West Mersea is a town andelectoral ward inEssex,England. It is the larger (in terms of population) of two settlements onMersea Island, south ofColchester.
| West Mersea | |
|---|---|
 | |
  West Mersea Location withinEssex | |
| Population | 7,183 (2011)[1] |
| OS grid reference | TM011127 |
| Civil parish |
|
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Colchester |
| Postcode district | CO5 |
| Dialling code | 01206 |
| Police | Essex |
| Fire | Essex |
| Ambulance | East of England |
| UK Parliament | |
| 51°46′42″N0°55′00″E / 51.7784°N 0.9168°E /51.7784; 0.9168 | |
History
editRoman buildings andtesselated pavements close to the quayside have led to suggestions that a smallRoman settlement and port existed on the site of the modern town, with aroad linking it to the nearby town ofCamulodunum (modernColchester).[2] The nearbyburial mound to the north of the town is also Roman.[3]
Edward the Confessor granted the island to theabbey of St. Ouen inRouen,France, in 1046, and thePriory of West Mersea was established.
West Mersea was recorded in theDomesday Book in 1086, at which time it had a population of 84 households.[4]
In 1963, the lifeboat station was established next to theWest Mersea Yacht Club, one of the first teninshore lifeboat stations in theBritish Isles.[5] Originally served by a D class lifeboat, this was replaced by a B class, Atlantic 21, lifeboat in 1972. In 1992, a new boathouse and slipway were opened by theDuke of Kent. In 2001, a B class Atlantic 75 lifeboat was stationed at West Mersea, and then in 2015 this was replaced with the current B classAtlantic 85 namedJust George, funded by £210,000 of community donations.[6]
West Mersea today
editThe town is served by a community centre,[7] various shops, restaurants, small hotels, public houses, a petrol station, bank, library, museum, and several churches, including theNorman St Peter and St Paul (Church of England),Roman Catholic,Methodist, and West Mersea Free Church, affiliated to theBaptist Union. There are four cemeteries under the care of the Town Council including a woodland burial ground.[8]
West Mersea has a high proportion of very old people and many of the town's amenities cater for them.[9]
As well asWest Mersea Yacht Club and Dabchicks Sailing Club it also has anRNLIlifeboat station. The town hosts an annual regatta, usually in August, known as Mersea Week.
In popular culture
editThe North Sea at West Mersea is the inspiration for the memoirFootloose in France, beginning there at the seaside and ending at a fish restaurant on the harbour.[10]
References
edit- ^"Town/Ward population 2011". Retrieved30 September 2015.
- ^Crummy, Philip (1997) City of Victory; the story of Colchester - Britain's first Roman town. Published by Colchester Archaeological Trust (ISBN 1 897719 04 3)
- ^Toynbee, J.M.C. (1996) Death and Burial in the Roman World. Published by Thames and Hudson. (ISBN 0-8018-5507-1)
- ^"[West] Mersea | Domesday Book".opendomesday.org. Retrieved27 April 2023.
- ^"1963: Inflatable lifeboats".rnli.org. Retrieved26 February 2018.
- ^Thomas, Godfrey (26 May 2015)."West Mersea Lifeboats: May 2015 Report".West Mersea Lifeboats. Retrieved26 February 2018.
- ^"Mersea Island Community Association". Retrieved10 September 2020.
- ^"Our Cemeteries and Bereavement Services".
- ^"Some History About West Mersea (West Mersea Town Council)". Retrieved10 September 2020.
- ^Adamson, John, and Clive Jackson,Footloose in France, Cambridge:John Adamson, 2023,ISBN 978-1-898565-18-5, prologue, pp. 7–8 and epilogue, pp. 209–12.
External links
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