933 



ESSEX. 



ESSEX. 



by their junction, the mouth of which inlet, from St. Peter's chapel 

 to St. Osyth Point, is above 5 miles over, is the island of Mersey, 

 separated from the mainland by a marshy tract and an intervening 

 narrow channel. The marshes terminate 4 miles beyond St. Osyth 

 Point, and (with a slight interruption of a mile of marsh-land near tho 

 mouth of Holland Creek) a high broken coast extends between 9 and 

 10 miles to the Naze, the most eastern point of the county. This 

 point formerly extended much farther toward the cast. The ruins of 

 buildings have been found at considerable distances from laud; and 

 a shoal called West Rock is 5 miles from the shore. From tho Naze 

 to Harwich, between 5 and 6 miles in a direct lino north and south, 

 the coast forms an inlet lined by salt marshes, and occupied by 

 Horsey Island, Holmes Island, Pewit Island, and one or two smaller 

 islands. The sea-coast terminates at Harwich ; but the aestuary of 

 the Stour, which is in most parts more than a mile wide at high 

 water, extends up to Catawade bridge, above Manningtree. 



The islands have been named in the course of the foregoing 

 description of the coast : we subjoin a few particulars of the chief 

 of them. 



Canvey Island is entirely marsh-land, banked in all round. Its 

 extreme length from east to west is 6 miles; its greatest breadth 

 from north to south 24 miles. Its area is about 3000 acres, chiefly 

 appropriated to grazing sheep and cattle. It is connected with the 

 mainland by a causeway leading to the village of South Benfleet. In 

 1841 the island contained 39 houses, and a population of 277; in 

 it contained 10 houses and a population of 111. A timber 

 was built about 1622 for the use of some Dutchmen employed 

 in em tanking the island. The chapel has been twice rebuilt : the 

 present chapel will hold 100 persons. A fair is held yearly on the 

 island. 



Foulness Island is situated on the shore of the German Ocean, and 

 forms the right bank of the river Crouch at its embouchure. Its 

 extreme length, from north-east to south-west, is almost 6 miles ; its 

 greatest breadth 2J miles. Its area is about 6300 acres, with a popu- 

 lation of 640, almost entirely agricultural. The soil is good ; the 

 upper part produces corn ; the lower part is used for pasturage. The 

 houses are of wood a material which is here liable to rapid decay. 

 The church, also of wood, is situated near the centre of the island : 

 it will hold 300 persons. A yearly fair is held. 



Wallasea, otherwise Wallet or Wallis, is bounded N. by the river 

 Crouch, E. and S. by the Broomhill River, and \V. and S.W. by 

 Paglesham Creek. A causeway over Paglesham Creek connects 

 Wallasea with the mainland. The greatest length of the island is 

 from east to west 3J miles; its greatest breadth is a mile and a half. 

 The water is too salt to be fit for kitchen use, and the inhabitants 

 have to fetch fresh-water from the mainland. The whole island 

 is marsh-land ; the area is 3255 acres; in 1851 it contained 13 houses, 

 and a population of 133. 



Potten Island, Haven Gore, New England, and Russelys or Rushley 

 belong to the same group as the two foregoing ; they are of small 

 extent. In the creeks which surround or separate these islands are 

 fed the small oysters called Wallfleet oysters. 



Mersey Island is bounded S. by the aestuary of the Blackwater 

 River, S.E. by the German Ocean, E. by the aostuary of the Colne, 

 and on all other sides by a creek, which, running through the marshes 

 on its north-west side, separates it from the mainland. The greatest 

 length of the island is from east-north-east to west-south-west nearly 

 5 miles ; the breadth varies from one to two miles. The island is 

 divided into the two parishes of East and West Mersey or Mersea, of 

 which East Mersey comprehends an area of 1957 acres, with a popu- 

 lation in 1851 of 291 ; West Mersey an area of 3365 acres, with a 

 population of 870. There is a passage from the island to the main- 

 land over the Mersey Channel, dry at low water, called the ' Strode," 

 or 'Stroude.' 



Horsey Island is in that inlet which occurs between the Naze and 

 Harwich. Its greatest length is from north-west to south-east about 

 two miles ; its greatest breadth rather more than a mile. It consists 

 almost entirely of salt-marches : a spot rather more elevated than the 

 rest, about one-fourth of the whole, on the south-west side of the 

 island, is banked in. In the marshes there is a decoy for wild-fowl. 

 The area is 1755 acres : the population in 1851 was 161. 



Pewit Island and Holmes Island, with one or two others, are near 

 Horsey : all these islands are separated from each other and from the 

 mainland by narrow channels. 



Surface, hydrography, and Communication!. This county has few 

 hills of any considerable elevation ; its general slope, as determined 

 by the watershed, is towards the south and east ; the coast and the 

 hanks of the Thames present a succession of unhealthy marshes com- 

 monly known as the hundreds of Essex. High Beach, on the north- 

 west side of Epping Forest, near Waltham Abbey (390 feet high), 

 Langdon Hill, south of Billericay (620 feet high), Danbury Hill, 

 between Chelmsford and Mnldon, of nearly the same height, and 

 Tiptrey Heath, near Witham, are probably the highest parts of the 

 county. The chalk downs which form the continuation of the 

 Chiltern Hills just cross the north-western part of the county in 

 their extension towards the north-east. 



The rivers of Essex are tfcb Thames, with its affluents, the Lea 

 (into which flows the Stort), the Iloding, the Bourne Broot, the 



Ingerburn, and some smaller streams; the Crouch, with its affluent 

 the Broomhill ; the Blackwater, with its affluents the Pods Brook, or 

 Witham River, and the Cheltner (into which flow the Sandon Brook, 

 the Ter, and some other streams) ; the Come, with its affluent the 

 Roman ; the Stour ; and the Granta or Cam. The Thames bounds 

 the county on the south side. Its course, though winding, is on the 

 whole nearly from west to east. It is a tidal river, and navigable for 

 the largest merchant ships, and for frigates and other smaller ships 

 of war throughout that part of its course which belongs to this 

 county. The mouth of the Thames contains numerous shoals. [THAMES.] 

 The Lea bounds the county on part of its west side. It more properly 

 belongs to Hertfordshire, in which it has a considerable part of its 

 course. It meets the border of Essex at the point where it receives 

 the Stort, along which the boundary previously runs and flows south 

 past Broxbourn (Herts), Waltham Abbey, 'Chingford, Layton, and 

 Stratford (all in Essex), 20 miles, into the Thames. The banks of 

 this river are marshy ; and the marshes are from half a mile to a 

 mile wide. The stream is frequently divided and flows in several 

 channels, and in some places cuts have been made in order to improve 

 or shorten the navigation, which comprehends all that part of the 

 river which is connected with this county. The Stort rises in Hert- 

 fordshire, but soon enters Essex, through which it flows for some 

 miles, and then touches the border again, and flows, sometimes on 

 the border, sometimes in Hertfordshire, into the Lea. Its whole 

 course is about 24 miles, for about 10 miles of which it has been 

 made navigable. The navigation of the Stort and the Lea serves for 

 the conveyance of corn, malt, wool, and other agricultural produce 

 to London ; and for the conveyance in return of coals, timber, deals, 

 bricks, groceries, cloth, and other articles of daily consumption. 

 The Iloding rises in the western part of the county, near Easton 

 Park, a short distance north-west of Dunmow : it flows southward 

 about 15 miles to the neighbourhood of Chipping Ongar, where it 

 receives the Cripsey Brook (about 9 miles long) from the north-west. 

 From the junction of the Cripsey Brook the Roding flows south-west 

 in a very winding channel 14 miles to Woodford bridge; and from 

 Woodford bridge it flows about 7 or 8 miles nearly south past Ilford 

 and Barking into the Thames. Its whole course is about 36 

 miles. The banks are low and marshy from the neighbourhood 

 of Ongar. The west bank from Ilford, and both banks from 

 below Barking, are protected by embankments. It is navi- 

 gable under the name of Barton Creek up to Ilford bridge. The 

 Bourne Brook rises between the villages of Navestock and Havering- 

 atte-Bower, and flows in a winding channel past Romford, and between 

 Dagenham and Homchurch Marshes into the Thames. Its length is 

 about 12 miles. In the lower part of its course the Bourne Brook is 

 connected with the pool formed by Dagenham Breach. This breach 

 was occasioned in 1707 by the blowing up of a small sluice that had 

 been made for the drainage of the land waters : an opening was formed 

 by the rushing in of the Thames, 300 feet wide, and in some places 

 20 feet deep ; 1000 acres of rich land in the adjacent levels were over- 

 flowed, and the surface of nearly 120 acres was washed into the 

 Thames, where a bank was formed nearly a mile in length, and 

 extending half-way across the river. After various ineffectual attempts, 

 the breach was stopped, by driving dove-tailed piles and other expe- 

 dients, under the direction of Captain Perry, who commenced his 

 works in 1718. Within the embankment there is yet a pool of between 

 40 and 50 acres. Through the upper part of this pool the Bourne 

 Brook flows. The Ingerburn rises near Havering-atte-Bower. not far 

 from the source of the Bourne Brook, and flows southward, past 

 Upminster, into the Thames. It is about 12 miles long. A stream 

 of about the same length, which rises close to Thorndon Park near 

 Brentwood, falls into the Thames near Purfleet. The Crouch rises on 

 the slope of the hills south of Billericay, and flows east by north 

 about 25 miles into the sea. The tide flows about 13 miles up the 

 river and is kept from overflowing the lowlands on its banks by 

 mounds. In the tide-way there are many arms ; and the various 

 channels by which the river communicates with the sea form the 

 group of Foulness, Wallasea, and the adjacent islands. Just abov 

 its mouth it receives the Broomhill River (10 miles long), which is 

 navigable for seven miles nearly up to Rochford. The Blackwater, 

 which in the upper part of its course is called the Pant, rises near the 

 village of Wimbish, in the north-western part of the county. It flows 

 first south-east and then south about 30 miles, past Coggeshall to the 

 neighbourhood of Witham. Here it is joined by the Pods Brook, n, 

 stream 14 or 15 miles long, which rises near Great Bardfield and flows 

 past Braintree and Witham. From the junction of this stream the 

 Blackwater flows south about 4 miles to the junction of the Chelmer; 

 after which it flows east about 12 miles into the sea, having a course 

 of about 46 miles. From Maldon, which is below the junction of the 

 Chelmer, it is a tidal river ; and its sestuary, which is at high water 

 from a mile and a half to 2^ miles wide, contains the islands of Northey, 

 Osey, Ramsey, and Pewit. Lawling Creek and Goldhanger Creek arc 

 channels in the ooze or strand of this tideway. The Chelmer rises near 

 Debdeu, and flows south-south-east about 23 or 24 miles to the town of 

 Chelmsford, where it in joined by a stream which rises near Thorndon 

 Park and flows northward to Writtle, and then turns east, its whole 

 course being about 14 miles. From C'helmsford the Chelmer flows 

 east about 10 miles till it falls into the Blackwater near Maldon. Its 



