Tony Tuckwell: The only coastal way is Essex

Today’s speaker was local historian Tony Tuckwell, who talked about Essex’s coastal path. He walked it in sections spread over a year.

He said that, although Cornwall claimed to have the longest coastal path in England, Essex’s coastal path was actually longer because of all the estuaries it went round and its 17 islands. The path between Burnham-on-Crouch and Bradwell is the longest stretch of coastal path in the world without a settlement on it.

The estuaries made it an obvious invasion route. The invaders included our own Angle and Saxon ancestors. You could tell that they not only invaded but also settled here because of the number of place names ending in “ing”, meaning “people of”. Thus Mucking has nothing to do with muck but signifies it was occupied by the people of Mucken.

However Mucking does now have an association with muck. For a long time it was used to dump muck and garbage from London in the Thames. When it stopped being used for this purpose it was grassed over. When Tony visited it the grass and top layers were being stripped away so it could be turned into a nature area. The resulting stench from all the exposed old muck as awful. Now the conversion has been completed Tony hopes to revisit it.

The estuaries also made Essex a convenient place for smugglers in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. The smugglers used flat-bottomed boats enabling them to get further upriver than the Customs cutters. The small income they got from their regular work meant that poorer people had little choice but to smuggle in order to get enough money to live on. Whole communities were involved, including some clergymen. Our knowledge of the smugglers derives in part from a book written at the time by a vicar on Canvey Island. Some clergymen turned a blind eye to the smuggling, and even helped hide smuggled goods, in return for the occasional barrel of wine from the continent.

Some inns were favourite haunts of smugglers. There is a story that one coastal inn had an underground tunnel leading to the local church. As soon as Customs men were seen approaching, the smugglers would escape along the tunnel to the church, where the officers would find them devoutly at prayer! Sadly, Tony did not think this story was true.

He related his experience of trying to cross the artillery range at Shoeburyness. He knew the path through it was usually closed to the public but his map showed the telephone number to phone to see whether it was open. He phoned the number but got through to someone who refused to tell him whether it was open that day on security grounds. The person he spoke to suggested he walked up to the gate to find out. Tony explained that he did not wish to walk five miles to the gate only to find that he had to turn back. He was then told it was open on Sundays. He duly returned on a Sunday and found the gate open. He then walked through the range only to discover the gate the other side was firmly locked! He had visions of walking 15 miles back. Fortunately he had with him a guidebook which set out the way to a second gate, which he was able to use.