East Mersea is a village and civil parish on Mersea Island in the City of Colchester district of Essex, England. It was historically referred to as Mersea in the Domesday book.[2]

East Mersea
St Edmund's church, East Mersea
East Mersea is located in Essex
East Mersea
East Mersea
Location within Essex
Population266 (2011 Census)[1]
OS grid referenceTM060150
District
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townColchester
Postcode districtCO5
Dialling code01206
PoliceEssex
FireEssex
AmbulanceEast of England
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Essex
51°47′45″N 0°59′09″E / 51.79570°N 0.98595°E / 51.79570; 0.98595

St Edmund's Church

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The Grade I listed parish Church of St Edmund King and Martyr dates from the 12th or 13th century with the nave and tower dating from the 14th and 15th century respectively. The oak and red-brick south porch is 19th century.  Inside there is a 15th-century octagonal font and mid-17th century pulpit.[3]

The rector at East Mersea from 1871 to 1881 was the scholar Sabine Baring-Gould who wrote the words for the hymn Onward Christian Soldiers.[4]

Grave of Sarah Wrench

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The grave of Sarah Wrench (1833–1848), by the North wall of the chancel at St. Edmund's Church in East Mersea is unusual for an English grave because it is covered by a mortsafe,[5] a protective cage used at the time in Scotland to protect corpses from graverobbers.

Richard Jones, in Myths of Britain and Ireland, refers to popular speculation that Sarah Wrench was a witch, and that the cage was designed to keep her from escaping her grave after death.[6] Although East Anglia was at one time known for witch trials, this was in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, not the mid-nineteenth.

Notes

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  1. ^ "Civil Parish population 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Archived from the original on 8 October 2016. Retrieved 2 September 2016.
  2. ^ "[East] Mersea | Domesday Book".
  3. ^ "PARISH CHURCH OF ST EDMUND KING AND MARTYR, East Mersea - 1239659 | Historic England". historicengland.org.uk. Retrieved 2 March 2022.
  4. ^ "About | East Mersea Parish Council". Retrieved 2 March 2022.
  5. ^ Bettley 2007, p. 338
  6. ^ Mason 2006

References

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  • Bettley, James (2007), Pevsner, Nikolaus (ed.), Essex, New Haven: Yale University Press, ISBN 978-0300116144
  • Mason, John (2006), Myths & Legends of Britain & Ireland, Photography by John Mason, London: New Holland, ISBN 1845375947
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