pp . 1 0 9 , 1 1 7,

1 60 ESSEX

P rit t lew e l l i s an ancient and pleasant par i sh o n e

mi le no rth o f So uthend,part o f which i s i ncl uded i n th i s place .

The church i s a very large and fi n e bu i ldi ng,with a lo fty tower

o f fl i n t and sto ne chequer-wo rk . (p . 1

R a in h am ( 1 72 5) i s a large v i l lage o n a creek o f t he Thames .I t ha s a go o d quay , and some trade . It s church i s a fi n e bu i ld i ngdat i ng from abo ut 1 1 55. (pp . 2 3 ,

R ay leigh an ancien t town fo ur mi les no rth -east o fBen flee t

,has t he rema i n s Of some earthwo rks wh ich fo rmed the

s i te o f a castle pro bably bu i l t befo re t he Co nquest . (p .

Roch ford ( 1 8 2 9 ) i s a sma l l market town o f some ant iqu i ty ,o n t he Ro che , a branch o f t he Cro uch . Ro chfo rd Hal l

,t he

rema i n s o f a large and fi n e mans io n,was t he res idence o f t he

Bo leyn fami ly,and t he bi rthplace o f Anne Bo leyn

,o n e o f the

wives o f Henry VI I I . (p .

Romford is a market town o f some impo rtance . I thas co rn and cattle markets and i s no ted fo r i ts brewery . The

Roman stat io n Duro litum was pro bably here . (pp . 77, 9 4 ,

Sa ffron Wa lde n (58 9 6) i s an ancient mun icipa l bo ro ughand market town i n t he no rth -west o f E s sex . Many Romanrema i n s have been fo und here

,and there a re earthwo rks

,wh ich

were pro bably t he s i te o f a Roman encampment . The church , alarge and magn ificen t s to ne bu i ld i ng i n the Perpendicular style

,

o ccupies a command i ng po s i t io n,and has a l o fty cro cketed spi re .

The Museum i s o n e o f t he best o f i t s k i nd,and co nta i n s an

almo s t complete co l lect io n o f Br i t i sh b i rds . Audley En d House ,

t he finest mans io n i n E s sex,i s clo se t o th i s town . (pp . 3 0 , 73 , 77,

S t Osy t h t en mi les so uth -east o f Co l chester,has

o yster beds . Near the v i l lage a re t he Abbey and the church,

bo th o f wh ich are ancient and i nterest i ng . (p . 1

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1 62 ESSEX

co rdi te,smal l arms

,e tc . A large part Of Eppi ng Fo rest

,o nce

cal led Wal tham Fo rest,i s i n th i s par i sh . (pp . 2 1

, 7 1 , 73 , 75, 77,

8 9 7 947 1 1 6 2 1 4 0 7 1 44 )

Wa l t h am st ow is a very large par i sh o n thebo rders o f Eppi ng Fo rest . I ts church dates from the twelfthcentury

,and t he M o n o ux almsho uses a re o f t he earl y s i xteenth

century . Th i s par i sh was o nce a very favo uri te place o f res idence fo r weal thy Lo ndo n merchants and bus i nes s men

,but i t

i s n o w t he home o f a w o rk i ng-class po pulat i o n The large reserv o irs o f t he Metro po l i tan Water Bo ard a re i n th i s pari sh .Geo rge Gasco i gne

,t he E l i z abetha n po et

,l i ved i n Wa l thamstow ;

Benjamin Di srael i was educated i n o n e o f the o ld mans i o n s ; andWi l l iam Mo rr i s

,t he po et , was bo rn i n a ho use wh ich was recentl y

den u flh hed .

Wa l t on - le -Sok e n , o r Wa l ton -o n - t h e -N a z e ( 2 0 1 4) i sa rapidly growing wateri ng-place o n t he no rth -east co ast . I t hasa go o d sandy beach

,and t he cl i ffs abo und i n fo s s i l s . (pp . 3 2 , 4 6 ,

Wa n st e ad (9 1 79 ) i s a pleasant fo rest pari sh , wi th somego o d ho uses and severa l large benevo len t i n st i tut io n s . Wan steadPark

,a fi n e wo o dland wi th a large lake

,i s n o w o pen t o the publ i c .

The famo us Wan stead Ho use sto o d i n i t s gro unds . Pen n,the

quaker, and T om Ho od,t he po et

,l ived at Wanstead . (pp . 6 , 3 3 ,

We st H am o n e o f t he mo st po pulo us bo ro ughs i nEngland

,i s o n t he R iver Lea . I t co nta i n s Stratfo rd

,Cann i ng Town

,

and Pla i stow,and each o f these d iv i s io n s has a large i ndustr ia l

po pulat io n . The wo rks o f the Great Eastern Ra i lway a re i n th i sbo ro ugh and give emplo yment t o several th o usand hands . Therea re al so large do cks at Cann i ng Town ; and sh i pbui ld i ng , so ap ,candle , jute, chemical , and in dia rubber wo rks i n var io us parts .Stratfo rd market i s an impo rtan t cen tre fo r t he sale o f fru i t and

CHIEF TOWNS AND V ILLAGES 16 3

vegetables . Amo ng t he ch ief publ i c bu i ldi ngs a re t he TownHa l l

,and an excel len t Techn ica l I n st i tute

,Library

,and Museum

,

fo rmi ng a real l y fi n e blo ck i n an attract ive style o f arch i tecture .63 1» 6 . 6 8 . 75.

Wit h am (3 454) stands near t he i nflux Of Po ds Bro o k i n tothe Blackwater . I t i s a market town o f great ant iqu i ty , and o ncehad some impo rtant wo o l len manufactures . (p )

Wiv e n h oe (2 56 0 ) i s a r iver po rt o n the Co l ne , fo ur m i lesso uth-east o f Co l chester . Sh ip and yacht bu i ld i ng i s the ch iefi ndustry and there i s al so some trade i n o ysters . (pp . 2 4 , 45,

Woodford i s a picturesque par i sh o n t he bo rders o fEppi ng Fo rest

,o ver wh ich i t has fi n e v iews . I t co ns i sted ma i n l y

o f th ree v i l lages,Wo o dfo rd Green

,Wo o dfo rd Wel l s , and Wo o d

fo rd Bridge,and there were many go o d ho uses o f weal thy Lo ndo n

merchants . Geo rge Herbert,the po et

,l ived at Wo o dfo rd

,and

Sydney Smith,the wi t

,and Co ventry Patmo re, t he po et , were bo th

bo rn here . (PI) . 6 , 1 46 ,

Writ t le t w o and a hal f m i les west from Chelmsfo rd ,i s t he largest par i sh i n E s sex . I ts v i l lage

,with many cur io us Old

ho uses , i s bu i l t ro und the v i l lage green . I t i s a place o f greatant iqu i ty

,and Roman rema i n s have been fo und i n the neighbo ur

1 64 ESSEX

ENGLAND 81. WALES

F ig . 1 . D i a gram sh o wi n g t h e a re a o f E ssex c o mp a redwith tha t o f E ngla nd a n d Wa le s

ENGLAND 8c WALES

F ig . 2 . D i a gram sh o wing t h e p o pu la tio n o f E ssexc o mp a red wi th tha t o f E ngla nd a n d Wa le s

F ig . 3 . Dia gram sh o w i ng t h e i n cre a se o f

p o pu la t i o n fro m 1 8 6 1—1 9 0 1

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166 ESSEX

Whea t

F ig . 6 . D ia gram sh o wing t h e pro p o rtio na te a rea sgro wing Whe a t

,B a rley

,O a ts a n d R y e

F ig . 7. Dia gram sho wi n g t h e a re a unde rP e rm a ne n t P a sture

DIAGRAMS 167

F ig . 8 . Dia gram sho wi n g t h e pro p o rtio na te a crea geunde r C ro ps , Gra ss , e t c .

Fig . 9 . Dia gram sh o wi ng t h e pro p o rtio na te numb e ro f sheep , co ws a n d ca t t l e

, p igs , a n d h o rses