SHIPPING

In 1565 a survey was made of merchant vessels that could be used to support the small navy.

At this time Bradwell was shown as having one coastal trader under 20 tons whilst Burnham was shown as having 21 vessels with 18 owners or masters and 17 fishermen.

OYSTERS AND KEDDLES

Oysters have a special place in the history of the area with the Wallfleet Oysters cultivated in the Crouch and the Blackwater regarded as the best in the country although this claim was later overtaken by new oyster beds at Colchester.

Keddles were fish traps that were made from a series of stakes forced into the ground between high and low water marks in coastal estuaries with nets placed on the angles. As the tide ran out small flat fish were trapped in the nets and harvested at low tide. Keddles were normally used as additional income by wild fowlers who killed some of the large flocks of wildfowl found in the marshland.

LIVESTOCK

Sheep are the main livestock in the area Cheese and butter were made from Ewes milk in large huts known as wicks. To this day many farms in the old marshland have the appendix wick in their name i.e. Middlewick, providing clues to their past.

Ewes cheese became popular as a winter food as the cheese was more moist than cows cheese and lasted longer through the winter.

SPORT

During Elizabethan times sport was discouraged with archery being the only exception.

Every father had to give his sons and servants who were aged from 7 to 16 with a longbow and two arrows and every man aged 17 to 60 had to own a longbow and 4 arrows.

Each parish had to provide archery butts every Sunday to allow parishioners to practice their skills.

Failure to comply with this obligation  in 1591 led to the residents of Purleigh being fined 12d each having not practiced for 10 months.

WEATHER

Between the summer of 1588 and 1600 the area suffered a succession of storms of unprecedented violence which notably wrecked the Spanish Armada in 1588.

In 1590 a tempest damaged St Lawrence Parish Church so badly that it need major repairs.

A similar fate was suffered in 1600 by Woodham Mortimer when tiles were stripped from the church roof.