Description
Book SynopsisThe book comprises the history of a major part of the Essex coastline in Tendring Hundred before the development of seaside resorts from the mid 19th century onwards (the resorts were covered in VCH Essex Volume XI, to which this is the second part of a companion volume). It includes analyses of how the economy of the coastal communities from agriculture through fishing to smuggling was moulded by proximity to the sea. It includes a major exploration of the history of the Soken, a significant area of special legal jurisdiction (a liberty or soke) and of administrative and social organization. The Soken was owned in the Middle Ages by the Dean and Chapter of St Paul's Cathedral, London, and later passed to lay owners, notably the Catholic-leaning Darcy family of St Osyth priory, the Savage family, and the Earls of Rochford (Nassau de Zuylestein) and their descendants. Additionally, it includes the first full modern accounts of the large parishes of Kirby-le-Soken, Thorpe-le-Soken and Walton-le-Soken (later the site of the seaside resort of Walton on the Naze). Before the Norman Conquest these had once formed a large 'multiple' estate owned by St Paul's Cathedral, and only gradually developed into separate parishes and manors over the course of the Middle Ages. All had coastlines to Hamford Water or the North Sea, and contain many important marshland nature reserves and SSSI. The London Clay cliffs on the open coast at Walton, especially the large promontory known as the Naze with its cap of Red Crag, form a unique coastal landscape of international geological and biological importance. It served as an important coastal landmark for sailors and a Trinity House navigation tower built in 1720 still stands.
Trade ReviewSections for each parish carefully and expertly describe settlement, landholding and the agricultural economy. Combined, the books present a valuable picture of an area which John Hunter, the county's well-known landscape historian, described as 'virtually unstudied'. -- MEDIEVAL SETTLEMAN RESEARCH GROUP
Reviewing volume XI shortly after its publication in 2012 for The Local Historian, I concluded that the work was a first-class resource for historians and a fascinating reference work for a wider readership; and that it was meticulously researched and written in a detailed yet accessible manner. These observations apply equally to the work under review. -- Sean O'Dell * The Local Historian *
Table of ContentsDedication Contents List of Illustrations List of Tables List of Maps and Plans List of Colour Plates Editorial Note The Victoria County History of Essex Trust Key to Volumes Published and Forthcoming Note on Abbreviations INTRODUCTION: THE SOKEN CHRISTOPHER C. THORNTON Origins Estate Liberty Customs Ecclesiastical peculiar KIRBY-LE-SOKEN CHRISTOPHER C. THORNTON architectural descriptions by JAMES BETTLEY and CAROL DAVIDSON-CRAGOE Introduction Landownership Economic History Social History Religious History Local Government THORPE-LE-SOKEN CHRISTOPHER C. THORNTON architectural descriptions by JAMES BETTLEY and CAROL DAVIDSON-CRAGOE Introduction Landownership Economic History Social History Religious History Local Government WALTON-LE-SOKEN CHRISTOPHER C. THORNTON architectural descriptions by JAMES BETTLEY and CAROL DAVIDSON-CRAGOE Introduction Landownership Economic History Social History Religious History Local Government Glossary Sources Bibliography Printed Primary Sources Printed Secondary Sources Guidebooks, Directories and Reports Theses, Unpublished Reports and Papers Index
