Colchester and the Thames Estuary…

Today (18th September), an open day was held on Tower Beach of the River Thames in London, as part of the annual ‘Totally Thames festival’. This runs from the 1st to the 30th September. Yesterday (17th September), there was a parade of Thames sailing barges on the River Thames in London, followed by a barges open day at the West India Docks in London today. The Essex coast is part of the Greater Thames Estuary: the eastern boundary of the estuary was defined in 1882-9 as extending from North Foreland in Kent to Harwich in Essex. Colchester is on the River Colne and its port consisted of several wharves, ie at the Hythe in Colchester, and at Wivenhoe and Rowhedge on the River Colne. There may have been a Roman port facility at Fingringhoe, and there is evidence of an Anglo-Saxon quay at Old Heath. There was a port at the Hythe by the mid 12th century, and it continued in use until it was finally closed in 2005.

From the Victoria County History of Essex, vol. 9: the Borough of Colchester – ‘Port’- ‘… In 1892 the c. 3,000 vessels using the port [of Colchester] each year were mainly Thames barges; larger ships, including small coasting vessels and small cargo steamers … could reach the Hythe at spring tides … in 1984 a total of 2,501 ships carrying over 1 million tons of cargo docked there. The proportion of ships reaching the Hythe declined, however, from 46 per cent of the total in 1980-1 to 18 per cent in 1985-6, as shipping companies made increasing use of larger ships which could not reach the upper quays…
Both coastal and continental trade from the Hythe was important in the Middle Ages and later. By 1637 there was a regular weekly service by hoy from the Hythe to London, perhaps by two ships as in the 1650s, and by 1714 two packets made the journey weekly. Steam replaced sail in the 1830s and 1840s, reducing the journey time to 7 hours, and a twice weekly service was maintained throughout the 19th century. Steam packets apparently sailed thrice weekly in 1910 and 1912, but the service had been reduced to twice weekly by 1917 and seems to have ceased soon afterwards …’. Apparently, between 1855 and 1914, 33 Thames sailing barges were registered at Colchester with the prefix ‘CK’: many of these had been built at Brightlingsea (see www.merseamuseum.org.uk/mmbarges.php?typ=name&wds=&ord=reg – www.thamesbarge.org.uk/ ).

Colchester has had a long history as a port and, although it is several miles inland, it is actually defined as being on the coast. It is, therefore, part of the Greater Thames Estuary – and the history of Colchester is part of the history of the Thames. This history includes centuries of maritime trade with London and some major historical events. The Roman army crossed the River Thames in 54 BC, as they marched on a stronghold which, we think, would have been Camulodunum, the Iron Age precursor of Colchester. A battle may have been fought at a crossing of the River Thames in AD 43, between the Roman army and the native Britons, as the Roman army marched on Camulodunum to establish their invasion of Britain. The Roman town of Colchester was founded in about AD 49: it was, of course, the capital of Roman Britain. The Roman town of Londinium (London) was founded as a port on the River Thames in about AD 50. By the end of the 1st century, appropriately – because of its success as a port – London had ousted Colchester and become the capital of the province…

Essex has a long, varied coastline which includes coastal archaeological sites.* Over the years, the Trust has undertaken a number of fieldwork projects on coastal or riverside sites in Essex, including sites at St Peter’s Street and at Hythe Quay in Colchester, Wivenhoe, the University of Essex, Rowhedge, Fingringhoe, Brightlingsea Quarry, Walton-on-the-Naze, Abbotts Hall Farm, Tollesbury, the Hythe at Maldon, Shoebury garrison, Stanford-le-Hope, and West Thurrock. We have also investigated sites which are in coastal or riverside areas, such as Levington (in Suffolk), Mistley, Lawford, Wrabness, Harwich, Kirby-le-Soken, Clacton, Mersea Island, Alresford, St Osyth, Burnham-on-Crouch, Heybridge, Maldon, Tillingham, and West Tilbury. We have completed a number of  desk-based assessments and heritage statements on coastal sites. All our fieldwork reports are available online at http://cat.essex.ac.uk/ .

See http://totallythames.org/ .

The image shows a sketch map of the Thames Estuary, Essex and Colchester, and some of the locations of Trust fieldwork sites.

* The England Coast Path is currently being created by Natural England. In Essex, development work started in October 2015 (in partnership with Essex County Council) on the first of the ten Essex stretches of the Path, including the coastline around Colchester, ie Burnham-on-Crouch to Maldon, Maldon to Salcott, Mersea Island, Salcott to Jaywick, Jaywick to Harwich, and Harwich to Shotley Gate. Colchester itself  is included in the long Salcott to Jaywick stretch, which also includes Rowhedge, Wivenhoe, Fingringhoe, and Brightlingsea. Site visits were expected to be made from the summer of 2016 and the report published in the summer of 2017.

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