Tollesbury Wick

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Tollesbury Wick
Borrow dyke at sunset, Tollesbury Wick Marshes - geograph.org.uk - 3819029.jpg
Tollesbury Wick
TypeNature reserve
LocationTollesbury, Essex
OS grid TL 970 103
Area242.8 hectares
Managed byEssex Wildlife Trust

Tollesbury Wick is a 242.8-hectare (600-acre) nature reserve east of Tollesbury in Essex. It is managed by the Essex Wildlife Trust. [1] [2] Tollesbury Wick Marshes is part of the Blackwater Estuary Site of Special Scientific Interest. [3] [4]

This is coastal freshwater marsh which is grazed by sheep, and is worked by traditional methods which encourage wildlife. Areas of ungrazed rough pasture have badgers, and field voles and pygmy shrews are hunted by hen harriers and short-eared owls. [1]

The shore of the marshes is within the Blackwater, Crouch, Roach and Colne Estuaries Marine Conservation Zone. [5] There is access from the sea wall only to a footpath to a bird hide. [3] [6]

History

South-west corner of the marsh before the 2015 watering improvement project Tollesbury Wick Marshes - geograph.org.uk - 2149987.jpg
South-west corner of the marsh before the 2015 watering improvement project

The marshes were once part of a salt production industry during the Iron Age and Roman periods, and Red hills created by this process are found across the area. [7] [8] [9]

Tollesbury Pier railway station was to the south-west of the marsh, the southern extension of the Kelvedon and Tollesbury Light Railway., offering a passenger service from 1907 to 1921. The anticipated development of housing and yachting facilities near the station never materialised. [10]

The Essex Wildlife Trust acquired the area in the 1990s. Previously the area was highly drained flat arable and rough set-aside farmland, with little wildlife. The trust allowed water to collect in the area, but the land had drainage problems and also did not hold water well into dry periods. In 2015 a project was completed creating a sculpted landscape, watered from a newly constructed reservoir, supporting wildlife habitats well. [2]

References

  1. 1 2 "Tollesbury Wick Nature Reserve". Essex Wildlife Trust. Retrieved 13 February 2025.
  2. 1 2 Grant, John (14 April 2018). "Essex Wildlife Trust restores marshes to former glory". East Anglian Daily Times. Retrieved 13 February 2025.
  3. 1 2 "Tollesbury – Tollesbury Wick Marshes (SSSI)". Maldon District Council. Archived from the original on 18 August 2011. Retrieved 30 June 2012.
  4. ↑ "Sites of Special Scientific Interest (England)". Natural England. Retrieved 17 February 2025.
  5. ↑ "Marine conservation zone 2013 designation: Blackwater, Crouch, Roach and Colne Estuaries". Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. 21 November 2013. Retrieved 13 February 2025.
  6. ↑ "England Coast Path: Maldon to Salcott - Natural England's Proposals - Tollesbury Wick Marshes to Old Hall Marshes" (PDF). Natural England. 2017. Retrieved 13 February 2025.
  7. ↑ de Brisay, K.W. (1978) 'A Red Hill at Tollesbury, Essex: Its background and excavation. Report on the First Year’ Published in Colchester Archaeological Group Bulletin 21
  8. ↑ Fawn, A.J., Evens, K.A., McMaster, I., Davies, G.M.R. (1990) 'The Red Hills of Essex; Salt making in Antiquity' Published by Colchester Archaeological Group.( ISBN   0 9503905 1 8)
  9. ↑ "Coastal Sites on Tollesbury Wick Marsh, Tollesbury, Essex". The Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England. May 1995. Retrieved 13 February 2025.
  10. ↑ Donald J Grant, Directory of the Railway Companies of Great Britain, Matador, Kibworth Beauchamp, 2017, ISBN 978 1785893 537, page 286

51°45′N0°52′E / 51.75°N 0.86°E / 51.75; 0.86

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