West Mersea - History

History

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.

In July 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. 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.

In 1954, a tragedy happened. A man called Ian Hude decided to drive along the causeway when the tide was in. He drove down the road and his car stopped. He got out and slipped on the road as the water was coming in at a fast speed. He was swept away and drowned.

Read more about this topic:  West Mersea

Famous quotes containing the word history:

    The history of progress is written in the blood of men and women who have dared to espouse an unpopular cause, as, for instance, the black man’s right to his body, or woman’s right to her soul.
    Emma Goldman (1869–1940)

    Both place and time were changed, and I dwelt nearer to those parts of the universe and to those eras in history which had most attracted me.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    In every election in American history both parties have their clichés. The party that has the clichés that ring true wins.
    Newt Gingrich (b. 1943)