This database contains some of the books, papers and records held by Mersea Museum.

Found 256 files  - displaying 1 to 50 sorted by ID


1

Article

Mussetts of Mersea Island
ID AFM_MST_001
Title Mussetts of Mersea Island
Abstract This family tree seeks to trace the descendants of John Mussett, the earliest male member of the family known to have married and had children on Mersea Island. The great majority of these are descended from his youngest son, James Mussett, who was born in 1800. I have traced both the male and ...
Author Peter Mussett
Published 30 June 2022
Source Mersea Museum

2

Article

1950s Birch
ID AJM_1950
Title 1950s Birch
Abstract Birch is a small village in Essex, about 5 miles southwest of Colchester on the road to Maldon, with a population of about 700 in the 1950s. It was rural and agricultural, and the land was mostly owned by the Round family. In 2022 it seemed time to write down some memories of the village where I ...
Published 2 April 2022
Source Mersea Museum

3

Article

Archaeological investigations at Brierley Paddocks Development
ID BPD_CLM
Title Archaeological investigations at Brierley Paddocks Development
Abstract Archaeological Investigations at Brierley Paddocks, West Mersea The Brierley Paddocks development was on land between Cross Lane and Seaview Avenue. There had to be an archaeological investigation on the site, and as was expected, there were some interesting find. In October 2023 Callum ...
Author Callum Allsop
Source Mersea Museum

4

Article

Typhoon aircraft salvaged from Blackwater.
ID CDC_TYP
Title Typhoon aircraft salvaged from Blackwater.
Abstract

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 live ...

Source Mersea Museum / Karen Kallaby

5

Article

1891 Census - recorded occupations Mersea Island
ID CEN_1891_OCC
Title 1891 Census - recorded occupations Mersea Island
Abstract Census East and West Mersea 1891 1,407 named people are listed 458 Male 15 years or older 292 Male under 15 401 Female 15 years or older 257 Female under 15 Recorded occupations (not all people have occupation recorded) Male ...
Author Tony Millatt
Published 5 April 1891
Source Mersea Museum

6

Article

Patricia Catchpole 'Catchy'
ID CHY_101
Title Patricia Catchpole 'Catchy'
Abstract Miss Patricia Catchpole by Cynthia Mottershaw Affectionately known to all on the Island as 'Catchy', she was the daughter of a Suffolk farmer who also bred Suffolk horses. Born in Darsham, Suffolk, Catchy moved to West Mersea in 1932. Her first love was always horses, and 1949-1972, she ...
Author Cynthia Mottershaw / Jill Keene
Source Mersea Museum

7

Article

The Dad's Army of Mersea
ID CNS_005_025
Title The Dad's Army of Mersea
Abstract Peter Tucker of Norfolk Avenue was a member of the Home Guard prior to his service in the RAF in 1942 at the tender age of 17. He tells the story of his time there. May I as a former member of the LOCAL DEFENCE VOLUNTEERS, L.D.V. to give them their correct title, and later the Home Guard, ...
Author Peter Tucker
Published June 2006
Source Mersea Museum

8

Article

Pulling them in with zips, bones and hooks
ID COR2_001
Title Pulling them in with zips, bones and hooks
Abstract

After the doors of Hadley's Ladies' Outfitters in Mill Road closed for the last time in March 2002, Mersea Museum received an unusual donation - fifteen pieces of assorted corsetry, most dating ...

Author Joanne Godfrey
Published 22 October 2010
Source Mersea Museum

9

Article

If it wasn't the Romans, who built the Strood ?
ID COR2_002
Title If it wasn't the Romans, who built the Strood ?
Abstract

It is often suggested that the Strood, Mersea's ancient causeway, was built by the Romans. Tales abound of a ghostly Roman centurion, pacing the Strood on stormy nights. However, when Romans first arrived on Mersea in the 1st century AD, sea levels were considerably lower than ...

Author Sue Howlett
Published 5 November 2010
Source Mersea Museum

10

Article

The Cudmores, carriers of Carrier's Close
ID COR2_003
Title The Cudmores, carriers of Carrier's Close
Abstract

"Another treat for the children was to go by Carrier's Van to Colchester. The journey was long and arduous. The horse stopped at all cottage doors to collect letters to post and parcels to be delivered. The 'boy' used to run down the lanes to collect or deliver while the horse ...

Author Chris Kirkman
Published 19 November 2010
Source Mersea Museum / Christine Kirkman

11

Article

Stuffed birds to be put in cold storage.
ID COR2_004
Title Stuffed birds to be put in cold storage.
Abstract

WILDLIFE EXHIBITS

The time has come to renovate the museum's  tural history section. Most of the wildlife displays in the museum consist of stuffed and mounted ...

Author David Nicholls
Published 3 December 2010
Source Mersea Museum

12

Article

Roly Green, the gardener at Shameen
ID COR2_005
Title Roly Green, the gardener at Shameen
Abstract

Shameen, circa 1924 Shameen was a large house built about 100 years ago at the end of Seaview Avenue, close to the beach. My maternal grandfather Roland 'Roly' Green worked ...

Author Ron Green
Published 17 December 2010
Source Mersea Museum

13

Article

Did the earth move for you too? The 1884 Earthquake.
ID COR2_006
Title Did the earth move for you too? The 1884 Earthquake.
Abstract MERSEA ISLAND WRECKED "On the morning of 22nd April 1884, the unthinkable happened. A major earthquake struck the British Isles. In under a minute almost the entire length and breadth of England had been shaken by a violent tremor which devastated the county of Essex - its epicentre - and caused ...
Author Pat Kirby
Published 30 December 2010
Source Mersea Museum

14

Article

When Mammoths and Bears roamed
ID COR2_007
Title When Mammoths and Bears roamed
Abstract

So, what about GEOLOGY? No museum should be without its fossils, and Mersea Museum has a few, although not displayed as such. Some years ago a committee member was able to identify and display a collection of fossilised bones. However, when she left, no-one felt able to take this ...

Author Vicki Packard
Keywords Richard Bedford
Published 22 January 2011
Source Mersea Museum

15

Article

East Mersea life in the early Twentieth Century
ID COR2_008
Title East Mersea life in the early Twentieth Century
Abstract

My father, Leslie James Green, was born on December 5th 1902 in the old Blue Row Cottages. He was the second son of Arthur John Green (known as Jack) and Alice Jane, née Mingay. Jack was born in the old Workhouse Cottages at Waldegraves on February 3rd 1878. Alice Jane ...

Author Ron Green
Published 4 February 2011
Source Mersea Museum

16

Article

What's under your garden ?
ID COR2_009
Title What's under your garden ?
Abstract

In 2006 we were approached at the museum by a team of Cambridge archaeologists, with a view to digging some test pits in Mersea. The team was from the Higher Education Field Academy (HEFA) under the leadership of Carenza Lewis who some people will remember from Channel 4's Time Team ...

Author Chris Kirkman
Published 18 February 2011
Source Mersea Museum

17

Article

How we were - Mersea people 350 years ago!
ID COR2_010
Title How we were - Mersea people 350 years ago!
Abstract

Family historians visiting Mersea Museum's new Resource Centre, on Saturday open days over the last few months, have made a beeline for the new computers. Here, if successful, they can 'meet their ancestors'. On the computers, are hundreds of pages of information and images, where ...

Author Sue Howlett
Published 4 March 2011
Source Mersea Museum

18

Article

Barfield Road in the 1930s
ID COR2_011
Title Barfield Road in the 1930s
Abstract

The old council houses in Barfield Road, West Mersea. Beyond is the chemist's Shop, and on the right is Clifford White's yard. The photo is dated 1944. I was born in February 1932 ...

Author Ron Green
Published 18 March 2011
Source Mersea Museum

19

Article

The unsolved mystery of Mersea's skeletons
ID COR2_012
Title The unsolved mystery of Mersea's skeletons
Abstract

...

Author Pat Kirby
Published 1 April 2011
Source Mersea Museum

20

Article

A Mersea brickie for sixty-five years and counting
ID COR2_013
Title A Mersea brickie for sixty-five years and counting
Abstract

I left West Mersea Council School at Easter 1946 at the age of fourteen to start work with local builder Clifford White & Co. I was to do a bricklaying apprenticeship but was unable to start officially until aged fifteen. I started on a new bungalow being built in Fenn Farm Lane, ...

Author Ron Green
Published 15 April 2011
Source Mersea Museum

21

Article

A Winter's Tale: behind the scenes at the museum
ID COR2_014
Title A Winter's Tale: behind the scenes at the museum
Abstract

"I suppose you can all have a rest now" is a comment I have heard when the museum closes its doors at the end of September. So what happens when the main hall is cleared to make room for the winter meetings, art shows and fairs? As we get ready to open for the summer season on ...

Author Joanne Godfrey
Published 29 April 2011
Source Mersea Museum

22

Article

If you can't eat it, you can buy it at Digby's
ID COR2_015
Title If you can't eat it, you can buy it at Digby's
Abstract

Digby's shop taken around 1910. Photo by courtesy of Miss Dorothy Brown. The business originally known as Digby Brothers was started in 1909 by two of the five sons of George Digby, ...

Author Brian Jay
Keywords PORT ERROL
Published 13 May 2011
Source Mersea Museum

23

Article

Ray Island and the legacy of Mehalah - part 1.
ID COR2_016
Title Ray Island and the legacy of Mehalah - part 1.
Abstract

The first of two pieces by David Nicholls, Essex Wildlife Trust warden at Ray Island. In 1970 the National Trust bought Ray Island. This was the Trust's first purchase of any property on the Essex coast, persuaded by a group of local people led by Alec Grant. This group ...

Author David Nicholls
Published 27 May 2011
Source Mersea Museum

24

Article

Ray Island and the legacy of Mehalah - part 2.
ID COR2_017
Title Ray Island and the legacy of Mehalah - part 2.
Abstract

In March 1871 Sabine Baring Gould and his family arrived on Mersea. He was to be the rector at East Mersea for the next ten years. It is well documented that he found life in East Mersea difficult. He complained that the inhabitants of this parish were "dull, reserved, shy and ...

Author David Nicholls
Keywords D'WIT
Published 8 June 2011
Source Mersea Museum

25

Article

Local education and the lessons of history.
ID COR2_018
Title Local education and the lessons of history.
Abstract

There have been schools for the sons of rich families throughout the centuries, but schooling for the children of the poor was a consequence of the Industrial Revolution. At the end of the eighteenth century many people thought that educating the lower classes would be ...

Author Chris Kirkman
Published 22 June 2011
Source Mersea Museum

26

Article

Sailing barges working to West Mersea Hard.
ID COR2_019
Title Sailing barges working to West Mersea Hard.
Abstract

1. CLIFF. We have recently seen the sailing barge DAWN reviving a trade which was a common sight around one hundred years ago, when she loaded a stack of straw at Abbotts Hall up ...

Author Ron Green
Published 6 July 2011
Source Mersea Museum

27

Article

The Tudor Fort at East Mersea.
ID COR2_020
Title The Tudor Fort at East Mersea.
Abstract

Many islanders are familiar with Mersea's surviving military defences - the concrete pill-boxes and crumbling gun placements built 70 years ago to guard against Nazi invasion. But these very visible features are not the only evidence of the island's role in times of war, whether ...

Author Sue Howlett
Keywords burrill
Published 20 July 2011
Source Mersea Museum

28

Article

The Old City Cottage: A Museum Favourite
ID COR2_022
Title The Old City Cottage: A Museum Favourite
Abstract

The Cottage, Mersea Museum. Photo Mike L. Davies. "I remember using those!" and "Granny had these on her mantelpiece" or "We found one of those in the attic" are ...

Author Judith Kirkby
Published 17 August 2011
Source Mersea Museum

29

Article

Save the Barrow - article from Mersea Island Courier.
ID COR2_023
Title Save the Barrow - article from Mersea Island Courier.
Abstract

Barrow, what barrow?

View of the Barrow from Dawes Lane Every islander knows the Mersea Barrow - or do they? For nearly two thousand years it has silently ...

Author Pat Kirby
Keywords Mersea Mound mount
Published 21 March 2012
Source Mersea Museum

30

Article

The man who dug the Mersea Barrow
ID COR2_024
Title The man who dug the Mersea Barrow
Abstract

On 16th April, 1912, a sprightly gentleman, resplendent in plus-fours and a bushy walrus moustache, alighted from a Great Eastern steam train at Colchester Station, en route to Mersea Island. His desti tion was Fairhaven House, still standing today in Seaview Avenue, where he ...

Author Sue Howlett
Published May 2012
Source Mersea Museum

31

Article

Mersea's Catholic Martyr: Blessed Thomas Abell
ID COR2_025
Title Mersea's Catholic Martyr: Blessed Thomas Abell
Abstract Hanging, drawing and quartering: the death penalty for treason. From westbergholt.net On 30th July, 1540, a gruesome public spectacle took place at Smithfield, just outside London's city walls. At the same ...
Author Sue Howlett
Source Mersea Museum

32

Article

The Mersea Barrow Bones: experts confirm 'unique find'
ID COR2_026
Title The Mersea Barrow Bones: experts confirm 'unique find'
Abstract

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 ...

Author Sue Howlett
Published 18 June 2013
Source Mersea Museum

33

Article

Preserving Mersea's oldest roads
ID COR2_027
Title Preserving Mersea's oldest roads
Abstract It was heartening to read in Courier no. 666 of the Strood Charity's generous donation to Mersea Island Museum, towards the preservation and display of timbers from an ancient Bronze Age walkway. Discovered in the mud off Cooper's Beach by Oysterman, Daniel French, the surviving 4-metre section of ...
Author Sue Howlett
Published 11 November 2017
Source Mersea Museum

34

Article

A Monkey Puzzle - Courier Article
ID COR_005
Title A Monkey Puzzle - Courier Article
Abstract Ron Green, one of our Museum local historians has always been intrigued by the nickname 'Monkey Beach' for the area close to St Peters Well and a letter from Ron together with the picture below might persuade other Courier readers to give their opinion. Ron writes: "For some time now, I ...
Author Ron Green
Keywords monkey steps
Published December 2003
Source Mersea Museum / Mersea Island Courier

35

Article

Mersea Hero at the Somme - Back in Time Courier article
ID COR_011
Title Mersea Hero at the Somme - Back in Time Courier article
Abstract While scanning the Pullen family album we came across a WW1 photo of Arthur David ('Dash') Pullen, the son of Mr. and Mrs. William Pullen, in the uniform of the Essex Regiment. On the back of a further postcard from David ...
Author Brian Jay / Don Rainbird / Ron Green
Source Mersea Museum / Mersea Island Courier

36

Article

East Mersea School, 1905 and 1926 - Courier article
ID COR_044
Title East Mersea School, 1905 and 1926 - Courier article
Abstract BACK IN TIME - THE MERSEA PICTURE ALBUM EAST MERSEA SCHOOL Having shown a group photo from West Mersea school in the last issue, we thought it only fair to show similar pictures from East Mersea, their school having now become the East Mersea Village Hall. The first picture is taken in ...
Author Brian Jay / Don Rainbird / Ron Green
Published July 2005
Source Mersea Museum / Mersea Island Courier

37

Article

Who Remembers Blanche's Cafe ?
ID COR_058
Title Who Remembers Blanche's Cafe ?
Abstract Back in Time article from Mersea Courier Lower Kingsland Road in the early 1960s. This area was known as the Gowing's Estate with mainly chalets for holiday Visitors. Note the big elms along the front and the old boating lake later ...
Author Brian Jay / Don Rainbird / Ron Green
Published c2006
Source Mersea Museum

38

Article

HMS YORK visit to Clacton 1930s
ID CPR_VST
Title HMS YORK visit to Clacton 1930s
Abstract

Mersea Museum recently had an email from Peter Watts of Clacton Pier Company, with 4 small photographs taken on Clacton Pier. They had the same photographic markings on the back, but no clues as to the date or the event. Two photographs show a Royal Navy cruiser at anchor, one ...

Author Tony Millatt
Source Mersea Museum

39

Article

In the Marshes of Old England
ID CW11_WTA
Title In the Marshes of Old England
Abstract The Wichita Daily Eagle Wichita, Kansas Sunday Morning, November 16, 1902 IN THE MARSHES OF OLD ENGLAND Part of the little Island is Still Wild EVER CHANGING COLOUR Of the Lowlands by the Side of the Sea The marsh land has lain unchanged so long, beside the ever-changing ...
Author Dora Greenwell McChesney
Published 16 November 1902
Source Mersea Museum

40

Article

Ralph Mussett also known as Ralph Cutts Avis: a brief biography
ID CW7_RCA
Title Ralph Mussett also known as Ralph Cutts Avis: a brief biography
Abstract 'Intrigued by a reference to Ralph Mussett in John Pullen Appleby's lecture series on the History of Mersea, I was inspired to research the family and answer the question why was Ralph known by two surnames and why did 'Cutts Avis' seem to be both his wife's maiden name and married name.'  ...
Author Carol Wyatt
Published June 2023
Source Mersea Museum

41

Article

Bronze Age Mersea
ID CZN_BRZ
Title Bronze Age Mersea
Abstract The Bronze Age (c.2500 - 800BC) was a period of dramatic change in the material culture, economies, and structure of society in early Britain. A rapid rise in population, supported by an improved climate in the early part of the period, allowed the colonization of larger tracts of land. ...
Author Oliver Hutchinson, CITiZAN
Published 10 July 2021
Source Mersea Museum

42

Article

Hugh Green, 19th Century West Mersea Doctor and Surgeon
ID DHG_001
Title Hugh Green, 19th Century West Mersea Doctor and Surgeon
Abstract Hugh Green, 19th Century West Mersea Doctor and Surgeon 1823-1895 Hugh Green was the second of four children born to William Green and Charlotte Emily Green (née Cooper) of Coddenham Hall, Boxford, Suffolk. ...
Author Simon Eagle
Source Mersea Museum

43

Article

Red Hills
ID DIS2012_RDH
Title Red Hills
Abstract Red Hills are low mounds, found near creeks and rivers, composed of soil burnt red in marked contrast to the clay on which they stand. Over 300 red hill sites have been identified in Essex, but many have disappeared. However, they can still be found. There is one within a few yards of the West ...
Author Tony Millatt
Source Mersea Museum

44

Article

William Wyatt
ID DIS2013_RRD
Title William Wyatt
Abstract William Wyatt was born on Mersea in 31 January 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 of nicknames. ...
Author Rosemary Rainbird
Keywords Admiral
Published 15 January 2013
Source Mersea Museum

45

Article

Zeppelin L33 at Little Wigborough.
ID DIS2016_ZEP
Title Zeppelin L33 at Little Wigborough.
Abstract Excitement came to the small village of Little Wigborough on the night of 24 September 1916, with the crash of the German Zeppelin airship L33. The airship had been on a bombing raid over London and was returning to Germany. She was, however, hit by gunfire over the East End and she then struggled ...
Source Mersea Museum

46

Article

Mersea benefactors - Mrs Marjorie de Manby
ID DIS2019_MBY
Title Mersea benefactors - Mrs Marjorie de Manby
Abstract Major Alban Henley Olaf de Manbey was born 1881 and in 1906 he married Catherine Ward. In 1917 he was a Captain in the Royal Field Artillery and had been awarded the Military Cross. The family acquired Barrow Hill Farm around 1930, probably after it was put up for sale in 1929. Catherine died in ...
Author Tony Millatt
Source Mersea Museum

47

Article

Mersea Island Horticultural Society
ID DIS2019_MIHS
Title Mersea Island Horticultural Society
Abstract In 2019, the Museum put on a display to celebrate 100 years of Mersea Island Horticultural Society summer shows. MIHS was founded in 1876 and over the years, several shows have been missed because of wars and even pandemics, so we are now long past the centenary of the society. The start of ...
Source Mersea Museum

48

Article

Those were the days. Tollesbury childhood memories.
ID DJG_BIO
Title Those were the days. Tollesbury childhood memories.
Abstract "THOSE WERE THE DAYS" - Reminiscences of childhood memories of over fifty years ago 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 Emma ...
Author Douglas Gurton
Source Mersea Museum / Cedric Gurton

49

Article

Douglas Jack Gurton - an Autobiography
ID DJG_BIP
Title Douglas Jack Gurton - an Autobiography
Abstract I was born on the 25th. January, 1908 (Robert Burns' Day) at the Hope Inn, Tollesbury, Essex, where my parents were the licensees at that time. My father, Ezra Walter Gurton had taken over about a year previously much to the dismay of my mother, Eva Jane Alverstone Gurton, who disliked inns ...
Author Douglas J. Gurton
Source Mersea Museum / Cedric Gurton

50

Article

Crab and Winkle Express
ID DJG_CAW
Title Crab and Winkle Express
Abstract In 1902 after some few years of negotiations, a light single track railway was constructed for the Great Eastern from Kelvedon low level to Tollesbury, with intermediable stations and halts at Feering Halt, Inworth, Tiptree, Tolleshunt Knights, Tolleshunt D'Arcy, Guines Court (Halt) and ...
Author Douglas J. Gurton
Keywords railway
Source Mersea Museum / Cedric Gurton
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