Tour Through the Eastern Counties of England | Page 5

sand begins, which is called Shoeburyness, and that from the town of
Shoebury, which stands by it. From this sand, and on the edge of
Shoebury, before it, or south west of it, all along, to the mouth of
Colchester water, the shore is full of shoals and sands, with some deep
channels between; all which are so full of fish, that not only the
Barking fishing-smacks come hither to fish, but the whole shore is full
of small fisher-boats in very great numbers, belonging to the villages
and towns on the coast, who come in every tide with what they take;
and selling the smaller fish in the country, send the best and largest
away upon horses, which go night and day to London market.
N.B.--I am the more particular in my remarks on this place, because in
the course of my travels the reader will meet with the like in almost
every place of note through the whole island, where it will be seen how
this whole kingdom, as well the people as the land, and even the sea, in
every part of it, are employed to furnish something, and I may add, the
best of everything, to supply the City of London with provisions; I
mean by provisions, corn, flesh, fish, butter, cheese, salt, fuel, timber,
etc., and clothes also; with everything necessary for building, and
furniture for their own use or for trade; of all which in their order.
On this shore also are taken the best and nicest, though not the largest,
oysters in England; the spot from whence they have their common
appellation is a little bank called Woelfleet, scarce to be called an
island, in the mouth of the River Crouch, now called Crooksea Water;
but the chief place where the said oysters are now had is from
Wyvenhoe and the shores adjacent, whither they are brought by the
fishermen, who take them at the mouth of that they call Colchester
water and about the sand they call the Spits, and carry them up to
Wyvenhoe, where they are laid in beds or pits on the shore to feed, as
they call it; and then being barrelled up and carried to Colchester,
which is but three miles off, they are sent to London by land, and are
from thence called Colchester oysters.
The chief sort of other fish which they carry from this part of the shore
to London are soles, which they take sometimes exceeding large, and
yield a very good price at London market. Also sometimes middling
turbot, with whiting, codling and large flounders; the small fish, as
above, they sell in the country.

In the several creeks and openings, as above, on this shore there are
also other islands, but of no particular note, except Mersey, which lies
in the middle of the two openings between Malden Water and
Colchester Water; being of the most difficult access, so that it is
thought a thousand men well provided might keep possession of it
against a great force, whether by land or sea. On this account, and
because if possessed by an enemy it would shut up all the navigation
and fishery on that side, the Government formerly built a fort on the
south-east point of it; and generally in case of Dutch war, there is a
strong body of troops kept there to defend it.
At this place may be said to end what we call the Hundreds of
Essex--that is to say, the three Hundreds or divisions which include the
marshy country, viz., Barnstable Hundred, Rochford Hundred, and
Dengy Hundred.
I have one remark more before I leave this damp part of the world, and
which I cannot omit on the women's account, namely, that I took notice
of a strange decay of the sex here; insomuch that all along this country
it was very frequent to meet with men that had had from five or six to
fourteen or fifteen wives; nay, and some more. And I was informed that
in the marshes on the other side of the river over against Candy Island
there was a farmer who was then living with the five-and-twentieth
wife, and that his son, who was but about thirty-five years old, had
already had about fourteen. Indeed, this part of the story I only had by
report, though from good hands too; but the other is well known and
easy to be inquired into about Fobbing, Curringham, Thundersly,
Benfleet, Prittlewell, Wakering, Great Stambridge, Cricksea, Burnham,
Dengy, and other towns of the like situation. The reason, as a merry
fellow told me, who said he had had about a dozen and a half of wives
(though I found afterwards he fibbed a little) was this: That they being
bred in the marshes themselves and seasoned