210 THE BRITISH ISLES. 



There are no towns of note alonj^ tlio Essex bank of the Thames. Eainham, 

 on the river Ingrebournc, about a mile from it, is the heart of a fertile market- 

 gardeninc^ district. It has an early Norman church. Purfleet is merely a small 

 village, with lime and chalk quarries, and a Government powder magazine. 

 Tilbury, opposite Gravesend, with its old fort, has already been referred to. Thames 

 Haven, joined to London by a railway, has not acquired the hoped-for importance, 

 since foreign cattle are now obliged to be landed at Deptford ; and only Southend, 

 near the mouth of tlie Thames, has made any progress as a watering-place. At 

 Shoehuri/ness, 3 miles to the east of it, a Royal School of Gunnery for artillery 

 practice has been established. 



The only towns on the Crouch are Billericajj, a pretty market town, and 

 Buniham, which engages in fishing and oyster-breeding, on the estuary of the 



river. 



The Blackwater rises in the north-western part of the county, and flows 

 past Braintree, Coggeshall, Kelvedon, and AVitham to Maldon, where it is joined 

 by the Chelmer. Bmintree is an old town, with narrow streets and many timbered 

 houses. The manufiicture of crape and silk is still extensively carried on there, 

 and in the adjoining village of Becking. CoggeshaJl has manufactories of silk, 

 plush, and velvets. The remains of the Cistercian abbey founded here by King 

 Stephen in 1142 are scanty. Near Kelvedon is Tiptree Hall, Mr. Mechi's 

 experimental fiirm, which attracts strangers from every part of the world. Maldon 

 occupies a steep eminence by the river Chelmer. Its port is accessible to vessels of 

 200 tons burden, and a brisk coasting trade is carried on through it. Maldon is a 

 very ancient town, and amongst its buildings are a church of the thirteenth 

 century with a triangular tower, and a town-hall of the reign of Henry VII. 

 Malting, brewing, and salt-making are carried on. Near the town are the remains 

 of Billeigh Abbey, and below it, at the mouth of the Blackwater, is the village of 

 Bradicell, the site of the Roman Othona. 



Chelmsford, the county town, stands at the junction of the navigable Chelmer 

 with the Cann. St. Mary's Church, partly dating back to the fifteenth century, 

 the free school endowed by Edward YI., the museum and shire-hall, are the 

 most interesting buildings. Chief Justice Tindal, whose statue stands in front 

 of the shire-hall, was a native of Chelmsford. Agricultural machinery is made, 

 and the trade in corn is of importance. Great Dunmow and Thaxtcd are market 

 towns on the Upper Chelmer, and both have interesting old churches. 



Colchester, on the Colne, 8 miles above its mouth at Brightlingsea, is 

 the largest town in Essex, and occupies the site of Colonia Camelodunum, the 

 first Roman colony in Great Britain. Ample remains of Roman times still 

 exist in the town wall ; whilst the keep of the old Norman castle, double 

 the size of the White Tower of London, the ruins of St. Botolph's Priory 

 Church, and St. John's Abbey Gate, the last relic of a Benedictine monastery 

 founded in 1096, adequately represent the Middle Ages. The museum in the 

 chapel of the castle is rich in Roman and other antiquities. The Port or 

 "Hythe" of Colchester is too shallow to admit the huge vessels in which most 



