TOLLESBURY

KELLY'S DIRECTORY OF ESSEX 1933

TOLLESBURY is a parish and large fishing village near the Blackwater estuary, on the Kelvedon and Tollesbury light railway, 9 miles east-north-east from Maldon station, 12 south-east from Witham and 48 from London in the Maldon division of the county, Thurstable hundred, Witham petty sessional division, Maldon rural district and county court district and in the rural deanery of Witham, archdeaconry of Colchester and Chelmsford diocese. Tollesbury is the terminus of a light railway from Kelvedon, the property of the London and North Eastern Railway Company. The church of St. Mary, dating from the late 11th century (c. 1090 A.D.), is now a large building of stone in the Early English style, consisting of a modern chancel, nave of early date, south porch and an embattled western tower with pinnacles, containing a Clock with dial and 6 bells: remains of Saxon work are still visible in certain parts of the fabric: in the church are some memorials to the family of Gardiner, of Bourchier's Hall, and the east window is stained: one of the Saxon windows in the north side of the nave has been re-opened and a stained glass window of St. George inserted, in memory of Major W. C. Maskell D.S.O., M.C.: on the south side of the nave there is another stained glass window of St. Cedd, the patron saint of this part of Essex, presented by Mr. Fred E. Hasler: the font was provided in 1718 by one John Norman, at a cost of £5, paid by him for brawling and using profane language in the church during the time of Divine service: the church was restored in 1872, at a cost of about £2,300, raised by subscription, and has sittings for about 300 persons. The register dates from the year 1558. The living is a vicarage, net yearly value £480, with 12 acres of glebe and residence, in the gift of Miss G. Coltart, and held since 1901 by the Rev. William Carter M.A. of the University of Toronto. In the churchyard stands an oak cross on a brick base, which was erected to the memory of the men of the parish who fell in the Great War, 1914-18. The Congregational chapel, erected in 1864, has a Sunday school and an institute, and also an attached burial ground: in 1923 an organ was installed as a war memorial. There is also a Parish room of red brick, erected and opened in 1907. A recreation ground of about 12 acres was presented to the village by Mr. Hasler, in memory of those who fought in the Great War and the victory they achieved. This place is celebrated for its oyster beds, formed in the broad estuary of the Blackwater, and in which large quantities of oysters are cultivated, the Tollesbury and Mersea Native Oyster Fishery Company having sold during a year over 3,000,000 oysters to the amount of £13,500. Several buildings have been erected as yachting stores, the harbour being very convenient for yachts; a number of fishing boats belonging to Tollesbury are employed on the river, and a pier, over a third of a mile long, was opened in May, 1907, but is now closed. Taylor's charity of £12 yearly, arising from lands at Tolleshunt Knights, left in 1652 by Robert Taylor, is for bread. The chief landowners are Messrs. Arthur French and W. F. Atkinson. The soil is various; subsoil, loam and gravel. The chief crops are wheat, barley, peas and beans. The area is 4,866 acres of land, of which a large portion is saline pasture, called saltings, 161 of inland and 185 of tidal water and 1,649 of foreshore; the population in 1931 was 1,694; the population of the ecclesiastical parish in 1921 was 1,824.

By Local Government Board Order 22,354, March 24, 1889, Tiptree was transferred from Tollesbury to Tolleshunt D'Arcy for civil purposes.

Post, M. O., T. & T. E. D. Office. Letters from Maldon

Shipwrecked Fishermen & Mariners' Royal Benevolent Society; Hon. Representative, F. P. A. Lord, East st.

Conveyance.-Osborne & Sons' omnibuses to Colchester, Maldon & Witham, daily

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