Howlands Marsh

St Osyth Pit is a 0.1-hectare (0.25-acre) geological Site of Special Scientific Interest north of St Osyth in Essex. It is a Geological Conservation Review site.The site has a succession of deposits which throw light of the diversion of the River Thames south to its present course during the Anglian Ice Age around 450,000 years ago. The lower level has gravel deposited by the Thames when it flowed through the area before the ice age. This is overlain by sand and very fine gravel deposited by outwash during a brief period when the Thames was blocked by ice.The site is private land with no public access.

St Osyth's Abbey (originally and still commonly known as St Osyth's Priory) was a house of Augustine Canons Regular in the parish of St Osyth (then named Chich) in Essex, England in use from the 12th to 16th centuries. Founded by Richard de Belmeis, Bishop of London, c. 1121, it became one of the largest religious houses in Essex. It was dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul as well as St Osyth (Osith), a royal saint and virgin martyr. Bishop Richard obtained the arm bone of St Osyth from Aylesbury for the monastic church and granted the canons the parish church of St Osyth. The foundation began as a priory, probably populated first by canons from Holy Trinity, Aldgate. The first prior of St Osyth's was William de Corbeil, who was elected archbishop of Canterbury in 1123 and who crowned King Stephen in 1135. The priory was converted into an abbey in the mid-12th century.In Gesta pontificum Anglorum, William of Malmesbury spoke in praise of the piety and learning of the canons at St Osyth's in the twelfth century. One of the second generation of canons there was William de Vere, later bishop of Hereford, who wrote a Latin Life of St Osyth, in which he mentions that his mother Adeliza, daughter of Gilbert fitz Richard of Clare, had been a corrodian at the abbey for twenty years of her widowhood. A charter of King Henry II confirmed the right of the canons of St Osyth's to elect their abbot and to hold a market every Sunday at Chich in the later 12th century. John Depyng, prior of St. Botolph's was made abbot of St Osyth's in 1434, and took with him goods of considerable value belonging to the priory. He never returned these, and after his death St Botolph's brought an apparently unsuccessful lawsuit in Chancery against St Osyth's for their recovery.During the Suppression of the Monasteries, the religious group was dissolved by King Henry VIII in 1539, at which time there were a prior and sixteen canons. The king granted it to his minister Thomas Cromwell, but on his fall from favour, the abbey and its estates were returned to crown possession. In the reign of King Edward VI they were sold to Sir Thomas Darcy for just under £400. The gatehouse, dating from the late 15th century, is the most significant remnant of the original monastic structures still standing. The exterior is a fine example of decorative flint work. Five parts of the priory are Grade I listed buildings.On 11 November 1884 the building was consecrated as a masonic lodge (no. 2063), one of the principal officers being the then owner, Sir John Henry Johnson. The priory was later owned by the writer Somerset de Chair, from 1954 until his death in 1995. It stood in for St Anselm's Theological College in the BBC's miniseries adaptation of P. D. James' Death in Holy Orders in 2003.

St Osyth is an English village and civil parish in the Tendring District of north-east Essex, about 5 miles (8.0 km) west of Clacton-on-Sea and 12 miles (19.3 km) south-east of Colchester. It lies on the B1027, Colchester–Clacton road. The village is named after Osgyth, a 7th-century saint and princess. Locally, the name is sometimes pronounced "Toosey". It is claimed to be the driest recorded place in the United Kingdom.

Riddles Wood is a 37.3-hectare (92-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest between Brightlingsea and Clacton-on-Sea in Essex.The site has varied ancient pedunculate oak and hazel in some areas and oak and hornbeam in others, as well as chestnut coppice. The soils are glacial gravels in the west and London clay in the east. The ground flora rich and varied, although dominated by bramble, and there are also rides and a small pond. A rare flower on the site is orpine.The site is private land.

Point Clear is a village in the civil parish of St Osyth, south-west of the village of St Osyth and on the other side of St Osyth Creek, a branch of the Colne Estuary in the Tendring district, in the county of Essex, England. In 2018 it had an estimated population of 1674.

Cindery Island is at the mouth of Brightlingsea Creek (off the town of Brightlingsea) on the east coast of England in the county of Essex.

Brightlingsea () is a coastal town and an electoral ward in the Tendring district of Essex, England. It is situated between Colchester and Clacton-on-Sea, at the mouth of the River Colne, on Brightlingsea Creek. At the 2011 Census, it had a population of 8,076. The town is an active though small port.Its traditional industries included fishery (with a renowned oyster fishery) and shipbuilding. With the decline of these industries, the town is largely a dormitory town for Colchester. Brightlingsea is a limb of Sandwich, one of the Cinque Ports. The town retains an active ceremonial connection with the Cinque Ports, electing a Deputy from a guild of Freemen. Brightlingsea was for many years twinned with French oyster fishery port Marennes, Charente-Maritime, but the relationship fell into disuse. In the mid-1990s, the port of Brightlingsea was used for the export of live animals for slaughter, leading to a protest campaign dubbed The Battle of Brightlingsea.

The Battle of Brightlingsea refers to a series of protests by animal rights supporters held in Brightlingsea, England, between 16 January and 30 October 1995, to prevent the export of livestock through the town. During this time period, early 1990s, this action had been talked and argued about among individuals. The name was first used by the media in The Independent newspaper, after Essex Police used riot control measures against demonstrators.By 1995, members of the public had become increasingly concerned about the conditions in which animals were reared, transported and slaughtered. Some examples of the farm animals that were being exported to continental Europe were cattle, veal calves and sheep. British exporters had been forced to use small ports such as Brightlingsea to transport livestock after the country's three main ferry operators introduced bans on live cargo. This followed mounting public pressure about the suffering of sheep and cattle packed into huge transport vehicles for excessive periods. There were 2 national campaign groups trying to help this cause; the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and Compassion in World Farming. They had called for a ban on all live exports by limiting journeys to eight hours. At the time, European regulations allowed for journeys of up to 24 hours without food or water. They used different tactics to highlight this issue, and eventually succeeded in influencing public opinion so that ferry companies took action. As a result of the ferry company ban, however, the transportation of the cattle was moved to the small, independently operated port of Brightlingsea.The demonstrations, which were composed largely of local residents, ended on 30 October, when exporters announced they would no longer transport animals through the town because of the extra cost and logistical chaos caused by the daily protests. In practice, the export of live animals continued from other small ports, halting only in February 1996 when the European Union banned all meat exports from Britain over fears of "mad cow disease" entering the European food chain. The ban was lifted in 2006.

Brighlingsea Naval Base was an installation of the British Royal Navy located at Brightlingsea, Essex, on the East Coast of England. In both wars it was part of the Nore Command, which had its HQ at Chatham, and in the Second was part of Harwich Sub-Command. It existed from late 1914 to 1921, and from early 1940 to 1947, Brightlingsea is a coastal town in the Tendring district of Essex, England. It is situated between Colchester and Clacton-on-Sea, at the mouth of the River Colne, on Brightlingsea Creek.

Thorrington is a village and civil parish in the Tendring district of Essex, England. It lies 3 miles (5 km) east of Wivenhoe and 1.9 miles (3 km) north of Brightlingsea. The striking medieval flint church is dedicated to Mary Magdalene, and the patrons of the church are St John's College, Cambridge. Thorrington is mentioned in the Domesday Book as Torinduna. From handwritten sources held by the Church, Thorrington has also been known as Turituna (1152–71); Torritona (1202), Thurituna (1237), Thurington (1248), Thurinton (1253). Thorinton (1255), Tornidune (1272), Tyriton (1274), Thornton (1285), Thoriton (1295), Thoweryngton (1476), Thurrington (1594).

Frating Abbey was reputedly an abbey in the village of Frating, in Essex, England. There is no evidence however that there was more than a farm here belonging to either St Botolph's Priory, Colchester, or to Wix Priory from around 1125. The current house, and first to be named Frating Abbey Farmhouse, dates from the mid-nineteenth century, built by Mr Boghurst. It replaced a manor house called Wheelers, mentioned twice in Feet of Fines in 1547 and 1564. Deeds for the Manor of Kirby Hall in 1814 included the Manor of Wheelers with mansion and 200 acres in Great Bentley, Frating and Thorrington. The first edition of the Ordnance Survey map showed the location as Wheelers from 1805. The first mention of Frating Abbey as an address is from 1853 in a letter written to the editor of the Essex Standard and General Advertiser.

St Osyth Heath is a hamlet in the Tendring district, in the county of Essex, England. Until the mid-1900s, The Heath was a thriving community with shops, various self-employed tradesman and The Beehive Public House. Today all this has disappeared, with the pub now converted into an Indian Restaurant. The Bareham family were the local butchers, whilst the Beales were hurdle and broom makers. The Methodist Chapel at St Osyth Heath, was erected in 1898 by the Beales family at cost of £155, a wooden building and affords sittings for 60 persons. Both families like the rest of the community eventually moved into the main village of St Osyth.