Mersea | Curious Coast

boatyard
gerr off
i really love you
today's catch
seafood
what a pair
half a dozen
the east window
water tower
barn
red sails
from above
east Mersea creek
low water West Mersea
needs some work
rigger
dive shop
fag break
not trapped in transition
bits and pieces
beds are us
what is on ?
jackpot
this way
creek
backwater

home -
art -
web design -
social -
mail -

.
.
CuriousCoast
Tim Baynes
Trevor Clapp
#CuriousCoast
info@curiouscoast

The offbeat, kiss-me-quick atmosphere of the East Anglian and Kent seaside and coast fascinates photographer, Trevor Clapp and watercolorist, Tim Baynes. This website records some of their trips to these extraordinary places.

Again we are out on the Essex Coast. Here I always sense we are at the very end of the known world. Essex a charming county and also, it is like a teenager’s bedroom, always untidy. The coast is no different.

Mersea is separated from the low flat land south of Colchester by a causeway that, with a good tide, confers upon it island status.

The day was dull with dumpy clouds; these oppressive grey skies only occasionally shared their showers of rain.

Mersea is a game of two halves; East and West.

East Mersea is farmland, one pub and desultory barns. We spot two shipping containers are at rest on the edge of a field.

A footpath allows us to the waters edge. Trevor has the drone up and flying high us. The pictures it brings back shows this tidal marshland like a human lung, an intricate system of arteries and veins. A Thames Barge mooches up the estuary, past us and out towards the sea.

Sheep graze, dog walkers exchange notes, skylarks sing and confetti of blackthorn bloom dusts every footpath back to the car.

Still east we discover a plantation of caravans and holiday homes. This is Coopers Beach Holiday Park. This plantation of homes boasts
“Heated pools and children’s splash pool”.
And also offers the chance to get fit on the multi-sports court.
“Enjoy scenic walks and estuary views,” pronounces the website
“Savour the island’s famed natural produce”.

Meanwhile Trevor and I appreciate a coffee in the cavernous restaurant and bar looking out on a less than scenic sea. We overhear the manager and his wife talk longingly about being be back in the 1980’s, no doubt encouraged by the songs (The Police and UB40 spiced with Frankie goes to Hollywood) on the sound system.

Next to the holiday park is St Edmund’s Church. Inside this gem all is bright and clean, as if just washed by a high tide. This holy place scrubbed, polished and loved. A statue of St Edmond is to the right of the Lady Chapel and Our Lady is to the left, both stand sentinel-like.

Little is known about St Edmund. He was king of East Anglia from 855 until killed by the Vikings in 869. Thirty years after his death they acclaimed him.

Now he rests in Bury St Edmonds, fifty miles further up the coast, having swelled the coffers of that part of Suffolk since the 1200’s. The veneration of saints, and pilgrimages to the places where a saint’s relics were interred was widespread. A church in possession of the relics of a popular saint enjoyed source of income as the faithful made donations in the hope that they might receive spiritual aid.