Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Tag: St. Osyth

  • GeoGuessr – St. Osyth (St. Osyth’s Priory)

    This is part of the GEOGUESSR 1 series of posts.

    This is a fascinating building, it’s the gatehouse and, for those with excellent eyesight, a glimpse of the main priory building, all of which was founded in the twelfth century by Augustinian canons and it remained in use until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 1530s. It’s currently all closed off as they’re doing some restoration and rebuilding works, with an aim to open it up as a sensitively managed tourist attraction.

    Since we couldn’t see anything inside, I’ll limit this post to just photos of the exterior.

  • GeoGuessr – St. Osyth (St. Peter and St. Paul Church)

    This is part of the GEOGUESSR 1 series of posts.

    Unfortunately, we weren’t able to enter the town’s main church although it later transpired we visited during the church’s opening times. It’s a shame, it’s one of the most complex buildings that I’ve seen in terms of trying to understand it from its exterior.

    I have a lot of unanswered questions about this church and I have no idea why they’ve locked and blocked off part of the graveyard (I poked my camera through the gate to take this photo).

    That’s the south chapel on the left, the nave in the centre and the chancel on the right. The south chapel is thirteenth century, but something has clearly gone wrong with the structure as there are buttresses propping it up on the left hand side which are from the fourteenth century. I’ll make no comment about civil engineers as Liam will see this.

    I didn’t pay much attention to this at the time, but the chancel isn’t level with the nave, it’s off-centre and located to the northern end of the nave. This is apparently due to the Reformation interfering with the plans of the church, although it’s given it a quirky appearance.

    A better view of the buttresses against the side of the church, as well as a door built into a window (could they really not have put that door anywhere else?).

    I don’t understand this, this is a nineteenth century chimney and it’s out of place and seems a bizarre addition to have made. Or at least the top is a chimney, the middle bit could almost be rood stairs, but they’re in the wrong place as they’re now where the chancel meets the nave (and there are three naves anyway, as well as the brickwork looking too late for rood stairs). Unfortunately, the church’s web-site says that the comprehensive history of the building is “coming soon”, so I can’t glean much from that at the moment.

    I can’t explain what’s going on here.

    I also have no idea why what appears to be a set of stairs to the top of the tower have been added on quite so late in the church’s history.

    The northern side of the north chapel.

    I found one story about this church which I did find amusing. In 1865, a marriage was taking place which was officiated by a vicar from Clacton who was standing in for the local vicar. The marriage ceremony was proceeding all very well and the vicar read out the “to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse” section of the vows. The groom, who must have considered himself something of a wit, said “I’ll take her for better, but not for worse”. The vicar decided this wasn’t in keeping with the standards that he expected, so he slammed his book shut and walked out of the church, leaving a confused bride and groom to be at the altar. Marvellous.

    Anyway, as I’m not a church historian, I can’t shed a great deal of light on this church. It’s a shame I’m not likely to come this way again soon, as I’d have liked to see inside, and also inside the churchyard. I don’t like the way that they’ve locked half of it off, although I’m sure that they must have a reason to have done that. But, it’s a magnificent church and I like that its history hasn’t been whitewashed away.

  • GeoGuessr – St. Osyth (Trevor Osben)

    This is part of the GEOGUESSR 1 series of posts.

    This stone puzzled me slightly, I thought I’d take a photo and then go on-line to discover more about it. There’s not a great deal, although the log of his expedition is available, and I was slightly amazed to discover that it took him four years to complete the voyage in his 20-foot plywood boat which he had built in his front garden. That’s a serious journey and it’s a shame that there are no more details that I’ve been able to find of the sort of adventure that this must have been.

  • GeoGuessr – St. Osyth (The Village Sign)

    This is part of the GEOGUESSR 1 series of posts.

    The St. Osyth village (or town) sign, installed to mark the silver jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. There are four items featured on the sign and I can’t work one of them out.

    TOP-LEFT is St. Osyth herself, also known as St. Osgyth, who was a saint who lived in the seventh century AD. There is a story that when she was beheaded she then picked up her own head before walking to a local convent and then collapsing there in safety. I say safety, but she was already dead, so there was perhaps little need to be safe.

    TOP-RIGHT is a bird. I have no idea why.

    BOTTOM-LEFT is one I had to think about for a while, but the key represents St. Peter and the sword represents St. Paul. This puzzled me until I remembered that the town’s church is dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul.

    BOTTOM-RIGHT is the town’s priory.

    I hope I work out that bird one, or perhaps Nathan knows since he was there, he was probably paying more attention to the clues that there were no doubt there to be solved.

  • GeoGuessr – St. Osyth (The White Hart)

    This is part of the GEOGUESSR 1 series of posts.

    This building looks as though it has been derelict for some time, but the White Hart has only been closed for around four years. Located on Mill Street in the town, this pub had an excellent reputation and it’s a real shame that this is another drinking house lost to the community. It certainly looks now that it’d be nearly impossible to viably return this into being a pub and I imagine that its future lies as a residential property.

    It’s known that the building was used as a pub from at least the 1760s, and likely much earlier. Some elements of the building date back to the 1500s, so there’s a lot of history which has been lost in terms of it being a building used by the community. It is though a listed building, so at least the structure of the property should be secure.

    The former pub is located near to a mill, and it’s also where the coroner’s inquiry into the death of a local man took place. On Monday 24 June 1878, William Codd, the Coroner for East Essex, looked into the death of the 16-year old George Carter, who had drowned in the mill’s pond. The death had taken place the day before and it was witnessed by a local butcher, Henry Carter, who was the deceased’s brother. They were both swimming in the pond, albeit without permission, when George got into difficulty.

    The decision in this case was one of “accidental drowning”, but it’s a reminder of the history that exists in locations such as this. Henry Carter walked into the White Hart to get help and he had to tell the landlord that his brother was dead. It’s hard to imagine what went through the mind of Henry Carter on that day, during the coroner’s inquiry and for the rest of his life.

    The Carter family lived on Colchester Road in St. Osyth, with the parents being Isaac and Harriott, and at the time of the 1871 census, the children were William (then aged 12), Henry (then aged 10), George (then aged 8), Isaac (then aged 6), Arthur (then aged 4) and David (then aged 2). That’s a lot of boys, and very evenly spread out.

  • GeoGuessr – St. Osyth (The Cage)

    This is part of the GEOGUESSR 1 series of posts.

    This brightly coloured building is The Cage, now a residential property, but formerly the town’s prison. It remained in use until 1908 and it’s one of only seven medieval cages which are still surviving in the country. Having written that though, I’m puzzled why this isn’t a listed building.

    The main door to the cage element of the property, which is now one of three rooms in the house. We were going to walk along what we thought was a footpath at the rear of the property, but Nathan saw something through the window and panicked. He said that it was someone in a kitchen, but I think he probably saw a ghost……

    An information board at the property gives a flavour of its history, noting Ursula Kemp’s link with the house. The house was sold earlier this year for £240,000 (or at least, that was what the property was marketed for) and it was mentioned by the estate agent that it would be ideal for a “paranormal holiday rent” cottage. They also called it the most haunted house in Essex, and perhaps in England, given the high level of paranormal activity. I, for one, certainly wouldn’t want to live there.

  • GeoGuessr – St. Osyth (King’s Arms – now closed)

    This is part of the GEOGUESSR 1 series of posts.

    We were aware that this pub had recently closed, but just in case, we checked just to see. Unfortunately, it’s still closed, and there are rumours that it’ll be turned into a house and other rumours that it’ll be re-opened as a pub. I’d have thought that re-opening this would be a challenge, as St. Osyth isn’t enormous and there is another pub down the road.

    The beer garden looked exciting and it’d be nice to think that one day it can re-open. The pub dates back to the late eighteenth century, so it’s a shame that this little slice of village history has come to an end.