A History of the County of Essex: XII: St Osyth to the Naze: North-East Essex Coastal Parishes. Part 2: The Soken: Kirby-le-Soken, Thorpe-le-Soken And Walton-le-Soken

The book explores the history of the Essex coastline in Tendring Hundred, including the development of seaside resorts, the economy, and the Soken, a significant area of legal jurisdiction. It also includes the first modern accounts of the large parishes of Kirby-le-Soken, Thorpe-le-Soken, and Walton-le-Soken, which had once formed a large estate owned by St Paul's Cathedral. The London Clay cliffs at Walton on the Naze are of international geological and biological importance.

Format: Hardback
Length: 256 pages
Publication date: 24 June 2022
Publisher: Victoria County History

The book is a comprehensive account of the history of a significant portion of the Essex coastline in Tendring Hundred, preceding the emergence of seaside resorts from the mid-19th century onwards. It delves into the economic, social, and legal aspects of the coastal communities, examining how their proximity to the sea influenced their agricultural, fishing, and smuggling industries. The book also explores the rich history of the Soken, a significant area of special legal jurisdiction and administrative and social organization. The Soken was owned by the Dean and Chapter of St Paul's Cathedral in London during the Middle Ages and later passed to lay owners, including the Catholic-leaning Darcy family of St Osyth priory, the Savage family, and the Earls of Rochford (Nassau de Zuylestein). Additionally, the book provides the first full modern accounts of the large parishes of Kirby-le-Soken, Thorpe-le-Soken, and Walton-le-Soken, which later became the site of the seaside resort of Walton on the Naze. Before the Norman Conquest, these parishes were part of a large multiple estate owned by St Paul's Cathedral and gradually developed into separate parishes and manors over the course of the Middle Ages. All of these parishes had coastlines to Hamford Water or the North Sea, and they contain numerous important marshland nature reserves and Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). The London Clay cliffs on the open coast at Walton, particularly the prominent promontory known as the Naze with its cap of Red Crag, constitute a unique coastal landscape of international geological and biological significance. It served as an important coastal landmark for sailors and a Trinity House navigation tower, built in 1720, still stands today.

Dimension: 305 x 208 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781904356554