ROUTE 6. COLCHESTER ΤΟ BRIGHTLINGSEA engaged in the oyster fishery. There is here also a large ship-building yard belonging to Messrs. Harvey, whose yachts are far famed. The view down the winding Colne is hardly picturesque (the Roman river -see Lexden, Rte. 2-falls into the Colne nearly opposite Wivenhoe), and almost the sole point of interest here is the Church-rebuilt, with the AND WALTON-ON-THE-NAZE. MER- exception of the tower, since 1859, SEA ISLAND. (Tendring Hundred Line.) [Many trains run daily from Colchester by Wivenhoe to Brightlingsea (114m.) and Walton-on-the-Naze (193 m.). The Mile End Stat. (the main Colchester Stat. on the Great Eastern Kly.) is connected with a stat. at St. Botolph's in the lower part of the town. From St. Botolph's the line runs direct.] At 3 m. is Hythe (stat.). This is the port of Colchester, and the river, as high as this, is navigable for vessels of 160 tons. Beyond this stat. Wivenhoe Park (H. J. Gurdon-Rebow, Esq.), is seen 1. A very important work of Grinling Gibbons, the Stoning of St. Stephen,' is preserved here. It was bought of Gibbons by Chas. II., and given to the Duke of Chandos. It was at Cannons, and its later history is well known. The carving is in three blocks of lance wood; and the design somewhat resembles one of the elaborate architectural compositions of Paul Veronese. There is a drawing of this carving in the Colchester Museum. 6 m. Wivenhoe (Junct. Stat. Here the rly. branches, one line running 1. to Walton, the other proceeding to Brightlingsea). The term 'hoe' (A. S. hou), which occurs frequently in this district, signifies a height or rising ground. Here the "hoes" are low hills overlooking the marshes. The village of Wyvenhoe (Pop. 2124) is inhabited for the most part by persons but still preserving some fine brasses The In the walls of the old ch., part of which remain on the N. side, is much Roman tile. There are some fine horse-chesnuts in the ch.-yd. On the S. side of the ch. is what is now a row of cottages,-with some "pargetting or plaster work running along above the wooden base. The work, perhaps Elizabethan, is excellent in design,-representing twisted branches and foliage. (a). Wivenhoe to Brightlingsea. From Wivenhoe the rly. follows the N. bank of the Colne, till it reaches 114 m. Brightlingsea. (Inn-The Swan. Pop. 3075. Bricticesia in Domes., afterwards "Brichtling "Brichticising (ing = meadow, the added ea' may be A. S. ig. island.) This "port" was, and is, a member of the Cinque Port of Sandwich. It is now, for the most part, a village of oyster fishers. The whole of the socalled "Colchester" oysters are laid here, and in the creeks between Brightlingsea and East Mersey. The Church, is 14 m. N. of the village and station. Its lofty tower is a conspicuous mark, not only from the sea, but over all the neighbouring marshes. The ch. is Perp., and contains a magnificent monument to the Dorrien-Magens family, and 7 brasses for members of the Beriff family, ranging from 1496 to 1578; ch. and manor belonged to St. John's Abbey at Colchester. A fine wood, aboutm. from the ch., contained up to 1865 one of the few remaining heronries in Essex. This, through the carelessness or vandalism of some Yorkshiremen, who purchased the estate from the Dorrien-Magens family, was nearly effaced. The present owner (John Bateman, Esq. is, however, using every effort to maintain the colony. 66 or at the surrender was 758l. 58. 8d. (Speed). The founder was himself buried (1127) in the ch. Henry VIII. granted the site to Thomas Cromwell. (There are some curious letters from Lord Chancellor Audley to Cromwell, in which he begs, no doubt for his personal advantage, for the change of the houses of St. Osyth's and St. John's, Colchester, from regulars to secular priests, rather than that they should be dissolved altogether. "As for St. Ossyes," he says, although yt be a gret house in building, I assure you it is onholsom for dwellyng, by cause yt ys nere the sea and mershes. This house also stondith in the confyne of the realme nere the sees, & a howse kepyng gret hospitalyte for the releefe of dyvers smal townes about it. The steple also ys a comon marke for maryners upon the sees." The abbot resigned his house as "a humble servant, without murmour grugge;" but Cromwell had his own [Across the ferry from Brightling-eye on the place, and it could not be sea Stat., and beyond St. Osyth's spared.) Edward VI. granted it to Creek, lies the village and Priory of Lord D'Arcy, whose heiress married St. Osyth. This place, then known Lord Rivers of Chich. About 1700 as Chic or Cice (A. S. cicel a piece the heiress of the Riverses, though separated or cut off. Chiche is still with a bend sinister, married Zuileused in Norfolk in this sense) stein Nassau, Earl of Rochford. St. was given by Suthred, King of Osyth's is now the property of Sir the East Angles, to his wife Osyth, John Henry Johnson, who bought who founded a nunnery here. The it from the representatives of the Danes "comminge to the said monas-Nassaus in 1863. The ancient retery, cut off her head" (circ. 870), "the which she taking up from the ground carried three furlonges to a church of S. Peter and S. Paul," where she fell and "ended the course of her martyrdom." The present Parish Ch. (ded. to SS. Peter and Paul) no doubt represents St. Osyth's building, and near it is a spring which presently sprung up in the place where she was beheaded." St. Osyth is best known as St. Scytha or St. Sythe. A house of Augustinian Canons was founded here before 1118 by Richard de Belmes, Bishop of London; the annual revenue of which mains, incorporated with modern buildings, form the present Priory. Formerly much decayed, it displays much of the grandeur of a monastic establishment. It has been restored in the best taste by the present owner. The collection of old carvings and of Danish and Baltic pottery in the house are well worth seeing. A lofty gate-house of hewn stone and flint (of Perp. work) leads into a quadrangle, of which only the N. side is wanting. The gateway to the farm-buildings is a remarkable and very fine instance of a circ.-headed gateway of the Dec. period. The Lombardy poplars in the park dispute with those at Henley the claim of having been the first planted in England. There is also here a very celebrated laurustinus. In St. Osyth's Ch. are several tombs of the D'Arcys-one to Thos. Lord D'Arcy, 1551.] The Ch. of Great Clacton, 3 m. E. of St. Osyth, is worth a visit. The chancel and tower, which has been lately restored, are very good Norm. [Opposite Brightlingsea Stat., on the S. side, at the mouth of the Colne, is Mersea Island-44 m. long by about 2 m. broad-the largest of the many low islands, which, separated from the main land by winding "fleets" and "rays," lie off the coast of Essex. Unlike the others, Mersea is not entirely a level marsh, but rises slightly from near the coast, inland. There was a Roman residence or small station of some importance at West Mersea, the extreme S. W. point of the island. Roman pavements and foundations are still to be seen here; and it has been conjectured that they are the remains of a villa of the "Count of the Saxon Shore." The Ch. of W. Mersea is ded. to St. Peter and St. Paul,-indicating a very early foundation. It has remains of Norm. work. The island was a haunt of the Northmen) 'Sax. Chron.' ad ann. 895). There is a tumulus on it. At the S.E. corner, defending the passage up the Colne, was a small blockhouse, seized by the Parliamentarians during the siege of Colchester in 1648. During the Dutch wars of the 17th centy, a camp was established on the island. A road is carried across a narrow channel to the mainland at a place called the Strood,-a word which is said to signify a bank or road adjoining the sea or a creek. There was anciently a "Strood-keeper." The Pye fleet channel, on the N.E. side of the island, is famous for its oysters; and Peldon seems to have even supplied still more "noticeable fish" from the creek which runs up toward that village. "Alexander with his friends and physicians," writes a certain Dr. Muffet (in a book called 'Health's Improvement,' 1655), "wondered to find oisters in the Indian seas a foot long. And in Plinie's time they mar velled at an oister which might be divided into three morsels, calling it therefore Tridacnon. But I dare, and do truly affirm, that at my eldest brother's marriage at Aldham Hall in Essex, I did see a Pelden oister divided into eight good morsels, whose shell was nothing less than that of Alexander's."] (b). Wivenhoe to Walton-on-theNaze. From Wivenhoe the rly. passes through one of the richest corngrowing districts in England. Passing stations at 7 m. from Colchester, Alresford ; and 9 m. Thorington, we reach 103 m. Bentley Green (Stat.). The "Green" which adjoins the village of Great Bentley, formed part of the park belonging to a residence of the De Veres. The house has entirely disappeared. The Ch. of Great Bentley has Norm. portions. The N. and S. portals are good Norm., much enriched. Little Bentley Ch., 24 m. N. of the station, contains the brasses of Sir William Pyrton, Captain of Guisnes in Picardy (1490), and of his widow Catherine (d. 1501). Passing 12 m. Weeley Stat., we reach 14 m. Thorpe-le-Soken. With Kirby and Walton it forms "The Liberty of the Sokens" (locally Sookins), indicating that its ancient lords possessed the powers of suc and soc" within the bounds of the Liberty. These powers, derived from times before the Conquest, have been much diminished: but the Soken Court is still held at Thorpe, under the jurisdiction of its Lord, who proves wills and also backs warrants for debt. The Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's, London, were Lords of the "Sokens" until their manors here were taken from them by Hen. VIII. In the ch. of Thorpe is a good effigy, temp. Hen. III. or Edw. I., said to be of one of the Saltburgh family. In Morant's time it was called the tomb of the King of Landmer Hall," one of the most ancient houses in the parish. There is a stat, at 174 m. Kirby Cross, and soon 19 m. Walton-on-the-Naze (Ness, Promontory), or Walton-le-Soken, is reached. Inns: Dorling's Marine Hotel, formerly Kent's (much the best), opposite the old jetty; Clifton s Hotel, opposite the new pier; Albion Hotel; Portobello Hotel; Bath House. This unpretending watering-place, washed on two sides by the sea, is frequented in autumn by the Essex and Suffolk gentry, its principal attractions being the sea and a smooth sandy beach, good for bathing, several miles in extent. The best lodgings are in the terrace. Walton Tower, some distance beyond the terrace, was built by the Trinity House as a mark for vessels entering Harwich Harbour. There is also a martello tower on the shore. The present Church, consecrated by Bishop Porteus in 1804, enlarged 1834, and again in 1873, replaces a former one, which, with a large part of the village, was swept away by an encroachment of the sea-which, aided by land springs in the alluvial soil, is still gaining on the coast. One of the Prebends of St. Paul's was endowed with lands at Walton; but," says Morant, "the sea hath consumed or devoured it long ago, therefore it is styled 'Præbenda consumpta per mare.' At the Crescent pier, 132 yards long, passengers embark in the steamboats which ply to London and Ipswich. It was impossible to embark without boats, but a new pier about 170 yds. long has been erected, which will do away with this necessity. S. of Walton is a cliff much frequented by visitors for the sake of the fossils (coprolites), and remains of antediluvian animals in the crag formation, which are numerous, and easily got at. The Naze is a low promontory stretching into the sea, 3 m. N. of the town. In ancient charters connected with St. Paul's Cathedral, it is referred to by the name of "Eadulfesnesa." (This name, mis-written as " Adululnasa," is given in Domesday to the whole district, which was not then divided into three parishes). [Between the Naze and the coast running N. to Harwich are Horsey, Holmes, and Pewit Islands-the 2 former excellent grazing ground, the latter a haunt of plovers. Much oyster "spat" is conveyed from this part of the coast to the beds of the Colne. The names "Kirby" and "Mose" (Danish = moss) in this district, indicate that permanent Danish settlements were not entirely confined to the country N. of the Stour. In the parish of Frinton, adjoining Walton, on the coast, S., was in Morant's time "a pretty little house and gardens belonging once to the famous Cornelius a Tilbury, who in King William's reign cat a great quantity of poison and yet survived it."] ROUTE 7. LONDON TO HARWICH. (Great Eastern Railway. 4 trains daily. During the summer steamers leave Harwich for Rotterdam 3 days in the week; and for Antwerp on the other three days.) The main line of the Great Eastern Rly. is followed as far as Manningtree. (For it, see Rte. 2.) From Manningtree a branch line 10 m. in length, extends to Harwich; skirting the estuary of the Stour. At in 1525, for the endowment of his Colleges at Oxford and Ipswich. Scanty remains of the foundations may still be traced. The Ch. was rebuilt in 1740. The belfry, a curious structure of wood, resembling that at Wrabness (see post.), is some yards from the ch. and contains a single bell. Such wooden belfries are sometimes found attached to village churches in Sweden and Denmark. Passing 5 m. Wrabness, a village pleasantly overlooking the estuary of the Stour (the belfry here is of the same character as that at Wickes,-a low square framework of wood)-and crossing a creek at the mouth of which is Ray Island, forming the western side of Harwich harbour, the line reaches 101 m. Dovercourt, a village (1832 inhab.) forming a suburb of Harwich. This is Lower Dovercourt (Hotels: Cliff Hotel, best, and very pleasantly situated; Queen's Head; Victoria, near the station), which of late years has become a small and not disagreeable wateringplace. The beach is of firm sand, and affords good bathing. There is a terrace of good houses (many of them lodging-houses) overlooking a wide stretch of sea between Harwich and Walton-on-the-Naze; a carriage drive along the cliff; and an esplanade, on which are reading and refreshment rooms, and the 14 m. is Mistley (Stat.), a large village with a quay, forming an extension of the port of Manningtree. The rly. passes the site of Mistley Hall, called by Walpole, in 1745, "the charmingest place by nature, and the most trumpery by art, that ever I saw." It then belonged to the Right Hon. Richard Rigby, an M.P. of some note in his day; and descended by marriage to Lord Rivers. The house has been pulled down, and some part of the park sold. But the greater portion remains, well wooded, and with picturesquely broken ground. At Mistley Thorn, lower down the river, is a Church, completed in 1777," Dovercourt Spa," a mild tonic and "an unique building of the Doric order," with two domes. In the Church of 3 m. Bradfield (Stat.), is a brass for the wife of Thomas Rysby, died 1598, and a small monument relief) for members of the Agassiz family, by Chantrey. stomachic, containing carbonate and sulphate of lime, magnesia and oxide of iron. On the land side there is not much interest in the immediate neighbourhood of Dover(bas-court. An excursion may be made through winding lanes to Walton-onthe-Naze-16 m. (Rte. 6). Ipswich is readily accessible by rail (Rte. 2); and the pretty scenery on the Orwell (see Harwich, post, and SUFFOLK, Rte. 12) is to be reached either by boat or by steamer from In the parish of Wickes (rt.) was a small house of Benedictine nuns, founded by the sons of Walter the Deacon,' temp. Hen. I. It was one of those granted to Cardinal Wolsey |