welcometowelcome

<h2>guiding you through essex</h2>
<h2>The Essex Way</h2>
<h2>elcome</h2>
<h1>welcometowelcome</h1>
<h2>The Essex Way</h2>
<h2>Total Distance 81 miles.</h2>
<h2>sse The route is clearly signposted and waymarked in</h2>
<p>E x</p>
<h2>he Wa</h2>
<h2>T y both directions. Using this booklet should make</h2>
<h2>your experience enjoyable and easy to follow.</h2>
<h2>Es il</h2>
<h2>c</h2>
<h2>sex oun If you do experience any problems on the Essex Way please call</h2>
<h2>County C</h2>
<h2>us so we can act. Our telephone number is 01245 437103</h2>
<h2>Public Transport Information is available from the Essex Traffic Control Centre:</h2>
<h2>0845 6000 110</h2>
<h2>An Accomodation List is available from the Public Rights of Way Team:</h2>
<h2>01245 437291</h2>
<p><strong>Produced by: The Public Rights of Way Team</strong> Photographs by: <strong>Robert Hallman</strong></p>
<h2>KEY</h2>
<h2>“ The deepest Essex few explore</h2>
<h2>where steepest thatch is sunk in flowers</h2>
<h2>and out of elm and sycamore</h2>
<h2>rise flinty fifteenth-century towers ”</h2>
<h2>Sir John Betjeman (1954)</h2>
<h2>Walk the Essex Way and celebrate some of the finest countryside</h2>
<h2>in the county!</h2>
<h2>The path will lead you through ancient woodlands, open farmland,</h2>
<h2>tree-lined river valleys and leafy green lanes, visiting historic towns</h2>
<h2>and villages along the way.</h2>
<h2>The Essex Way is a long-distance path stretching from Epping</h2>
<h2>to Harwich a distance of 81 miles. You can walk it in stages, or</h2>
<h2>make a holiday of it staying in accommodation along the way.</h2>
<h2>This booklet is intended to guide and entertain you whilst you enjoy</h2>
<h2>the best of Essex countryside. Along the route there are waymarks</h2>
<h2>posts to help you. The Essex Way is maintained with the help of</h2>
<h2>volunteers who survey the route and the funds raised from the</h2>
<h2>sale of this booklet are used to improve the standard of the paths.</h2>
<h2>The Essex Way was conceived as the result of a competition funded</h2>
<h2>by the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE) in 1972.</h2>
<h2>It has quickly been accepted into the fabric of the county and</h2>
<h2>become folklore for future generations.</h2>
<h2>3</h2>
<h2>Epping</h2>
<h2>EEpping is the last stop on the Central Line of the London Undergroundsystem which makes it ideal for beginning the Essex Way fromLondon. Epping became the last ‘port of call’ for travellers</h2>
<p>before entering Epping Forest to reach the city of
London. As daylight faded the threat from highwaymen such as Dick Turpin meant that by the early <strong>19</strong>th century, Epping had 26 inns.</p>
<h2>Dick Turpin Toot Hill</h2>
<h2>DHas been immortalised in folklore for the flutteringof hearts amongst lady travellers. Also famous isTurpin’s horse Black Bess who carried her master TIt is no surpriseto find thatToot Hill means‘lookout post’.</h2>
<p>on an epic ride from London to York to escape the constabulary. In truth, Turpin was a ruthless The pub at Toot villain who terrorised the district, robbing local Hill is the Green landowners and rustling cattle and horses. Man. The face in the His final act of bravery was on York racecourse leaves is also known as Dick Turpin,photo courtesy of BBC where in his finest suit, he entertained the Jack in the Green, the Old crowds, bowed, waved and threw himself from Man in the Woods, or Green George. He has been the gibbet, denying the hangman the satisfaction! a symbol of fertility and renewal since pagan times, appearing in churches and cathedrals. He is the central character in traditional Morris dances.</p>
<h2>4</h2>
<h2>Ongar Great Park</h2>
<h2>former boundary of Ongar greatditch within the woodOA well-preserved earth bank &amp;marks the</h2>
<p>Park. Mentioned in an Anglo-Saxon will in <strong>1045</strong>, Ongar was the first recorded deer park. It would have contained native red deer and fallow deer after the Norman Conquest, confined by a special oak fence called a ‘park pale’. Besides providing hunting sport for the Lord of the Manor, the park ensured a supply of fresh meat for his household throughout the year.</p>
<h2>GGernon Bushes79pollards and mossy bogs managed by Essexacres of ancient woodland containing hornbeam Pollarded Hornbeams</h2>
<p>Wildlife Trust. Pollarding has been practised since</p>
<h2>at least Anglo-Saxon times. About every 15 years Roman Road</h2>
<h2>The lopped-off branches would be used for fencingand fuel, and new shoots would sprout beyond thethe trees would be cut to a height of 2 - 5 metres. RThe Essex Way crosses the line of the Roman Roadfrom London to Colchester. The techniques usedby Roman soldiers to build these roads from AD 49</h2>
<p>reach of grazing cattle and deer. are still used by today’s highway engineers.</p>
<h2>5</h2>
<h2>Wild hops</h2>
<h2>WGrowing along the hedgerow aredescendants of the once nearbyRoman hopfields. Just to the north</h2>
<p>lay a centrally-heated Roman villa and a farm with a round oyster pond.</p>
<h2>Greensted</h2>
<h2>GGreensted is famous for its ancient Saxon church,believed to be the oldest wooden church in theworld, about 645 AD. The nave, made from</h2>
<p>split oak logs, was added 200 years later. Dendro magnetic testing established a date of AD <strong>845</strong>.
The rear wall contains a ‘leper’s squint’, a small hole where a cup of holy water was placed for lepers who could not attend the services with other worshippers.
To the right of the porch is the grave of the unknown Crusader. Legend states that the body of St Edmund, martyred in <strong>870</strong> AD, was rested at Greensted Church while being transported from London back to Bury in <strong>1013</strong>. His body had been taken to London to keep it safe from the Danes. In <strong>1836</strong> several of the ‘Tolpuddle Martyrs’ were temporarily settled in Greensted following their full pardon and rescue from transportation to Australia. Two of them were married in Greensted Church. Distrusted by farmers as troublemakers, the ‘Martyrs’ soon Greensted Church , Ongar left to start new lives in Canada.</p>
<h2>6</h2>
<h2>Titanic Memorial the castle for the people of Ongar. The</h2>
<h2>TOn the night ofByles of St Helen’s Church Ongar, was a passengeron his way to officiate at his brother’s wedding15th April 1912, Father Thomas impressive castle mound (motte) is aboutfeet high and would have had a wooden toweron top. The town would also have been 55</h2>
<p>in New York. Father Thomas refused to take a protected by an outer earthwork.
place in the lifeboats of the SS Titanic, choosing to stay with the <strong>3</strong>rd class passengers left behind, to offer them comfort.</p>
<h2>Ongar Church</h2>
<h2>River Roding Osoldier who became a Christian Bishop. BuiltThe church is dedicated to St Martin, a Roman</h2>
<h2>Stansted Airport and flowsRMarshall Green nearThe river begins at aroundRoman bricks. The most interesting feature ofthe church is the ‘ankar-hold’ in the north wall1080 out of flint rubble and re-used</h2>
<p>south to the Thames at Barking of the chancel. This was a hole in the outside Creek, <strong>3</strong> miles downstream of the Thames Barrier wall where a hermit could take part in the church at Greenwich – a journey of <strong>43</strong> miles. services without being seen.</p>
<h2>Willingale Airfield Look out for the thaatched caraavaan at</h2>
<h2>Whome forattachedBetween June2872000th 1943American airforce personnelBomb Group which flew Band July 1944 Willingale was26 Cannon’s Green.</h2>
<p>Martin Marauder bombers against targets in occupied France. All that remains today are the Operations Block and Nissen huts.</p>
<h2>Ongar Castle</h2>
<h2>OOngar Castle is thought to have been constructedby Richard de Lucy inManor of Ongar from King Stephen’s estate.1155 after he inherited the Thatched Caravan , Greensted</h2>
<p>He secured a ‘chipping’ (a market) surrounding</p>
<h2>7</h2>
<p>The two churches , Willingale</p>
<h2>Willingale Churches</h2>
<h2>WWillingale is unique in Essex for having twochurches in one churchyard – St Andrew’s andSt Christopher’s. One popular local legend tells</h2>
<p>how the whole of the village lands were held by two sisters, who fell out one day over where they sat in their pew. One sister determined never to In wartime, the American airman sit near the other again, so, being very rich, she and crew used St Andrews as their chapel.
built her own church next door. This tale is The Bell pub (now a private house) would ring undermined somewhat by the fact that there is with the sounds of American dance music when <strong>200</strong> years age difference between the churches. the young airmen enjoyed a few hours relaxation The churches were actually built in two separate between missions at dances and parties held parishes, Willingale Doe and Willingale Spain. by locals (girls probably!)</p>
<h2>8</h2>
<h2>Salt’s Green ‘special verge’ Ponds</h2>
<h2>SVerges which are especially rich in wild plantsare designated as ‘special verges’. Mowingregimes are practised by Essex County Council POnce a common feature of villages, farms androadsides. many have now disappeared, largelybecause less farms keep livestock .</h2>
<p>and the Essex Wildlife Trust to encourage the Our surviving ponds are important habitats for diversity of plants growing in the verges. many wildlife species which depend on water, such as frogs, newts and dragonflies.</p>
<h2>Green Lanes</h2>
<h2>GThe Essex Way passes along many green lanes,the remnants of a once vast network of minorroads dating back to Saxon times an beyond.</h2>
<p>They are a valuable refuge for wildlife, and their hedgerows and banks often harbour rare and beautiful plants, including orchids.</p>
<h2>Windmills</h2>
<h2>WIn thethe same spot as Mount House. Hilly partsof Britain could rely on fast-flowing streams18th century, a windmill stood on</h2>
<p>to drive waterwheels, but flat East Anglia had to harness the wind as its power source.
Windmilling reached its peak in Essex in the early **1830’**s when there were some <strong>285</strong> mills in the county. Within a century there was only a handful of working windmills left.
Bee Orchid</p>
<h2>9</h2>
<h2>World Daisychain Record</h2>
<h2>WGood Easter holds the WorldRecord for the longest daisychain.It measured 2.12 km (6980 feet, 7</h2>
<p>inches) and was made by the villagers of Good Easter on <strong>27</strong> May <strong>1985</strong>.</p>
<h2>Good Easter</h2>
<h2>GTo celebrate the 50 yearreign of Queen Elizabeth IIthe ladies of Good Easter</h2>
<p>produced a quilted wall hanging which can been seen in the parish church.
Look up at the church steeple, the cedarwood roof tiles are known as ‘shingles’ they are somewhat attractive to woodpeckers!
Wallhanging, Good Easter</p>
<h2>10</h2>
<p>Woodland Good Easter</p>
<h2>Churchyard</h2>
<h2>CYou will often find that many footpathslead to the parish church. Much oftoday’s network of public rights of way</h2>
<p>used to be well-worn paths to the place of worship, or to work or school.
Churchyards are often havens for wildlife.</p>
<h2>Deadman’s Bank</h2>
<h2>DPlesheyHas one of the finest Norman castleearthworks in England, the greaterouter rampart and ditch still enclosing FThis is a mill dam, and is probably thesite of Pleshey Castle Mill. A spookylittle spot, legend has it that Deadman’s</h2>
<p>Bank takes its name from the outcome the entire village of about <strong>40</strong> acres.
of a fuel fought there.
In <strong>1397</strong> the Duke of Gloucester was</p>
<h2>lured away from his castle at Pleshey Bury</h2>
<h2>to Calais, where he was murderedon the orders of Richard II.Thus Pleshey earned its mention by BHave you noticed how many place namesend in ‘bury’? The old English word ‘bury’ or‘burg’ comes from the Saxon ‘burge’ or ‘byrh’.</h2>
<p>Shakespeare in Act <strong>1</strong>, Scene <strong>2</strong> of ‘Richard II’ It means ‘a fortified manor’ and may in many The earthworks are not generally open to cases refer to a Roman fort or Saxon defensive the public but viewing can be arranged ditch. The English used this word to describe by appointment. Details are given on site. all kinds of fortified places, large or small.</p>
<h2>11</h2>
<h2>Great Leighs Church Cricket Bat Willows (Salix caerulea) are</h2>
<h2>GOne of six Essex churcheswith round towers,although there used Cfound growing in regimented plantationsalongside many Essex riverbanks. Wright’stimber yard in Great Leighs is the world’s</h2>
<p>to be many more. largest producer of raw cricket bat
Round towers are blades. <strong>4</strong> year old trees are sold to confined almost the grower who will mature them exclusively to East for <strong>15</strong> – <strong>20</strong> years and then sell Anglia. Notice the them back to the timber yard.
Norman arch Only the trunk is used and on the doorway, cut into rolls. The rolls are it a classic then marked across like example of the the segments of an orange first decorative St. Marys Church, Gt. Leighs and split into clefts.
stone carving For every tree that is techniques brought to this country. cut down <strong>3</strong> are planted x in its place – Howzat!
x</p>
<h2>Little Leighs Church</h2>
<h2>L‘Body-snatching’ was once common practice,its most infamous exponents being Burke &amp;Hare. Newly buried corpses were stolen and</h2>
<p>sold to medical students or hospitals for research. In <strong>1823</strong> Samuel Clarke of Little Leighs was convicted and sentenced to be transported for <strong>7</strong> years, not for stealing a</p>
<h2>body but for the theft of the clothes in 8</h2>
<p>which the body had been buried!
x x x x x x x x x</p>
<h2>8</h2>
<h2>12</h2>
<h2>Sandy Wood</h2>
<h2>Sis an Ancient Woodland which existed inmedieval times. Notice its deep boundary ditchwhich is a typical characteristic</h2>
<p>of ancient woodland. Other ancient woodland indicators include: Blue bells, Herb Paris and the Wild Service Tree. Ditch boundaries where used as a method of holding wild boar in the woodland where they would feed on acorns. Bluebells, Gt.Waltham</p>
<h2>8</h2>
<p>x x x x x x x x x x x x x</p>
<h2>Great Waltham x</h2>
<h2>GPub names often give the number of bells in thelocal church steeple. The ‘Six Bells’ Inn standsnext to Great Waltham’s church of St Mary and</h2>
<h2>St Law ence.K</h2>
<h2>LangleysThe house retains the</h2>
<h2>LThe Tufnell family acquired the estateinname of its1710 and created today’s impressive Queen14th century owners.</h2>
<p>Anne residence. Great Waltham’s older residents remember as children collecting acorns and beechnuts to sell to the keeper for the deer in Langleys deer park. There is a large pet cemetery at the end of the main driveway. The building beside the bridge over the River Chelmer housed a lace-making workshop run by the squire’s daughter at the turn of the century. From this seed a small lace-making industry grew, and the ‘Lace Cottages’ still stand on the edge of the village.
Langleys, Gt.Waltham</p>
<h2>13</h2>
<p>Sail-less Windmill, Terling</p>
<h2>Terling Place</h2>
<h2>TA peerage was grantedfor the squire’s services to the Essexmilitia in the early 19th century. They chose</h2>
<p>‘Rayleigh’ for the title because the family owned property there. John William Strutt, <strong>3</strong>rd Baron Rayleigh (<strong>1842-1919</strong>) won the Nobel Prize for</p>
<h2>London’s rapidly expanding population – theskills to calculate the supply of milk needed byPhysics in 1904. He used his mathematical TTerling WindmillNew sail-less and convertedto a private residence, Terling</h2>
<p>result being ‘Lord Rayleigh’s Dairies’. Windmill is one of only two ‘smock’ mills in Essex. The mill was originally built at Cressing in <strong>1770</strong>, and was moved to Terling in <strong>1830</strong>, mounted on several horse- drawn carts. Relocating windmills was quite common, and on such occasions it was usual to declare a village holiday.
Terling windmill was painted black during
World War One as camouflage against zeppelin bombers which could use it as a landmark.
The mill co-starred with comic Will Hay in his <strong>1937</strong> film ‘Oh, Mr Porter!’ Lord Raleigh’s cows, Terling</p>
<h2>14</h2>
<h2>Cressing Temple</h2>
<h2>Cwas the earliest English settlement of the KnightsTemplar, the legendary Order of warrior-monks.They were given the Manor of Cressing in 1137.</h2>
<p>two remarkable barns survive; the barley barn and the wheat barn. This internationally important site was purchase by Essex County Council in <strong>1987</strong>. The Tudor walled garden has now been restored.
fairstead, Wall Painting</p>
<h2>Fairstead Church</h2>
<h2>FSome of the bricks are from the Roman villawhich once stood nearby. In 1890 duringrestoration work, 13th century wall-paintings</h2>
<p>where discovered. The oldest of these being the Passion above the Chancel arch.
Cressing Temple Barns, Braintree</p>
<h2>15</h2>
<h2>Coggeshall Abbey</h2>
<h2>BLying idyllically beside the River Blackwater arethe ruins of a Cistercian Abbey, founded by KingStephen in 1140. the Abbey church was</h2>
<p>destroyed during the Reformation, but there are some remains of the monastic buildings.
These include the gate-chapel of St Nicholas, a small guest house, parts of the dormitory and the Abbot’s lodging which is connected by a corridor to another Paycocke family house built within the Abbey grounds. The tranquil setting is completed by the nearby weatherboarded water- mill with its golden fish weathervane. Look out Coggeshall, Essex for the Essex Way milestone.</p>
<h2>Coggeshall</h2>
<h2>CToday Coggeshall is a delightful village toexplore. Lace-making was a thriving villageindustry in the last century, but is was</h2>
<p>wool which had brought prosperity to Coggeshall, and made it a hub of the great East Anglian cloth trade. The River Blackwater meanders through the village.</p>
<h2>Bradwell Church</h2>
<h2>Bcovers and horizontal lines on the walls outsidewhich show where scaffolding was erectedHave a look for the 12th century oak ‘put-log’ hole</h2>
<p>when the church was being built. Inside there are some beautiful <strong>14</strong>th century wall paintings. Bradwell Church, Coggeshall</p>
<h2>16</h2>
<h2>Coggeshall Grange Barn</h2>
<h2>Cbarn is now owned by the National Trust. Thebarn isThis magnificent130 feet long, and was probably built13th century timber-framed</h2>
<p>for the monks of the nearby Abbey. Both Grange barn and Paycockes are open Tues, Thurs, Sun and Bank holidays <strong>2-5</strong> Easter to October.</p>
<h2>Paycocke’s House</h2>
<h2>POn West Street, Coggeshall isone of the most attractive half-timbered houses in England.</h2>
<p>Built by clothier Thomas
Paycocke at the turn of the
<strong>16</strong>th century, the house serves as a reminder of the wealth which Coggeshall enjoyed at that time. An ermine’s tail, the family’s merchant mark (which would have been stamped on their cloth bales) is evident in the rich carving of Paycocke’s House both inside and out. There is evidence to suggest that Paycocke’s may once have had three storeys. Paycocke’s is owned by the National Trust and open to the public as is Grange Barns.</p>
<h2>‘Coggeshall Jobs’</h2>
<h2>CCoggeshall folk have gained for themselvesa legendary reputation for odd behaviour.These eccentricities have become known Paycocks, Coggeshall</h2>
<p>as ‘Coggeshall Jobs’. Books of Coggeshall
Jobs can be found in the village shops.</p>
<h2>17</h2>
<h2>Houchins Farm Chappel Viaduct</h2>
<h2>HBuilt aroundhas a rather top-heavy appearance. It has threestoreys, with each overhanging the one below.1600, this timber-framed house CSpanning the Colne valley is the massiveChappel Railway Viaduct. Made with overmillion bricks, it is probably the largest feat of7</h2>
<p>engineering in Essex. At <strong>1066</strong> feet long, its <strong>32</strong></p>
<h2>Reservoirs arches carry the Gainsborough line to Sudbury</h2>
<h2>Rinches). Unusually, most of this falls during theEssex is one of the driest parts of Britain, withan average yearly rainfall of only 60cm (24 80 feet above the Colne Valley floor. Theviaduct was built in£32,0000. You may be lucky enough to see a1947-49 at the cost of</h2>
<p>summer. Dryness increases towards the coast. steam train crossing the viaduct. Wakes Colne Combined with the average summer tempera- station, on the far side of the valley, is the home ture which Essex experiences – the highest in of the East Anglian Railway Museum.</p>
<h2>Britain – water reservoirs are essential for</h2>
<p>ensuring that an adequate water supply is available for agriculture in the county.</p>
<h2>World War II Pillboxes</h2>
<h2>WThe small concrete pillboxesdotted along the Colne Valleyare the remains of a World War II</h2>
<p>‘stop-line’ which was hurriedly constructed after the evacuation from Dunkirk in June 1940.
Using the river as a natural barrier, fortified by pillboxes, it was hoped to hold back a German advance from the East Coast.
Chappel Viaduct, Chappel</p>
<h2>The Dillory</h2>
<h2>TThe place where dill – a strongly aromaticyellow-flowered herb – was grown.</h2>
<h2>18</h2>
<h2>The Poppy</h2>
<h2>The Poppy has been adoptedas the County flower for Essex.Great Tey ChurchT</h2>
<h2>GSt Barnabas’ Church, dressed with redRoman brick, has the appearance moreThe massive Norman central tower of</h2>
<p>of a castle keep. The church would once have been even more imposing, but in <strong>1829</strong> the parish decided to demolish the west nave and north and south trancepts. This unfortunate decision was based on unaffordable estimated renovation costs of £<strong>700</strong>;
the demolition bill came to £<strong>1400</strong>!
Notice the little sign on the bell-tower door. Opposite the church is the Parish Pump, restored by the Parish Council Wild Poppies, Essex in <strong>1994</strong> to celebrate it’s centenary.</p>
<h2>19</h2>
<h2>River Colne Armoury Farm</h2>
<h2>Rall-Essex river.At 39 miles it is the longest AThe name is thought to come from ‘Almonry’.An almonry was a place where charity or ‘alms’was distributed to the poor and needy.</h2>
<h2>St Mary’s Old Church</h2>
<h2>Now disused, St Mary’s in West Bergholt is one West Bergholt Brewery</h2>
<h2>Sof only three churches in Essex maintained bythe Redundant Churches Fund, also known asthe Friends of Friendless Churches! Wcentury. The beer’s reputation spread, andThomas Shepard Daniell began brewing ale forthe farm labourers at Armoury Farm in the 18th</h2>
<p>Daniell’s Brewery was founded in about <strong>1820</strong>.</p>
<h2>Great Horkesley By 1900 Daniell’s owned 113 inns, and the</h2>
<h2>GSander Southernwood was charged withBe sure to keep to the paths in the parishof Great Horkesley. In 1896 farm labourer brewery had become aeconomy. The brewerykeystone in the local</h2>
<p>causing ‘malicious damage to growing owners were generous grass’ at Great Horkesley. He had benefactors to the walked over a field contending that village, donating there was a right of way. Found land and money for, guilty, Southernwood was fined amongst other <strong>25</strong> shillings – more than a things, the Orpen week’s wages! Memorial Hall.
Brewing ended when</p>
<h2>Brick Kiln Lane</h2>
<h2>BThere was a kiln in the grounds of Kiln Housein Tudor times. Many villages in Essex wouldhave their own brickworks the brewery was sold</h2>
<p>in the past.
to Trumans in <strong>1958</strong>, and the impressive building has now been converted into flats.</p>
<h2>West Bergholt Heath</h2>
<h2>The Causeway Heathlands School is surrounded by the</h2>
<h2>TPossibly the route of a Roman Road. Knownlocally as the ‘Corsey’ or ‘Carsey’, it provided araised route through the quagmire once found Wremnants of the Heath which once covered morethanin the3001840acres. It became the centre of interests when poorly-paid farm labourers</h2>
<p>at Horkesley Heath. began a campaign of fire-raising in protest</p>
<h2>20</h2>
<p>against agricultural mechanisation. After nine farms had been attacked, a note was found on the Heath stating ‘Give us work or we will make fires’. Eventually a local man was convicted of arson and was transported for life.</p>
<h2>Bundox Pightle</h2>
<h2>BThis strangely named piece of land sitsbeside the Essex Way near St Mary’s Churchin West Bergholt. ‘Pightle’ usually means</h2>
<p>‘clearing’ or ‘enclosure’. The name of this particular pightle may be associated with Jonathan Bundocks who was arrested for disturbing the peace in <strong>1665</strong>.
He was a Quaker who, after waiting for the rector to finish his sermon, leapt up and gave his own views on religion.
due partly to competition from abroad, but also because the intensification of fruit production has enabled more fruit to be produced on less land. Many old orchards have undergone regular grazing and</p>
<h2>Orchards hay-making for hundreds of years,and have</h2>
<h2>in the lastorchards has declined by two thirdsThe acreage of commercialO30 years – around 150,000 become havens for rare plants and animals.</h2>
<p>acres have been lost nationally. This is</p>
<h2>21</h2>
<h2>The ‘Dumb Animals Humble Petition’ Discovery Apple (Dummer’s Delight)</h2>
<h2>TBefore the Anegotiate the steep and dangerous bends onGun Hill. A cast-iron sign was put up on the12 was built, all the traffic had to DThis hard red apple – the only important Augustapple to be grown in this country – is the thirdmost widely grown apple after Cox Lower</h2>
<p>toll-gate which was written from the point-of- and Bramley. The original Farm view of a horse hauling a heavy load up the th Stour Va ley Views hill. Credited to a <strong>19</strong> century Langham parson, the sign now hangs in the south Gulsons Boxted Hall Lower porch of St Mary’s Church. It reads: Great Wood Farm Cottages Clives Cheshunts Boxted Church Street</p>
<h2>‘The Dumb Animals Humble Petition School Parsonage</h2>
<p>Farm</p>
<h2>Rest Drivers on this steep hill, Little Church</h2>
<p>Burnt Dick Hi l
Wood</p>
<h2>Dumb Beasts pray use Boxted</h2>
<p>Hall</p>
<h2>with all good will. Kerseys Vine</h2>
<p>Church Road Pond Coks HillCottage
House</p>
<h2>Goad not, scourge not, x</h2>
<p>Wet Lane Boxted</p>
<h2>with thronged whips, Cross</h2>
<h2>Let not one curse</h2>
<p><strong>escape your lips. Potter&#39;s</strong> tree still stands in
Farm
Carter&#39;s Langham where it
Farm</p>
<h2>God sees and hears Brook</h2>
<h2>’ Horkesley Farm by George Dummer ingrew from a seed planted</h2>
<p>Green
Mouse
Hall Green Lane Workhouse Hillthe early **1950‘**s.
Coveneys Boxted Church Road</p>
<h2>Holly Langham Church and</h2>
<p>Lodge
Farm
Holly Lodge Road</p>
<h2>Nursery several of the paintings of John Constable,LSt Mary’s Church is depicted inthe Hurlock Schoolroom</h2>
<p>whose talent was encouraged from an
The Causeway Enfield&#39;s early age by Dr Fisher the local rector.
Lodge Farm
Farm The church either appears in, or is the
Tye
Cottage viewpoint for, several of Constables’s most
Boxted Road well-known paintings. The little building in
Harrow
A134 Corner
Redhouse
Farm
Broad Lane
Great The Horkesley
Horkesley Cottage Plantation
Lincoln Lane
Spratt&#39;s x Marsh
Church porch , Langham</p>
<h2>22</h2>
<p>Stratford
St. Mary
Works
Valley Reservoir
Farm x
Primrose
Docura&#39;s x
Wood
Farm Lodge River Stour
Cophedge Wood Constable
Wood Cottage Langham Cottage
Hall
The
Langham Church
Coombs
Cosgrove
Lodge
Ash Sky Hall Hill Whalebone Le Talbooth
Wood Cottages Plumb&#39;s Corner Restaurant
Lodge
Farm
Sky Hall Hill Martin&#39;s
Farm Gun Hill
Rivers x
Hall Gun
Alderton&#39;s Hill A12
Cottages <strong>8 Place</strong>
Coles Oak Lane x Glebe Glebe Ipswich Road
House Farm
Rectory Road
A12
Dedham Road</p>
<h2>Langham Hall</h2>
<h2>LThe original manor was held by Sir Walter Tyrellwho is suspected of having killed King William IIwhilst hunting in the New Forest in 1100. A</h2>
<p>more recent resident was Squire William Nocton who was High Sheriff of Essex in <strong>1908-09</strong>. The squire was a flamboyant character who rode in a <strong>6</strong>-horse coach, the excessive length of which prompted him to construct the wide turning at the South Lodge entrance. The driveway between Langham Hall and Gun Hill is lined by a magnificent Lime Tree Avenue.</p>
<h2>Carters Farm</h2>
<h2>CThe free-draining gravel soil is ideal for theis being harnessed to provide electricity. Wildvineyard planted in 1991. Wind and solar energy</h2>
<p>flower meadows have been sown near the two
Old Schoolhouse, lakes, and <strong>14</strong> acres of new woodland have the corner of the churchyard is the Hurlock been planted.
Schoolroom. It was built in <strong>1832</strong> by Dr Hurlock,</p>
<h2>the rector, to serve as a girls’ school on week- Dedham Vale AONB</h2>
<h2>days and a resting place for the old and poorbetween church services on Sundays. St Mary’scontains the oldest church chest in Essex, and DThe lower Stour Valley was designated as theDedham Vale Area of Outstanding NaturalBeauty (AONB) in 1970. AONB status formally</h2>
<p>one of the oldest in the country. This ‘dug-out’ recognises the national importance of this chest, hewn from oak, was probably used to landscape in order to conserve its beauty and store money raised to finance the Crusades in character and to help the public to enjoy it.
the <strong>12</strong>th century.</p>
<h2>23</h2>
<h2>Lawford the wool exchange, probably with an open</h2>
<h2>LThe present Lawford Hall was built by EdwardWaldegrave insecretary to Katherine Howard, Henry VIII’s fifth1583. His wife Joan was a private ground floor.Munnings’ House</h2>
<h2>wife. Not such a good career move for Joan –she spent several years imprisoned in theTower of London. MThe former home and studio of celebratedpainter Sir Alfred Munnings is kept just asit was in the artist’s heyday. Munnings was</h2>
<p>President of the Royal Academy for five years</p>
<h2>‘Pennypot’ from 1944 and is most famous for his painting</h2>
<h2>PThis footpath once led to a pest-house on theedge of the village. Its name comes from thecustom of leaving money in a jar at the village of horses and rural life.</h2>
<p>boundary in exchange for provisions brought by outsiders in times of plague.
Alfred Munnings, Dedham</p>
<h2>Dedham</h2>
<h2>DDedham will forever byConstable, one of England’sassociated with John</h2>
<p>greatest artist, born and brought up in the Dedham vale, he went on to immortalise its landscape in his paintings. It has come to be known as ‘Constable Country’ and if asked to describe their idea of the English countryside many would surely conjure up an image inspired by one of Constable’s masterpieces.
The woollen trade flourished in Dedham until the end of the <strong>18</strong>th century when the Industrial Revolution took trade to the North. The timber- framed ‘Marlborough Head Hotel’ was formerly</p>
<h2>24</h2>
<h2>Lawford Church Civil War general and the Second World War</h2>
<h2>LThe Chancel in St Mary’s is an exquisite exampleof ornate Gothic art. The church is noted forits exuberant 14th century carving. Stone has tank! Notice the house’s unusual sun-dial highup above. Standing against the south wall of StMary’s Church is a boulder which is roughly</h2>
<p>been formed into thick foliage from which birds inscribed ‘Edward Ward, Martha his wife’.
and animals peep, and into writhing lines of The story goes that ploughman Edward Ward little men, tumbling and dancing while some was turning a field when his plough struck of them make music on a variety of instruments. a large object. On discovering it to be a This is a must see! boulder he decided that he would have it as his tombstone. Some say it is a meteorite.</p>
<h2>Sherman’s</h2>
<h2>Amongst the elegant Georgian houses in Manningtree</h2>
<h2>SDedham High Street is Sherman’s, whichwas owned by the ancestors of the American Mtide and even less at high tide.Manningtree is one of the smallest parishesin the country, covering only 22 acres at low</h2>
<p>The cattle fair at Manningtree was famous in Shakespeare’s day. In ‘Henry IV’ Prince Hal calls Falstaff ‘That roasted Manningtree ox with the pudding in his belly’.</p>
<h2>Manningtree’s most famous – or infamous –</h2>
<p>resident was Matthew Hopkins, the notorious
<strong>17</strong>th century ‘Witchfinder General’. Hopkins began his career with the discovery of ‘seven humble witches at Manningtree’. He was commissioned by Parliament in <strong>1644</strong> to seek out witches and was paid a guinea for each one. Over the next three years Hopkins sent <strong>194</strong> ‘witches’ to the gallows, their guilt ‘proved’ by a variety of ridiculous ordeals.
Shermans House, Dedham</p>
<h2>25</h2>
<h2>Mistley Grain, bricks, chalk and flour, and hay for the</h2>
<h2>MRichard Rigby made afortune in the ‘South SeaBubble’ and built the now London cab horses, were brought downriver tobe shipped to the capital. Mistley’s decline washeralded by the arrival of the railway in the mid19th century. The Stour was navigable as far as</h2>
<p>demolished Mistley Hall and a new village. His Sudbury, but the barges could not compete son, appointed Paymaster- economically with the railway.
General by George III,</p>
<h2>planned to turn Mistley Mistley Place Park</h2>
<h2>into a seawater spa butlost his lucrative job and his fortune before theproject was little more than started. Rigby hadMistley Towers MThe park contains a Giant Redwood Tree,the largest tree species in the world.</h2>
<h2>Malting</h2>
<h2>commissioned architect Robert Adam for thisscheme, but of his work only the Swan Fountainand the two Classical towers of the church remain.Richard Rigby opened a shipyard at Mistley in Mis Mistley’s oldest industry, having its roots inthethe Mistley Quay was built. Barley (the raw17th century and expanding rapidly once</h2>
<p>material for malting) was brought to Mistley’s
<strong>1753</strong> where giant quayside granary by barge and horse-drawn men-of-war were wagon. Malt was subsequently exported to the built, such as the breweries in London and Dublin. The English ‘Amphion’ which Diastatic Malt Extract Company, was established was Lord Nelson’s in <strong>1881</strong>, and today they are the largest producers flagship for a time.
of malt and malt extract in the country. EDME
Mistley, along with annually produces malt-based ingredients for Manningtree, had the food industry. It goes to breweries, bakeries, Mistley Quay become a thriving and breakfast cereal manufacturers. Please be port because of its careful walking through the EDME factory yard.
Hopping
Bridge Mistley is famous for the large numbers of
MistleyTowers swans which congregate along ‘The Walls’.
Mistley Baltic
The Walls Quay Wharf They are believed to have been attracted by Swan Fountain Mistley the waste from the maltings.
Place High St
River Stour
Park
Church EDME
New Road x EDME <strong>8 NewMistley</strong>
Factory Mistley Nether
Hall
School Jenkin&#39;s Hill
Harwich Road
Wood
Oldhall x x Green Lane
B1352
Laundry
Wood Furze Stour
Hill Brickman&#39;s Lodge x Hill Ship Hill
Heath Road
Dairy Shore Lane location at House Church remains x the junction between x x Church sea and river traffic. Farm Millgrove Mistley Wood Strangers Imports included coal from Heath Home PH <strong>8 C</strong> the North -East and timber from Scandinavia. Abandoned ra lway At Mistley Quay the cargo was transferred to Dovehouse Whitehouse Millhouse Farm Farm barges to head up to Stour, or onto Thames Bradfield Mi l Lane sailing barges for the sea journey to London. Windmill Road</p>
<h2>26</h2>
<p>Bell Cage, Wrabness</p>
<h2>Bradfield</h2>
<h2>BThe apt pub-sign at the ‘Stranger’s Home’ Inndepicts a cuckoo, which is renowned for makingits home in the nests of other birds. Into the Wrabness Bell-CageThis quaint little structure in the churchyard</h2>
<h2>Reverend Leighton G Hayne, the new rector of Stpeaceful village of Bradfield in 1871 arrived the Whouses the church bell, the tower having burntdown a couple of centuries ago. Stone River Stour</h2>
<p>Lawrence’s Church. He brought with him, in ten Point large railway trucks, a monstrous organ which would rival in size the one installed at the Albert Wrabness Hall. Parts of the church had to be virtually Point Caravan s te demolished to install the organ, and the vibra- tions created when it was played caused even Wrabness Church Hall more damage. Part of the organ was later x Ash Stone Lane Church Road removed to the new church Bird Wall Lane Street Hide in Mistley. Seawa l Lower Farm River Stour Jacques Bay Wheatsheaf Nature Close Reserve Ragmarsh Farm Tunnel Jacques Reservoir Hall</p>
<h2>Bradfield Wrabness</h2>
<p>End</p>
<h2>ChurchBradfieldPlaceCaravansite x Orchards B1352Harwich Road Lonbarn EYWA nature reserve with facilities for the disabledhas been created on the old Naval Mine Depotsite. Woolly Mammoth bones have been found</h2>
<p>nearby. The road at Wall Lane used to continue along the seawall to Bradfield, emerging at the bottom of Ship Hill.</p>
<h2>27</h2>
<h2>Copperas Bay tree stumps in East Grove.</h2>
<h2>CTakes its name from the old industry of copperasgathering which took place in the bay until the1870’s. Copperas (bisulphide of iron) was In case you’re wondering, the impressive buildingacross the estuary is the Royal Hospital Schoolat Holbrook – a school for the children of RoyalNavy personnel.</h2>
<p>dredged from the mud and taken to Harwich to be used in the</p>
<h2>manufacture of Ramsey Windmill</h2>
<h2>dyes, inks andsulphuric acid. RThe most easterly windmill in Essex. It wasmoved to its present site from Woodbridge inSuffolk in 1842, reputedly by boat. Three types</h2>
<p>of windmill were commonly used in Britain, and Essex has surviving examples Copperas Bay consists of vast areas of intertidal mud flats and saltmarsh, much of it owned by the Royal of all three. Ramsey windmill is a ‘post’ Society for the Protection of Birds mill, the earliest and most popular type (RSPB). The Stour Estuary is one of the most of mill. The mill body is pivoted on a important estuaries in Britain for overwintering massive oak post so that the sails can birds which includes black-tailed godwits, dunlin, always face the wind. The other types, red shank, pintail, brent geese, shelduck and the ‘tower’ and ‘smock’ mills, differ grey plover. There is a public bird-hide beside the Essex Way, so take your binoculars.
The best time to bird-watch is about <strong>2</strong> hours before high tide when the feeding birds are forced to congregate nearer the shore.</p>
<h2>Stour Wood</h2>
<h2>Sis an ancient woodland owned by the WoodlandTrust and managed by the RSPB. SweetChestnut is the main tree species and the wood</h2>
<p>has a long history of Coppicing. Trees are cut close to the ground every <strong>8-25</strong> years depending on the type of tree and the timber required.
The stump sends up fresh shoots which are eventually harvested for fencing, charcoal Ramsey Windmill, Suffolk and other products. You can see coppiced</p>
<h2>28</h2>
<h2>from the post mill in that only the cap at the Wrabness</h2>
<h2>very top revolves to face the wind. The towermill is built of brick or stone, whilst the smockmill has a wooden tower, usually octagonal, on WThe rough grass of the seawall is good for insectlife in the summer, attracting the MeadowBrown and Essex Skipper butterflies, and</h2>
<p>a masonry base. The smock mill (of which Terling Roesel’s Bush Cricket.
mill is a find example) took its name from its</p>
<h2>resemblance to the old countryman’s garment. Saltmarshes</h2>
<h2>SeawallsSouth-East England is slowly sinking and the SSaltmarshes are the most natural wildlifehabitats in Essex. Amongst their rare speciesare the Essex Emerald Moth and Sea Purslane,</h2>
<h2>SEssex coast is under constant attack from thewaves. 113 Essex people perished in the Great a plant thought extinct in Britain forbefore it was rediscovered in Essex in501987years.</h2>
<p>Flood of <strong>1953</strong>. At Harwich several people were drowned when the Bathside seawall collapsed, and a quarter of the town’s population lost their homes beneath <strong>12</strong> feet of water. The seawalls were subsequently raised, and not only do they serve to prevent another disaster, but they also protect large areas of low-lying farmland, which has been reclaimed from the sea since Roman times.
The seawall grassland contains many scarce plants and animals, mostly on the sheltered inland side.
Wrabness saltmarshes</p>
<h2>29</h2>
<h2>Dovercourt Bay</h2>
<h2>Dlighthouses at Harwich following a shiftThis pair of strange-looking iron lighthouseswere built in 1863 to replace the brick</h2>
<p>in the channel. They went out of use in <strong>1917</strong> when the channel shifted again. The channel is now marked by buoys.</p>
<h2>Harwich</h2>
<h2>HHarwich has been a major port for centuries, andtoday, with its sister port of Parkeston, Harwichis East Anglia’s ‘Gateway to the Continent’.</h2>
<p>Ferries have been sailing to the Hook of Holland for <strong>100</strong> years, and they also sail for Denmark , Germany and Sweden. Old Harwich is well worth exploring.</p>
<h2>Christopher Jones’ House</h2>
<h2>CThe home of the Master of the‘Mayflower’, the Harwich shipwhich carried the Pilgrim</h2>
<p>Fathers to America in <strong>1620</strong>.
At that time Jones’ house was actually on the waterfront.
Electric Palace Cinema</p>
<h2>Electric Palace Cinema</h2>
<h2>EBritain’s oldest purpose-built cinema, nowlovingly restored by volunteers. You cannow enjoy a film in Edwardian splendour.</h2>
<h2>Naval Redoubt</h2>
<h2>NThis formidable circular fortification was builtduring the Napoleonic Wars to protect theharbour against the threat of a French invasion.</h2>
<h2>30</h2>
<h2>Half Penny Pier</h2>
<h2>HWith its charmingused to be the departure point for steamshipsto the Continent. Today, there are ferry trips19th century ticket office, this</h2>
<p>across the harbour mouth to Felixstowe, and along the Rivers Stour and Orwell.</p>
<h2>Treadwheel Crane</h2>
<h2>TThe uniquepreserved on Harwich Green, was used in thenaval shipyard until early this century. It was17th century treadwheel crane, Halfpenny Pier, Harwich Harbour</h2>
<p>operated by two men walking inside twin wooden treadwheels.</p>
<h2>High &amp; Low Lighthouses</h2>
<h2>HWivenhoe Park. He was stung by criticismover the vast profits he was reaping from theBuilt in 1818 by General Slater Rebow of</h2>
<p>lighthouses (all shipping using the port could be charged a fee for this important service).
The High &amp; Low Lighthouses were built in alignment to act as a pair of leading lights.
Because of shifts in the channel outside the harbour the lights became known as ‘misleading lights’. The Low Lighthouse now houses a Maritime Museum, whilst the High Lighthouse marks the end of the Essex Way.
Treadwheel Crane, Harwich Green</p>
<h2>Dovercourt Bay</h2>
<h2>Dlighthouses at Harwich following a shift in theThis pair of strange-looking iron lighthouseswere built in 1863 to replace the brick</h2>
<p>channel. They went out of use in <strong>1917</strong> when the channel shifted again. The channel is now marked by buoys.</p>
<h2>Beacon Hill Fort</h2>
<h2>BBeacon Cliff has been fortified since Romantimes, but the present defences date mainlyfrom the First and Second World Wars.</h2>
<p>The cliff headland originally extended into the harbour beyond the end of Stone Pier breakwater. The end of The Essex Way</p>
<h2>31</h2>
<h2>For further information</h2>
<h2>You can contact Essex County Council in a number of ways:</h2>
<h2>By telephone: 01245 437291</h2>
<h2>By post: Essex County Council,</h2>
<h2>Public Rights of Way,</h2>
<h2>Chelmsford CM1 1QH</h2>
<h2>By email: <a href="mailto:prow.web@essexcc.gov.uk">prow.web@essexcc.gov.uk</a></h2>
<h2>Internet: <a href="http://www.essexcc.gov.uk">www.essexcc.gov.uk</a></h2>
<h2>This guide has been created by The Public Rights of Way team.</h2>
<h2>ISBN No. 1852812486</h2>
<h2>Essex County Council – making Essex a better place to live and work</h2>
<h2>The information contained in this document can be made available in</h2>
<h2>alternative formats: large print, Braille, audio tape or on disk.</h2>
<h2>We can also translate this information into other languages.</h2>
<h2>All the information was accurate at the date of publication 5127/ DS04 232 - 04</h2>
<h2>© Essex County Council December 2004</h2>
<h2>EOO</h2>
<h2>Printed on 75% recycled paper.</h2>