Mersea Stone, East Mersea (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Mersea Island, Cudmore Grove; East Mersey

In the civil parish of East Mersea.
In the historic county of Essex.
Modern Authority of Essex.
1974 county of Essex.
Medieval County of Essex.

OS Map Grid Reference: TM07191516
Latitude 51.79674° Longitude 1.00343°

Mersea Stone, East Mersea has been described as a certain Artillery Fort.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

Tudor blockhouse surviving as a faint earthwork. The site was recognised from the air and subsequently surveyed. It has been partially destroyed by construction of the sea wall. The fort was built in 1547 and appears to have been an earthen structure - there is no evidence for brick or stonework. It was abandoned in 1552, refortified in the 1580's and still in use in 1631. It appears on a map dated to 1656, around the time it finally fell into disuse. The remainning earthwork survived to be recorded by the OS in 1897. (PastScape – ref. Eddy, Milton and Priddy, 1983)

Fort with 4-6 guns, ditch and drawbridge built in 1547. It was allowed to fall into decay but repaired in 1587 and was still considered effective in 1631. By 1656 it was in use as a house, and so was not demolished the previous year (Sier) It is shown on a map of 1656. Holman describes it as decayed in 1710. Morant says it was ruinous in 1768. A single turret is visible from the air in the saltmarsh beyond the sea wall. Archaeological Survey of Cudmore Grove Country Park in 2002-3 looked at some timbers near the blockhouse. (Heppell, 2002) According to Kent a battery was built c.1796 into the seaward face of the old fort at East Mersea. This battery had 6 24 pounder guns. Management recommendations in 2005 recognised that the main risks to the site were sea wall construction and erosion either by nature or by increased visitors. The site needs to be monitored regularly for erosion and any archaeological strata revealed by erosion needs to be investigated (Heppell, 2005). (Unlocking Essex's Past)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1013832, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number 24881
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 924158.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 2217.

Books
- Salter, Mike, 2001, The Castles of East Anglia (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 28
  Kent, Peter, 1988, Fortifications of East Anglia (Lavenham: Ternence Dalton) p. 58-9
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 147
  Colvin, H.M., Ransome, D.R. and Summerson, John, 1982, The history of the King's Works Vol. 4: 1485-1660 (part 2) p. 404, 470
  Page, Wm and Round, J.H. (eds), 1907, VCH Essex Vol. 2 p. 269-71
Periodical Articles
- Eddy, M.R., B Milton and Priddy, D. 1983, 'East Mersea, Tudor blockhouse at Cudmore Grove' in D Priddy (ed), 'Work of Essex County Council Archaeology Section 1982' Essex Archaeology and History Vol. 15 p. 145-9
  1931, Essex Journal Vol. 30 p. 221-4
  Sier, 1921, Essex Review Vol. 30 p. 220-4
Guidebooks
- anon, nd, Cudmore Grove Country Park (Essex County Council) online copy
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- E178/3790 (Survey of 7 James I) The National Archives reference
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Heppell, Ellen, 2005, Cudmore Grove Tudor Blockhouse - Condition Assessment and Conservation Management Recommendation
  Heppell, Ellen, 2005, Cudmore Grove Country Park, Essex. Excavation and Survey Assessment and Updated Project Design
  Heppell, Ellen, 2002, The Foreshore. Cudmore Grove Country Park, East Mersea, Essex (Archaeological Survey)

Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant.
It is an offence to disturb a Scheduled Monument without consent. It is a destruction of everyone's heritage to remove archaeological evidence from ANY site without proper recording and reporting.
Don't use metal detectors on historic sites without authorisation.

The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of Historic England, County Historic Environment Records and other individuals and organisations. It may also contain information licensed under the Open Government Licence. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes.
The author and compiler of Gatehouse does not receive any income from the site and funds it himself. The information within this site is provided freely for educational purposes only.

The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

Please help to make this as useful a resource as possible by contacting Gatehouse if you see errors, can add information or have suggestions for improvements in functality and design.
Help is acknowledged.

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