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ESSEX. 



whole ooune U about 34 mile*. The Sandon Brook, which rise* near 

 Stock, 9 mile* north-oast of Uillcricay, and bat a coarse of about 

 10 mile*, join* the Chelmer between Chelmsford ami Maldon. The 

 Ter rises between Felstead on the Chelmer and Rayne on the Pods 

 Brook, and flows south-east 13 or 14 miles into the Chelmer, \\!i 1. 

 it joins about 2 miles below the junction of the Sandon Brook. 

 The Culne rise* in the north-western part of the county, and flows 

 east about 7 miles to the neighbourhood of Great Yeldham, where it 

 U joined by another stream of nearly the same length. From this 

 junction it flows south-east 6 miles, then cant-south-east about 13 

 miles to Colchester. Below Colchester it becomes a tidewater and 

 flows 8 or 9 miles south-east into the sea at the north-east end of 

 Mersey Island. Its whole course is about 35 miles. The Roman 

 rises about 2 miles north of Coggeshall on the Blackwater, and flows 

 oast by south about 13 miles into the tideway of the Colne, which it 

 joins midway between Colchester and the sea. A brook 8 or 9 milea 

 long from Layer Ifarney and Layer Breton joins the Human about 

 three miles above its junction with the Colne. The Stour may be 

 considered as equally belonging to Suffolk and Essex. Of the three 

 springs which may claim to be its source*, one which flows post the 

 Tillage of Keddington is in Suffolk ; a second is in Cambridgeshire, 

 nn<l from it a stream flows by the town of Uaverhill, on the borders 

 of Suffolk and Essex ; the third spring is in Essex, and the stream 

 from it passes Steeple Bumpstead. From the junction of these three 

 streams, which takes place about 6 or 8 miles from their respective 

 sources, the river to its outfall divides the counties of Essex and 

 Suffolk. Its course is first east about 10 miles to the neighbourhood 

 of Long Melford, above which it receives two small tributaries on the 

 Suffolk bank ; thence its course is south by east about 8 miles : then 

 east 13 miles to Catawade bridge, above Manningtree. Below Cata- 

 wade bridge the stream widens into a considerable sastuary, 11 or 1 2 

 miles long, and for the most part above a mile wide, which unites 

 with the testuary of the Orwell, a Suffolk river, and passes into the 

 open sea between Harwich and Languard Fort. Its whole course is 

 about 50 miles. The Cam rises near Debden, 4 miles from Saffron 

 Walden, and flows first south-west for 2 miles, and then lures north 

 and flows 8 or 9 miles into Cambridgeshire, to which the principal 

 part of its course belongs. 



The Thames and the Lea are navigable throughout that part of 

 their course which belongs to this county ; the Start is navigable from 

 Bishop Stortford to its junction with the Leo. The tideway of the 

 Crouch is navigable ; near Burnhnm this river is a quarter of a mile 

 wide, and has depth of water sufficient for a 98-gun ship : a 74 might 

 go almost up to Hull bridge at the head of the tideway. The Black- 

 water does not appear to be navigable above the junction of the 

 Chelmer. Vessels of considerable burden can get up to Maldon at spring 

 tides. The Chelmer is navigable to Chelmsford. The navigation pf 

 the Colne extends to Colchester. The Stour is navigable up to 

 Sudbury. Essex has no navigable canals. 



The principal roads in the county are the three ronds from London 

 to Norwich, by Ipswich, by Bury, and by Newmarket. The road by 

 Ipswich enters the county at Bow bridge, and crosses the county in 

 nearly ita greatest extent from south-west to north-east, passing 

 through the market-towns of Romford, Chelmsford, Witham, and 

 Colchester, 7) miles beyond which the road crosses the Stour at 

 Stratford bridge and enters Suffolk. The road through Bury branches 

 off from the Ipswich road at Chelmsford, and passes through the 

 towns of Braintree and H aisled, 8 miles beyond which the road crosses 

 the Stour into the town of Sudbury in Suffolk. The road by New- 

 market branches off from the Ipswich road at Stratford, crosses 

 part of Epping Forest, and runs through the town of Eppiug, about 

 7 miles beyond which it crosses the Stort into Hertfordshire ; between 

 29 and 80 miles from London it re-crosses the same river into Essex, 

 runs northward near Saffron Walden, and finally quits the county at 

 the Tillage of Great Chesterford, 45 miles from London. Numerous 

 roads of minor importance traverse the county. 



The Eastern Counties railway is the only railway which passes 

 through Essex. The main line enters the county at Old-Ford ; at 

 Stratford it turns northward, and continues for some 17 miles along 

 the valley of the Lea, but for the greater part of the way on the 

 Hertfordshire side of the river. At Roydon it enters the valley of 

 the Stort, along which it runs to Stanstead, 14 miles, partly in Essex 

 and partly in Herts. It then runs due north quitting Essex at Great 

 Chesterford. The Colchester line traverses the county in a north- 

 eastern direction and leaves it near Manuingtree, 55 miles. From 

 Stratford a branch runs to North Woolwich, 5 miles. Near Ilford a 

 branch runs outh-east to West Tilbury, and is to be continued to 

 Southcnd. From Witham, on the Colchester Kno, a branch runs north- 

 west to Braintree, 12 miles ; and another south-south-east to Maldon, 

 &4 miles. From Marks Tey, on the same line, a branch runs north- 

 north west to Sudbury, 1 1 miles. A branch is in course of construction 

 from Manningtree to Harwich, about 12 miles. 



(Jtoloffical Charaettr. A considerable tract in the northern part of 

 the county, stretching along the river Stour from the Tillage of Ked- 

 dington to between Sudbury and Ncylan.l, nn.l extending for some 

 distance into the interior of the county, is occupied by diluvial beds, 

 consisting of loam with fragment* of chalk. The coast of the north- 

 fast part of the county U covered with the sand or gravel of the 



ES.^1 M 



upper marine formation, which occupiea a considerable part of the 

 counties of Norfolk and Suffolk, and is locally designated ' crag.' At 

 the headland of the Naze it constitutes about 30 feet of the 

 port of the cliff* (which are about 45 feet high) resting up 

 London clay : south of the Naze its thickness appears to vary from 10 

 to 40 feet In the projecting cliff of Harwich it includes friablo 

 masses of ferruginous sand, somewhat cemented together, ami ii. 

 shells. Fragments of fossil bones washed out of the strata of this 

 formation, in which they had been imbedded, are found on the beach 

 at Walton, but occur iu much greater quantities at Harwich. The 

 clifls south of the Naze consist of freoh-water deporiu, which contain 

 shells and mammalian remains. In the valley of the Stour, while 

 excavating for the Stour railway near Mark's Tey, fossil elephants' 

 teeth were found. 



The greater part of the county, including Kpping and Hainuult or 

 Heuhault Forests, is occupied by the London clay. The London clay 

 of the cliffs near Harwich contains beds of stratified limestone 

 same cliffs are very productive in the fossils with which this fom 

 abounds. South of Walton, near the Xazo, abundance of s 

 are found, which are sent by sea to Harwi-.-h, where they are manu- 

 factured by government into a cement. The principal elevations in the 

 county, High Beach, Langdon and Danbury Hills, and Tiptree I: 

 are formed of London clay. The surface of the vegetable mould 

 commonly rests on alluvial beds of rich marl and loam, which 

 ttf with gravel and sand, and sometimes have a thickness* 

 or 40 feet over the London clay. The sands and clays of the plastic. 

 clay formation skirt the district of the London clay on the nortli 

 Halsted and Coggeshall, with the intermediate tract, are both on the 

 plastic clay. The border of Essex, near Hadleigh, is the most 

 northerly point at which this formation has been found. The north- 

 western extremity of the county, about Saffron Walden, cons; 

 chalk : the great chalk district, in its extension from south-west to 

 north-east, just crosses that part of the county. The chalk appears 

 also at Purfleet, where is on extensive chalk pit, and Gray's Thurrock, 

 on the banks of the Thames. A subterranean forest underlies the 

 marshes on the banks of the Thames. 



Climate, foil, Agriculture. The climate of Essex is favourable to 

 vegetation : the sea and the numerous [estuaries which bound it on 

 the south and east soften the rigour of winter, and ke;p up a o 

 degree of moisture in summer. The same caun produces cold fogs 

 and exhalations in spring and autumn, which are prejudicial to the 

 health of those who are not inured to the climate, but improved 

 drainage and the disappearance of the woods before the advance of 

 cultivation, have diminished the source of unhealthincss. The soil 

 all along the coast, and 10 or 12 miles inland, is a friable loain of 

 greater or less tenacity in different parts, but peculiarly adap' 

 the cultivation of wheat, beans, and oats. The Isle of Mersey, which 

 lies at the mouth of the Colne River, has been long noted for the 

 fertility of its soil, which is a fine alluvial loam composed of the 

 various earths deposited from the river and the sea, like the warp 

 lands along the H umber, or the polders in the Netherlands. Tl 

 soils of Essex lie low, and require to be protected from the sea by 

 embankments. Many marshes which formerly produced nothing but 

 herbage, and were subject to inundations, are now converted into 

 arable fields : and a great tract of land, all along the coast, which 

 used to be covered by the sea at high tides, is now laid dry by proper 

 deep and broad ditches, here called fleets, and protected by high and 

 well-constructed sea-walls. In some of these marshes the want of 

 fresh water in summer was often felt sever, ly. Hut recourse has 

 been had to boring, which has been attended with great success, 

 especially in the marshes at St Osyth, where the finest springs of 

 water have been found, which flow over the surface, and keep ample 

 reservoirs continually full. The depth at which the water was found 

 did not exceed 50 {set The soil iu the uplands along the coast 

 consists chiefly of good loams varying in tenacity from a strong clay 

 to a light gravel ; most of it is of such a nature as to bear both 

 turnips and beans. The whole county has an undulating surface, 

 which is very pleasing in districts where fields and woods are inter- 

 spersed. The only level tract is that along the Thames, \\ ! 

 to iu mouth and along part of the south-eastern coast Clay soils pre- 

 vail in most parts of the county. There are few such light soils iu Essex 

 as there are in Norfolk and in Lincolnshire ; and except on the bor- 

 ders of Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire chalk and marl are rare. 



In those farms which have marshes attached to them numerous 

 cattle are kept, and the straw is converted into manure, by which the 

 arable land is kept in a high state of fertility. Along the Thames 

 the salt-marshes are extensive, and are profitable from the nuinU-r of 

 horses which are sent from London to feed there, after they have been 

 over-worked and require rest, or when they have met with some 

 accident In some cases oxen and sheep are fed on the marshes. 



Besides the crops usually cultivated a considerable quantity of cole 

 or rape-seed is raised on rich alluvial soils. It is a profitable crop, 

 owing to the abundant supply of manure brought from London l.y 

 the Thames. Flax is not cultivated to any great extent, and very 

 little hemp is sown. Some hops are raised in the western p.-n-t. of the 

 county towards Cambridgeshire. The cultivation of carraway, 

 coriander, and teazles is almost peculiar to this county. 



I u that part of Essex which lies within a few mil. ., of London II . 



