Island 515 - Packing Shed Marsh Island, West Mersea, Essex

Packing Shed Marsh Island is a small island of shingle and shells sandwiched between Cobmarsh Island and Sunken Island half a mile south west of the town of West Mersea on Mersea Island.  The Mersea Fleet flows to the east of the island and the Thorn Fleet flows to the west.  The island is 300 metres long at low tide and at high tide most of the shingle is covered with water. The remains of oyster pits can still be seen in the middle of the island.  These provide nesting sites for herring gulls and oystercatchers.

In the late 19th century huge quantities of oysters were sent from Mersea Island to Billingsgate Fish Market in London in barrels on Thames barges. They were also exported to Europe.  The Packing Shed was built on the island, which later became known as Packing Marsh Island, by the Tollesbury & Mersea Native Oyster Fishery Company Limited c1890.  It was used for cleaning, grading and packing the oysters, which had been dredged up from the local oyster beds.  The island was owned by Willoughby John Bean, who also owned much of West Mersea, from 1887 until 1891 when he sold it to Albert Barker.  Barker sold it on to the Tollesbury & Mersea Native Oyster Fishery Company Limited in 1914.

The original Packing Shed was blown away in a storm in the 1890s but a replacement was built in 1897.  This shed was used continuously, apart from during the Second World War, until the late 1950s when the oyster industry collapsed, due to diseased oysters.  An additional smaller shed was built to the north of the main Packing Shed in 1912, but it was destroyed during storms and floods in March 1949.  

After the 1950s the Packing Shed was used occasionally by the Tollesbury & Mersea Native Oyster Fishery Company Limited for storing fishing gear, but it gradually fell into a derelict state. By the end of the 1980s all that remained of the Packing Shed was part of the roof and some wooden wall cladding.  It was further damaged by two storms in September 1990.  It was then restored by a group of local volunteers. It was officially reopened by Richard Haward of the Tollesbury and Mersea Native Oyster Fishery Company on 12th September 1992.  The island and the Packing Shed still belong to the Tollesbury and Mersea Native Oyster Fishery Company Limited but they now lease it to the Packing Shed Trust.

In the inter-war period American slipper limpets were competing for food with the oysters and so tons of limpets were dredged out of the oyster beds and dumped on the island, which helped to stabilise it.  However, storms in 1987 and 1997 moved some of them and the island is gradually eroding away.

The Packing Shed Trust holds open days once a month during the summer and on those days they run a ferry service to and from the island from the hammerhead quay at West Mersea.  A cream tea is included in the price of the trip, which in 2024 was £8.

Packing Shed

Packing Shed

Shingle beach

Inside the Packing Shed

Seating outside the Packing Shed for cream tea eaters with West Mersea in the background

Remains of the oyster pits and nesting herring gulls

West Mersea from Packing Shed Marsh Island

Shingle beach - looking towards West Mersea

Cream tea on Packing Shed Marsh Island

Ferry

Island 513 - Ramsey Island, Essex

Ramsey Island on the north coast of the Dengie Peninsula and south bank of the River Blackwater in Essex is no longer a true island. It used to be separated from the mainland of Essex by a tidal creek known as The Wade but the entrance to the creek was closed off with a sea wall in the late 19th/early 20th century.  Part of the village of St Lawrence is located on Ramsey Island.  There is a pub called The Stone Inn and the Stone Sailing Club on the island.

An Ordnance Survey map of the area, which was surveyed in 1874 marks oyster beds in the area where the Stone Sailing Club is now located but fewer than 10 houses on the island.  A few more houses had been built along Tinnocks Lane by the early 1920s but by this time the oyster beds had become disused.

The Stone Inn

A-Frame houses

Public table tennis table

The sea wall and beach at low tide

The oldest houses on Ramsey Island - traditional weatherboarded cottages

Stone Sailing Club

Island 208 - Northey, Essex

Northey is small tidal island located a mile to the south east of the town of Maldon in Essex.  It is situated in the estuary of the River Blackwater and its highest point is only 4 metres above sea level.. Northey isn't Britain's most scenic island but it has a remote wilderness feel to it and it is very important for wildlife.  I spent an enjoyable and peaceful hour walking round it by myself.

Northey is owned by the National Trust and you have to get permission to visit.  However this is very easy - all you need to do is telephone the resident warden, who will check the tide times for you.  The island is not accessible for about 2 hours either side of high tide.  She also gave me the combination number for the padlock on the gate at South House Farm, which enabled me to drive as far as the small car park just before the causeway.  You are not allowed to drive on to the island unless you have rented Northey House as holiday accommodation.  There is also a contact email address but if my experience is anything to go by I wouldn't bother trying to email them, as I am still waiting for a reply 2 months later!  I was asked to call in at the warden's house, as there is an admission charge if you are not a National Trust member and she also sells a useful and informative laminated leaflet/map for a very small fee, which is worth purchasing if you want to get the most out of your visit.

The island is not signposted off the road, so you will need a map of some sort.  Alternatively you could park in Maldon and walk down the sea wall until you see the causeway, which is obvious, as it is raised above the level of the surrounding oozy mud and has a post with a yellow triangle marking it.  I don't know how deep the mud is on either side of the causeway but knowing how deep marine mud can be I wouldn't recommend trying to access the island at low tide by any other route.

The total area of Northey Island is around 300 acres.  However since 1897 when part of the sea wall was breached, only 80 acres are always above sea level.  The rest of the island quickly reverted to salt marsh.  Northey is an important high tide refuge for wildfowl and waders, as it is the highest salt marsh in the Blackwater Estuary.  Many species of birds overwinter in the Blackwater Estuary, including brent geese.    The mudflats and saltmarsh are also used by large numbers of grey plovers, shelducks, dunlins, avocets, greenshanks, golden and grey plovers and black tailed godwits.  The dry part of the island is mainly used for grazing cattle.   Northey is part of the Blackwater Estuary Site of Special Scientific Interest.

There is a metalled lane running up the west coast as far as Northey House.  The lane is lined by hedgerows of ash, oak, pine, hawthorn, crab apple, dog rose, lilac, privet, elder and horse chestnut.  It is possible to walk around the perimeter of the rest of the dry part of the island on a path that runs on top of the sea wall.

It is thought that the causeway to Northey was first constructed by the Romans.  The Battle of Maldon was fought somewhere to the south of the causeway in 991 AD.  A Danish raiding party landed on Northey.  Byrhtnoth, Earl of Essex raised an army.  The Vikings offered to go away if they were paid to do so.  Byrhtnoth refused to pay them but allowed them to cross the causeway to fight on equal terms, a critical mistake, as this meant that he lost his advantage.   Byrhtnoth and most of his army were killed and the English had to spend the next 70 years paying the Danes and later the Swedes as well to go away.   The island was inhabited at the time of the Domesday Book when it was known as Carseia.

In 1923 Northey Island was bought by Sir Norman Angell.  He was a writer and politician and he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1933.  He built Northey House next to an earlier farmhouse and constructed turreted walls around the garden.  The farmhouse was destroyed by a bomb during the Second World War.  Sir Norman owned the island until 1967.  In 1978 it was given to the National Trust by Mr & Mrs E.A. Lane.

A new area of saltmarsh was created in the south east corner of the island in 1992 because the process of coastal squeeze was causing the salt marsh at this point to disappear.  Coastal squeeze happens when a salt marsh, which would naturally move inland is no longer able to do so because of the presence of a man made sea wall or other barrier and therefore is eroded away.  Samphire, thrift, sea lavender and sea asters grow on the salt marsh.

 Looking towards Northey

Northey from mid Causeway

Looking west towards Heybridge Basin
There is a bird hide nearby.

National Trust sign

 

Thames Barge

 

Hulk of a Thames barge on the saltmarsh to the west of Northey House.

Northey House

 The house is rented as holiday accommodation. I didn't like to get to close, so the photo of it isn't great.

Northey House

Looking east from the south east of the island towards Southey Creek

Causeway from Northey

Island 133 - Foulness, Essex

Foulness is the largest island in the Thames Estuary.  The perimeter of the island is over 14 miles and it covers 2,430 hectares, half of which is farmed.  The rest is used by the Ministry of Defence.  It is currently managed by the private company Qinetiq.   The island is located to the north east of Great Wakering and Shoeburyness. It is surrounded by the Rivers Crouch and Roach and the North Sea.   It is accessed via a hydraulic lifting bridge over the Havengore Creek.  You cross first on to Havengore Island and then New England Island before reaching Foulness.  The first bridge across to Foulness was built in 1922.  Before that the only access other than by boat was across an ancient raised track called the Broomway, which was only accessible at low tide.

Foulness Island is extremely flat.  It is also extremely difficult to visit if you don’t know someone who lives there.  The Heritage Centre at Churchend is open on the first Sunday of the month between April and October from 12pm-4pm.  That is only 6 afternoons a year.  I think it is also probably open at other times by prior arrangement to organised groups.  You have to stop at the barrier just beyond Samuel’s Corner and give your name, address and car registration number.  You are then given a pass and told to drive directly to Churchend.  You are not allowed to stop anywhere else or take photos of any military installations.  You are not allowed access to the hamlet of Courtsend. 

The earliest known occupants of Foulness and its neighbouring islands were the Romano-British.  A civilian settlement dated to the late 1^st- late 3^rd centuries AD has been discovered at Little Shelford in the South West of the island.  Finds included cremation urns and domestic pottery.  The people who lived there were farmers and fishermen, including the cultivation of oysters but the production of salt seems to have been the main occupation.  The settlement was then abandoned due to rising sea levels. 

The first recorded reference to sea walls was in the Charter Rolls of 1271.  From the late 14^th century there were 7 phases of land reclamation, the last of which was on the southern side of the island in 1833.  In Medieval times the island was inhabited by shepherds and fishermen.  There was also some arable farming and the island became well known for its dairy produce.    There were 3 main phases of building – mid 16^th century, late 17^th/early 18^th century and late 19^th/early 20^th century. 

The population increased from the 16^th century due to the development of arable farming and by the late 19^th century almost 800 people lived there.  The current population is around 200.  The decline was due to mechanisation of agriculture, demolition of some houses to make way for firing ranges, the 1953 floods left some houses unfit for human habitation, the MOD has increased rents in recent years, some people no longer wanted to live with the military restrictions that exist and moved elsewhere, families are now generally much smaller in size and the MOD no longer employs as many people as it once did. 

The George and Dragon public house has closed in the last few years, as there was no passing trade and the number of people working on the island has been reduced.  The Village Hall has also recently closed in recent years, so community social gatherings now have nowhere, except the Heritage Centre to meet.  There is still a small shop and post office but without any passing trade it isn’t very profitable. 

In 1283 a chapel was built on the island.  This was replaced in the Tudor period by a wooden church, which was replaced by the present church built of Kentish ragstone – St Mary the Virgin, St Thomas and All Angels, which was opened in 1853.  However the church is now closed, as it is in a dangerous condition.

In 1846 the Church of England primary school was built to take 120 children.  It was extended in 1872 to take an additional 52 children but was closed in 1988 by which time the number of pupils had fallen to 11.  It remained empty for 13 years until it was renovated and turned into the Heritage Centre by the Foulness Conservation and Archaeological Society.  The Heritage Centre was very busy on the afternoon I visited in August 2011, so it was difficult to see all the exhibits.  It is certainly crammed full of artefacts and articles about life on Foulness in times gone by.  They were also selling a cup of tea and an excellent cupcake for 50p each.

 

The island was owned by a succession of Lords of the Manor until 1915 when it was sold to the War Department.  The housing is all owned by the MOD and the land is rented by 6 farmers.   Most of the island is good quality arable land and wheat, barley, oil seed rape, linseed peas and beans are grown.  The low lying land is drained by a complex system of drains and ditches.   Cows and sheep are grazed on the areas unsuitable for arable crops.

The island was badly flooded in January 1953 when the whole of the east coast from Lincolnshire to Kent suffered a storm surge.  2 people drowned and many animals were lost but the farmland recovered within a few years. 

The presence of the MOD on the island means that crime is virtually non-existent.  Their ownership has also benefited the wildlife, as the island has not been developed and the areas that aren’t farmed are relatively undisturbed – apart from when the firing range is operating!  It is home at various times of year to wading birds such as oystercatchers, avocets, little egrets and brent geese.  I’m told that there is a beach made of cockleshells on the island but it isn’t in the area that you can visit. 

In 1973 the government planned to build London’s 3^rd airport on the Maplin Sands to the south east of the island.  However the plans were cancelled in 1974 much to the relief of the residents of the island and of Southend, as the plans also included a motorway along the seafront at Southend and a high speed rail link.  

 War Memorial
 

 Old School - now the Heritage Centre

 

View from the churchyard

 Church

 Church

George and Dragon Pub - currently closed

In the 19th century the garden was apparently used for bare knuckle fighting.  There used to be another pub at Courtsend - the King's Head

Island 132 - New England Island, Essex

New England Island is situated between Havengore and Foulness Islands.  It has been owned by the Ministry of Defence since 1915 and is very low lying and uninhabited.  It is used for grazing animals.  You can drive across it on the first Sunday of the month between April and October from 12pm-4pm but you cannot stop on the island or take any photos of the military installations. 

Island 131 - Havengore, Essex

Havengore Island is a low lying marshy island in south east Essex separated from Great Wakering by Havengore Creek and linked to New England Island.  There has been a bridge across Havengore Creek since the 1920s and the current lifting bridge was installed in the 1980s.  The island is owned by the Ministry of Defence and access is restricted.  You can drive across it on the first Sunday of the month between April and October from 12pm-4pm in order to visit the Foulness Heritage Centre but you are not allowed to stop on the island or take photographs.  Some of the island is farmed and there is one farmhouse. 

Island 67 - Two Tree Island, Essex

I don’t suppose that anyone much apart from those living in South East Essex has ever heard of Two Tree Island.  It is located to the north east of Canvey Island and to the south west of Leigh-on-Sea.  It is linked to Leigh-on-Sea by a bridge and covers 257 hectares. The name of the island comes from two large elms that were a prominent feature until they were brought down by storms in the early 1960s.  The island is bisected by the only road which runs north/south.
 

 It is a very flat island.   The island was originally a salt marsh but it was reclaimed from the sea in the 18^th century, when a seawall was built around the salt marsh, and used as rough grazing and subsistence farming until a sewage works was built at the eastern end in 1910.   It was bought by Southend Borough Council in 1936 and used as a rubbish tip until 1974 when the eastern part of the island was leased to the Nature Conservancy Council (now English Nature) as a nature reserve.  It is now managed by Essex Wildlife Trust. 

The island now consists mainly of grassland, reed beds, lagoons and scrub.  It is a great place for watching wildfowl and wading birds such as curlews, dunlins, redshanks and grey plovers and brent geese in the winter out on the mudflats.  Their favourite food is eel grass, which grows in abundance round here.   Apparently slow worms, common lizards and adders live on the island.

Two Tree Island is very  popular with local dog walkers, so watch where you are treading!   There is a free car park in the middle of the island.

 

Salt marsh

The saltmarsh  plants include sea purslane, common sea-lavender, sea arrow-grass, common saltmarsh-grass and sea aster.

Information Board

Jetty

 This jetty is at the southern end of the island.

Looking south west towards Canvey Island

Looking south towards Canvey Island from the jetty

This is a place where some locals come to sit and think and eat fish and chips!  Looking north east towards Leigh-on-Sea

 Two Tree Island from Old Leigh
Fishing boats Renown IV and Liberator shown in the foreground.   The first boat called Renown went to Dunkirk in 1940 to help evacuate British troops from the beaches to larger ships waiting in deeper water but hit a mine and sank.

 Two Tree Island from the Cockle Sheds at Old Leigh

Island 32 - Mersea, Essex

Mersea Island is located in north east Essex, between the Blackwater and the Colne estuaries.  It is linked to the mainland by a causeway, known as The Strood, which is covered at high spring tides for an hour or two.  The island is approximately 5 miles long by 2 miles wide.  The main settlements are the town of West Mersea and the village of East Mersea.

Mersea Island has been settled for 5,000 years.  The Celts produced pottery and salt there from 400 BC.  Romans settled on the island and it was possibly them who built The Strood.   The Roman town of Camulodunum (Colchester) is only 5 miles away.  There was a Roman villa near the site of St Peter and St Paul’s Church in West Mersea. The walls of the church contain some Roman bricks and tiles.  Stone Age artefacts have also been found on the island.  

The island is in a strategic location between the mouths of the Rivers Colne and Blackwater and the approach to Colchester.  In the 9th century it was attacked by Vikings from Denmark, it was captured by Parliamentary troops in 1648 during the English Civil War and in the 16th century it was fortified against an attack from France with large blockhouses with cannons. However the invasion never came.  

Mersea was fortified again with pillboxes during the Second World War.  During the Second World War East Mersea was used as a decoy or Starfish site.  Dummy lights and fires were used to attract bombers away from the naval base at Brightlingsea.
 

There is a museum at West Mersea, which contains information and artefacts about fishing, oysters, wildfowling, boatbuilding, natural history, social history and geology. 

Red squirrels were reintroduced to Mersea in 2012 and are said to be thriving.  There are no grey squirrels on the island.

Cudmore Grove Country Park is at East Mersea.  It has a long sandy beach, grassland and marshes.  There is a fee to park there.

Second World War Vickers machine-gun pillbox at the eastern tip of Mersea Island

Map of East Mersea

 Well at West Mersea

 

 St Peter & St Paul's Church, West Mersea
The church has some Anglo-Saxon features

 West Mersea - House Boats

 West Mersea looking towards Bradwell Nuclear Power Station

 Beach Huts at West Mersea

Water Tower, Upland Road, West Mersea

This was built in 1924 in the campanile style.

West Mersea Yacht Club

Dabchicks Sailing Club, West Mersea

War memorial, West Mersea beach

 St Edmunds Church, East Mersea
Sabine Baring Gould, the author of the hymn Onward Christian Soldiers and an eccentric writer and collector of folksongs, was rector of East Mersea Church from 1871-1881.

Interior of St Edmund's Church, East Mersea

Grave of Sarah Wrench, East Mersea churchyard

Sarah Wrench died in May 1848 aged 15 and 5 months.  Her grave is protected by a mortsafe.

 The Strood at low tide