Page:The National Gazetteer - A Topographical Dictionary of the British Islands, Volume 1.djvu/929

Rh ESSEX. 919 ESSEX. the metropolis. The two divisions of the county com- prise together nineteen hundreds and one liberty, con- taining 408 parishes and about 500 townships, with 4 extra-parochial places. The county contains no cathedral city, but 22 market towns, including Chehnsford, the county town, Colchester, Harwich, and Maldon, parli- amentary boroughs, each returning two members to parliament, with Braintree, Dunmow, Halstead, Roch- ford, Eomford, Saffron Walden, Walthain Abbey, Brent- wood, Billericay, Chipping Ongar, Epping, and Witham, the first twelve being also heads of new County Court districts. The chief seaports are Colchester, Maldon, and Harwich, which last is connected with Ipswich by a linn of steamers ascending the Orwell. The minor ports are Barking, Bradwell, Brightlingsea, Burnham, Grays, Leigh, Manningtree, 1'urileet, Southend, Salcott, and Watering. The principal trade of these ports is in the fisheries, especially the oyster fishery, and in the ship- ping of corn, coals, cattle, and timber. Essex is eccle- siastically under the sec of Rochester, and is distributed between the archdeaconries of Colchester and Essex, comprising the whole of the county except the ten metropolitan parishes, which are still retained in the see of London, and the village of Ballingdon, a suburb of Sudbury, in Suffolk, which is in the diocese of Ely. The shire is of an irregular shape, and on the E. much in- dented with friths and creeks of the Stour, Colnc, Black- water, Crouch, and Thames. The coast presents a succes- sion of unhealthy marshes, known as the South and East Hundreds, but the middle and northern districts of the county are remarkably healthy, so that the average dura- tion of life is above that for all England. Even the marsh lands have lately been much improved by drainage and embankments, but still cover a large extent of surface, both along the bank of the Thames and on the E. coast. The marshes begin near the junction of the Lea with the Thames, and extend along the whole of the northern bank except near Leigh and Southend, where the coast rises into low cliffs. After passing the mouth of the Thames, they continue along the eastern coast to about 4 miles beyond St. Osyth Point, where the land presents a high broken coast-line, extending nearly 10 miles to the Naze, the most eastern point of the county. From the Naze to Harwich, for about 6 miles, the coast forms an inlet lined by salt marshes, and terminated in the estuary of the Stour, above Manningtree. Along the whole extent of this eastern coast the sea has for centuries been encroaching, in some places nearly 5 miles, as indicated by shoals, ruins of buildings, &c. On this coast, which in many places is defended from farther encroachments by dykes and sea-walls, are the marsh islands of Canvey, Foulness, Wallasea, Mersea. Horsea, Havengore, Potten, Pevril, and Holmes, besides others. Most of these islands are low and marshy, being sepa- rated from the mainland by narrow intervening channels, and are embanked. In the creeks and inlets which surround and separate them are extensive oyster-beds, especially round Wallasea, hence called Wallfleet oysters. These are of so great value .that the town of Colchester alone derives an income of 700 a year from licenses annually granted to dredgennen for the fishing of the Colne. It is calculated that above 15,000 bushels of oysters are taken in a season, and that the capital employed in the trade is from 60,000 to 80,000. In its geological characteristics the greater part of the county belongs to the London clay formation, with freshwater deposits on the E. coast, containing animal remains. Near Harwich the stratum is crag, containing fossils, and to the S., about Purfleet and Grays, chalk predominates, as also in the N.W. beyond Dunmow and Halstead, where the continuation of the Chiltern hills forms the Chalk Downs. The only hiDs of any consider- able elevation are High Beach, near Waltham Abbey, 390 feet high ; Laingdon Hill, 620 feet ; Danbury Hill, 700 ; and Tiptree Heath, near Witham, about the same altitude. The rest of the county is level, or gently undulating, the slope, as determined by the water-shed, being towards the S. and E. -The Thames, which bounds it on the S. side, has several quays on the Essex shore, but no great haven. The Victoria Docks and the Metropolitan Steam Docks are in Plaistow level. Steamers run from London to Harwich, calling at Pur- fleet, Grays, Tilbury, Southend, and Walton. The Lea, which is navigable, bounds the county on the W. side till it meets the Stort, when it flows S. and joins the Thames. The Stour, which separates the county from Suffolk on the N.E., becomes navigable at Sudbury, and after passing the ports of Manningtreo and Harwich, falls into the North Sea. There are besides several other minor rivers, as the Boding, or Roden, Bourne-brook, In- gerbourne, and the Marditch, which forms a creek at Pur- fleet; the Crouch, which waters the S.E.partof Essex and falls into the North Sea, forming a port at Burnharn ; the Chelmer, with its tributaries the Ter, Wid, Cann, and San- don, being navigable from Chehnsford to the port of Mal- don, near which place it is joined by the Blackwater and Podsbrook, and so falls [into the North Sea ; the Colne, which is navigable from Colchester, and receiving the waters of the river Roman, also falls into the North Sea. The Cam and Slado brooks water the N.W. part of the county, and then cross the Cambridge border. Besides these are the Holland and Broomhill creeks, the latter being navigable for 7 miles to near Rochford. Tho soil is in general extremely fertile, being a rich loam, particularly well adapted for thw growth of corn, as the superiority of Essex wheat sufficiently proves. Tho chief crops are wheat, which yields from 25 to 33 bushels per acre, barley 40 bushels, oats 12 to 14 quarters, beans 32 bushels, and potatoes 300 bushels per acre. The other principal productions are turnips, tares, rape, clover, mustard, and rye-grass. The raising of carraway, coriander, and teasel, which are planted together, is peculiar to this county, and is considered a very profit- able crop. Grazing is confined to the marsh lands, the principal stock fed on which are Welsh and Scotch runts. The principal dairy farms are in the parish of Epping and its vicinity, and have for centuries been famous for the supply of the London markets with cream, butter, and dairy-fed pork. The suckling of calves, for which Essex is celebrated, and the fattening of North country cattle, is still largely carried on about Sandon, the river Lea, Barking, and Epping. The sheep are principally of the South Down breeds, and the pigs a small variety of the Berkshire. The size of the farms varies with the part of the county, but in general they average from 150 to 200 acres, and are held by yearly tenure, or on short leases of from seven to fourteen years. The greater part of the industrial population is engaged in agriculture, there being but few manu- factures. The woollen baize manufacture, originally introduced by the Flemings in the reign of Elizabeth, and formerly of so much importance, is now extinct. There are silk-mills at Colchester and Coggeshall, satin velvet mills at Hal&tead, and crape factories at Braintreu and Booking, besides straw-plait in several villages, anil bricks and coarse pottery in various parts. At Waltham Abbey are the government powder-mills, at Purfleet extensive powder magazines, and at Shoeburyness an extensive practice ground for artillery. Hunting has from time immemorial been a favourite sport in Essex, and the county can boast of several packs of hounds, as, the Essex, Essex Union, South Essex, East Essex, Essex and Suffolk, Mr. Tufnelfs and Mr. Honeywood's harriers, ;the Hon. F. Petre's stag hounds, &c. The county is' crossed by the two main sections of the Great Eastern railway, one under the name of the Cam- bridge line, proceeding in a northerly direction by Waltham Abbey to Cambridge and Newmarket, with a branch to Hertford ; the other in a N.E. direction by Chelmsford and Colchester to Ipswich, with numerous branches to all the principal towns on the East Coast. Another short line runs to Loughton in connection with the Great Eastern and North London railways. In the S.W. a short line runs from Stratford to North Wool- wich, and another lino from Stratford to Tilbury and Southend. The Tendring railway from Colchester to Wivenhoe has only recently been completed ; and another line called the Colne Valley is in course of formation, com-