The yacht "Sunshine" sailed from Tollesbury Pier on the River Blackwater Tollesbury, Essex, on 11th April 1911 with a navigator aboard as Capt Pettican had no "ticket". There was a crew of five with Sidney Mills, the fo'cle cook and myself as ...

For some years prior to 1910 a beautiful schooner yacht named "Sunshine", skippered by Capt Richard Page, invariably laid up each winter at Rickus Creek. In 1910 the schooner was purchased from its previous owner by Mr Weston ...

Zeppelin L33 was commanded by Kapitan - Leutenant Bocker.

During the daylight hours of Saturday September 23rd. 1916 the weather was ideally suited for an airship attack on London.

Three zeppelins, the L31, L32 and ...

The article below was written by Douglas Gurton in 1976. The Hope Inn, Tollesbury, closed in 2009. The plaque is now in The Kings Head, Tollesbury.

Hanging on the wall of the ...

I was born on the 25th January 1908 (Robert Burns Day) at the Hope Inn, Tollesbury, and when my mother died in somewhat tragic circumstances in 1910, I was taken to live with my grandparents, John and ...

Rumours were rife in the village in the early twenties that "large ocean going liners" would be coming to lay-up in the River Blackwater. As a small boy at the time I was keenly interested in this, and spent a great deal of my leisure at ...

I, together with several hundred others, went along to the Lions Summer show at Waldegraves on Saturday August 8th. I had hoped to travel in style in a vintage Eastern National bus but being unable to get there until late I only managed a short trip from the car park to the show ...

The barometer was sold at ...

Des Kaliszewski, a native of Heybridge Basin, has been sailing the little barge CYGNET to many remote places around the East Coast and the ...

On our Sunday tour of Mersea recently we were driving down The Lane when we saw ...

...

The two images show the Karrier bus HK5195 preparing to leave ...

One of the visitors to our museum's resource centre on Saturday 17th January was Lion John Gradwell. He is already working on the 2015 Lions Festival and in particicular the vintage vehicle display. The purpose of his visit was to find what the museum had on Edgar Potter ...

I'm sure most of us in West Mersea are very concerned to hear that Colchester Borough Council plan to close three of our four public conveniences. In order to save themselves money, they want West Mersea Town Council to take them ...

As a schoolboy, my answer is that mainly it was good fun. Our parents had all of the worries but for us there was always something going on of interest.

There were aircraft going over and they ...

As Wendy and I put in ...

I believe the year ...

She was about the last person to remember the German Zeppelin crashing at Little Wigborough during the First World War on 24 September ...

One of the features is to record those who took part and were fortunate enough to return - some showing the signs of ...

There has been some uncertainty in recent issues Mersea Life as to whether Mersea ever did have a railway.

I have in my collection, the old photo above, showing a ...

Since writing the article about Abberton Barkery in December Mersea LIFE, I have received more details from Mr Alan Smith.

Alan is the son of the late Frederick Smith, the last Smith Family owner of West Mersea Bakery. Alan had expected to follow his father into the ...

Over a century ago, a fence was erected along the elevated section of Coast Road. This consisted of cast iron posts connected with steel tubing. Over the years, sections have been removed until ...

All dates will be approximate if used as no-one was supposed to keep a diary.
I cannot remember when I had notice to report to Romford for a Medical to be called up for a service to the Nation bu ...

In the early part of the last century Leonard Weaver planned a large developement for West Mersea which he named the Fairhaven Estate. It included a Temperance Hotel and a statue of Queen Victoria on the Victoria Esplanade. The developement was well under way when the first world ...

I recently received a telephone call from Terry Slowgrove, owner of Abberton Bakery informing me that it had been sold and the new owner was clearing it out that day. Would I like to come over and take anything we would like for our Mersea ...

Mersea Island
World War II
2000 troops were stationed on the island during the threat of invasion.
The Headquarters of the Royal Army Corps Motor Boat Company was stationed nearby.
The coastal defence of the area around Mersea Island was ...

Mersea fishermen often had damaged nets from a 'fast' in the River, and eventually Mike Lungley persuaded divers to go down, see what was there, and to try and salvage it. A barge was used as a base and a number of divers were involved.

The wreck of the aircraft contained ...

"FRIGHTFUL MURDER AT SALCOT"
"A FARMER SUPPOSED TO HAVE BEEN KILLED BY HIS NEPHEW"
"THE BODY TIED IN A SACK"

Joseph Leatherdale was born on 3rd March 1822 at Chappel, Essex. As a boy, he worked as a labourer for his father Thomas, who farmed at ...

I have always had a keen interest in local working craft in the days of sail, in particular the barges that loaded large stacks of hay and straw for delivery to London in the days when much of London's traffic was horse drawn - including the buses. Both of my grandfathers served ...

An Epiphany East Window and Maimonides
After the end of the Great War 1914 - 1918 the family of Ernest Arthur Lazarus Barlow gave the parish church of St Edmund King and Martyr East Mersea an East Window celebrating the feast of the Epiphany. At the top, scarcely vi ...

In the dark winter days of January 2013, a mysterious, delicate package was transported by courier service from Colchester Museum to a laboratory in Salisbury, Wiltshire. Within the layers of carefully wrapped packaging lay a collection of old, partly burnt bones. But these ...

With the evacuees leaving the island we had our school back full time. The young male teachers Mr Reason, Mr Burt, Mr Davies all went off into the services. I understand Mr Hucklesby was at our school for a short time before going off into the services but I don't remember him ...

The RNLI lifeboat service in Mersea was formed in 1963 and so is 50 years old this year. We were one of the first stations to use inflatable 'D Class' lifeboats, making the Inshore Lifeboat service or ...

I started my education at West Mersea Council School, Barfield Road in the spring of 1937. I was a very reluctant starter and after several failed attempts my father loaded me on to the back seat of his bicycle in the pretence of going to East Mersea to visit Auntie Nellie. We ...

Now concluding my look at old Mersea shops, we can take a look at what were probably the first purpose built shops on the island.

The first picture shows a busy scene ...

Colchester builder, Stanley Hills, was involved with some of the town's largest projects and was also a major benefactor to his adopted home of West Mersea. He was born in Claudius Road, Colchester, in 1910 and was a pupil at Hamilton Road School before Joining his father's firm ...

Hanging, drawing and quartering: the death penalty for treason. From westbergholt.net

On 30th July, 1540, a gruesome public spectacle took place at Smithfield, ...

Having left High Street last month, we will take a few steps into High Street North and Clem Smith's greengrocers on the corner of Mersea Avenue

Clem was another local shopkeeper who was a local councillor and could often get quite excited about certain issues. I ...

William Wyatt was born on Mersea in 1865. He was registered as John William Wyatt and was usually known as Bill. Later he was given the nickname of Admiral following the Mersea tradition ...

My early memories of Mersea shops comes from the mid 1930s when we lived in Barfield Road and my mother used to take me with her when she went shopping in my pre-school days. Then later when I left school in 1946 and started working for builder Clifford White & Co. As the 'Boy' I ...

The "powers that be" in East Mersea in 1933 were looking for someone to take the poppies from door to door. The only person to show an interest was a 13 year old girl called Peggie ...