Great and Little Wigborough

Little Wigborough is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Great and Little Wigborough, in the Colchester borough of Essex, England and forms part of Winstred Hundred Parish Council. Little Wigborough is located between Peldon and Great Wigborough. In 1951 the parish had a population of 45.The parish church is dedicated to St Nicholas. It is a Grade II* listed building dating from the 15th century.

Great Wigborough is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Great and Little Wigborough in the Colchester borough of Essex, England. The place-name 'Wigborough' first appears in the Domesday Book of 1086, where it appears as Wicgebergha and Wighebergha. The name means 'Wicga's hill or barrow'.In 1951 the parish had a population of 181. On 1 April 1953 the parish was abolished and merged with Little Wigborough to form "Great and Little Wigborough".Great Wigborough is represented at the lowest tier of governance by Winstred Hundred Parish Council.St Stephen's church dates from the 14th century and is a Grade II* listed building. Heavily damaged in the Colchester earthquake of 1884, it was extensively restored.

Abbotts Hall Farm is a 282 hectare nature reserve in Great Wigborough in Essex. It is the head office of the Essex Wildlife Trust, which manages the site. It is also part of the Blackwater Estuary National Nature Reserve, Site of Special Scientific Interest, Ramsar site, Special Protection Area and Special Area of Conservation, It is an important archaeological site, and includes a Scheduled Monument, Great Wigborough henge.This is a working farm which is managed to encourage wildlife. Seawalls have been breached to create marshland, which has many fish, insects, invertebrates and plants which provide food for migrating birds. A new lake has also been constructed, and fields provide additional habitats for fauna such as skylarks.There is access to some areas and footpaths across others.

Abberton Reservoir is a pumped storage freshwater reservoir in eastern England near the Essex coast, with an area of 700 hectares (1,700 acres). Most of its water is pumped from the River Stour. It is the largest body of freshwater in Essex. Constructed between 1935 and 1939, Abberton Reservoir is owned and managed by Essex and Suffolk Water, part of Northumbrian Water Group, and lies 6 km (3.7 mi) south-west of Colchester near the village of Layer de la Haye. In World War II, the reservoir was mined to deter invading seaplanes, and it was used by the RAF's No. 617 Squadron ("The Dam Busters") for practice runs for the bombing of the German dams in the Ruhr. A project to increase the capacity of Abberton Reservoir to 41,000 megalitres (9.0×109 imp gal) by raising its bank height was completed in 2013, along with a new link to transfer water from Norfolk's River Ouse to the Stour. The reservoir is important for its breeding cormorants, wintering and moulting waterfowl, and migrating birds. It is an internationally important wetland, designated as a Ramsar site, Site of Special Scientific Interest and Special Protection Area, and is listed in A Nature Conservation Review. A small part of the site is managed by the Essex Wildlife Trust.

Peldon is a village and civil parish in the Colchester borough of Essex, England. With Salcott, Virley, Great Wigborough and Little Wigborough, it forms part of the Winstred Hundred parish council. Nearby villages include Langenhoe. The parish church is dedicated to St Mary the Virgin and is a Grade I listed building. The population of the parish as of the 2011 census is 559.In 1870-72 John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Peldon as: "Peldon, a parish and a sub-district in Lexden district, Essex. The parish lies near Mersea Island, 4½ miles S W of Wivenhoe r. station, and 5½ S by W of Colchester; and has a post-office under Colchester. Acres, 2,186. Real property, £3,591. Pop., 501. Houses, 106 The property is much subdivided."

Virley is a village and civil parish in the Colchester borough of Essex, England and forms part of the Winstred Hundred grouped parish council. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 61. The village is about seven miles south of Colchester. Virley is among the villages which suffered damage from the 1884 Colchester earthquake; the village church of St Mary's was largely destroyed in the quake, though some ruins remain.

Salcott or Salcott cum Virley is a village and civil parish in the Colchester borough of Essex, England, and forms part of the Winstred Hundred grouped parish council. It is adjacent to Tolleshunt Knights, Tollesbury and Great Wigborough, near Tiptree.

Layer de la Haye (often spelled Layer-de-la-Haye; locally known just as Layer) is a village and civil parish in the City of Colchester district of Essex, England. In the 2011 census it had a recorded population of 1,767.

The Colchester earthquake, also known as the Great English earthquake, occurred on the morning of 22 April 1884 at 09:18. It caused considerable damage in Colchester and the surrounding villages in Essex. In terms of overall destruction caused it is certainly the most destructive earthquake to have hit the United Kingdom in at least the last 400 years, since the Dover Straits earthquake of 1580.

Woodup Pool in Tollesbury, Essex (also known as Woodrolfe Pool) is a salt-water pond or lake used as an open-air swimming pool or amenity pool.

Tollesbury Wick is a 242.8-hectare (600-acre) nature reserve east of Tollesbury in Essex. It is managed by the Essex Wildlife Trust.This is coastal freshwater marsh which is grazed by sheep, and is worked by traditional methods which encourage wildlife. Areas of ungrazed rough pasture have badgers, and field voles and pygmy shrews are hunted by hen harriers and short-eared owls.There is access from the sea wall only to a footpath to a bird hide.

Tollesbury is a village in England, located on the Essex coast at the mouth of the River Blackwater. It is situated nine miles east of the historic port of Maldon and twelve miles south of Colchester. For centuries Tollesbury, the village of the plough and sail, relied on the harvests of the land and the sea. The main trade and export of Tollesbury, which still thrives to this day, has long been oysters.