West Mersea

West Mersea is a town and electoral ward in Essex, England. It is the larger (in terms of population) of two settlements on Mersea Island, south of Colchester.

West Mersea
West Mersea Location within Essex
Population	7,183 (2011)[1]
OS grid reference	TM011127
Civil parish	West Mersea
District	Colchester
Shire county	Essex
Region	East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Colchester
Postcode district	CO5
Dialling code	01206
Police	Essex
Fire	Essex
Ambulance	East of England
UK Parliament	Harwich and North Essex
List of places UK England Essex 51.7784°N 0.9168°E / 51.7784; 0.9168

History

Roman buildings and tesselated pavements close to the quayside have led to suggestions that a small Roman settlement and port existed on the site of the modern town, with a road linking it to the nearby town of Camulodunum (modern Colchester).^[2] The nearby burial mound to the north of the town is also Roman.^[3]

Edward the Confessor granted the island to the abbey of St. Ouen in Rouen, France, in 1046, and the Priory of West Mersea was established.

West Mersea was recorded in the Domesday Book in 1086, at which time it had a population of 84 households.^[4]

In 1963, the lifeboat station was established next to the West Mersea Yacht Club, one of the first ten inshore lifeboat stations in the British Isles.^[5] Originally served by a D class lifeboat, this was replaced by a B class, Atlantic 21, lifeboat in 1972. In 1992, a new boathouse and slipway were opened by the Duke of Kent. In 2001, a B class Atlantic 75 lifeboat was stationed at West Mersea, and then in 2015 this was replaced with the current B class Atlantic 85 named Just George, funded by £210,000 of community donations.^[6]

West Mersea today

The town is served by a community centre,^[7] various shops, restaurants, small hotels, public houses, a petrol station, bank, library, museum, and several churches, including the Norman St Peter and St Paul (Church of England), Roman Catholic, Methodist, and West Mersea Free Church, affiliated to the Baptist Union. There are four cemeteries under the care of the Town Council including a woodland burial ground.^[8]

West Mersea has a high proportion of very old people and many of the town's amenities cater for them.^[9]

As well as West Mersea Yacht Club and Dabchicks Sailing Club it also has an RNLI lifeboat station. The town hosts an annual regatta, usually in August, known as Mersea Week.

In popular culture

The North Sea at West Mersea is the inspiration for the memoir Footloose in France, beginning there at the seaside and ending at a fish restaurant on the harbour.^[10]