My Adventures 3: Benfleet to Leigh On Sea, Essex Walk 9th February 2022

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I leave home and take the train to Benfleet Station on the C2C Fenchurch Street Line.

I leave the station and walk up the road and then along the Benfleet Creek and the Benfleet Marina.

1969 Morris Minor

A 1951 Dodge

I walk on following the creek, all the noise, noise of hustle and bustle is left behind, pure silence here.

I now take the path through the gate and over the Fenchurch Street line.

Up ahead I can see Hadleigh Castle, and it is this that I am heading for next.

Now I turn left and up a steep hill to reach the Castle.

It was a steep hill that raises your heartbeat, but the views are so worth the effort!

Hadleigh Castle is a ruined fortification in the English county of Essex, overlooking the Thames Estuary from south of the town of Hadleigh. Built after 1215 during the reign of Henry III by Hubert de Burgh, the castle was surrounded by parkland and had an important economic and defensive role. The castle was significantly expanded and remodelled by Edward III, who turned it into a grander property, designed to defend against a potential French attack, as well as to provide the King with a convenient private residence close to London. Built on a soft hill of London clay, the castle has often been subject to subsidence; this, combined with the sale of its stonework in the 16th century, has led to it now being ruined.

Hadleigh Castle was first built by Hubert de Burgh, the 1st Earl of Kent, who was a key supporter of King John. De Burgh was given the honour of Rayleigh by John in 1215 as a reward for his services, but chose not to develop the existing caput of Rayleigh Castle, instead building a new fortification south of the town of Hadleigh. The exact date of construction is uncertain, but it is now believed the work was conducted early in de Burgh's tenure of the site, permission being retrospectively officially confirmed through a licence to crenellate in 1230 under Henry III.

De Burgh finally fell out of favour with Henry III; he was imprisoned and then finally stripped of Hadleigh Castle in 1239. For the rest of the century, Hadleigh was retained as a royal castle, as part of an estate containing 142 acres of agricultural land, the park and the castle mill. By the 1250s, the castle had fallen into neglect and, despite some investment after it was given to Queen Eleanor in 1273, it remained in relatively poor condition. Only the mill, vital for the operation of the wider estate, appears to have been well-maintained. A new 17-metre-wide by 9-metre-long (56 foot by 30 foot) hall and an adjacent solar complex were built at the castle around 1290, but collapsed due to subsidence shortly afterwards. In 1299 the castle was given to Queen Margaret, who complained about the quality of the building and insisted that repairs were carried out. Her husband, Edward I, visited the castle twice, using it as a base for hunting in the area.

Edward II took a much closer interest in Hadleigh, leading to a period of renewal and rebuilding during his reign and that of his son, Edward III. Edward II first stayed there in 1311, and work was done to renovate the castle before he arrived, including building new royal quarters and repairing some of the castle walls that had succumbed to subsidence. Amongst the buildings known to be in the castle during the period were the castle hall, larder, kitchen, cellar, a long house, prison, an "old chamber" and armoury; they were guarded by a garrison of 24 soldiers during crises. Edward stayed there frequently during his reign up until 1324, on occasion travelling to Hadleigh Castle from London on his royal barge, which docked at a wharf to the south of the castle.

Edward III acquired Hadleigh Castle in 1330, when he recovered it from his mother, Isabella of France, who had taken it from Edward when she deposed him in 1326. Edward paid little initial interest to the castle, but in the 1360s decided to make much greater use of the property, ordering large parts of it to be rebuilt at a cost of more than £2200. Between 1361 and 1363 the internal buildings were renovated and new royal lodgings built along the south walls, after which the east side of the castle was rebuilt entirely, with two large circular towers installed in a new stretch of curtain wall, completed by 1365. The north side of the castle was rebuilt to include a main entrance with a portcullis and a drawbridge, protected by a barbican and a large circular tower called the "High Tower", which was complete by 1370. The work was probably overseen by William of Wykeham.

Originally, historians believed that Edward's decision to rebuild much of the castle was in response to the growing tensions with France; in this version of events, Hadleigh would have formed an importance coastal fortification along the Thames estuary, protecting it from French raids. Current historical opinion plays down this motivation, noting that at the time of the work on Hadleigh relations with France were unusually good. Instead, it is suspected that the increasing elderly Edward intended Hadleigh more as a personal retreat close to London, where he could stay in privacy and considerable comfort. Whilst the entrance on the inland side remained relatively basic, the building work created a grander impression from the estuary – any visitors to London, English or French, would have passed by Queenborough Castle on the south bank and Hadleigh on the north, the combination communicating a strong sense of royal power.

Edward III's grandson, Richard II, made little use of Hadleigh, and the use of the castle was granted to Aubrey de Vere until his death in 1400. The castle was passed amongst a number of high-status owners during the 15th century, but saw little use by the crown. Edmund of Langley and his son Edward of Norwich, the Dukes of York, used the castle in the early years, before passing it on to Humphrey of Lancaster, the Duke of Gloucester. Richard, Duke of York, used the castle next, before it passed to Edmund Tudor in the middle of the century. The tradition of the castle forming part of the queen's property was then reinstated and it was granted to Elizabeth Woodville, the wife of Edward IV. Henry VIII made no known use of the castle himself, but it formed part of the dower of three of his wives - Catherine of Aragon, Anne of Cleves, and Catherine Parr - and the castle's parks were used as sources of timbers for his navy.

After 1544 the estate began to be broken up; first the parks were sold and then the castle itself, bought by Lord Richard Richfrom Edward VI for £700 in 1551. Rich dismantled the castle for the value of its stone, primarily between 1551 and 1575, and the castle, now thoroughly ruined, passed through Rich's descendants.

The English painter John Constable visited Hadleigh in 1814 and made a drawing of the castle as preparation for ten oil sketches and a single painting. The oil painting Hadleigh Castle was produced in 1829 and exhibited at the Royal Academy in the same year. One of the sketches is currently displayed at the Tate Gallery, London, while the painting now hangs in the Yale Center for British Art at New Haven, United States. Constable's painting, "one of his most monumental works" according to the art historians Tammis Groft and Mary Mackay, depicts the early 19th-century Hadleigh Castle as a decaying, man-made structure, succumbing to the elemental power of nature.

William Booth purchased Hadleigh Castle and its surrounding site in 1891 for the use of the Salvation Army, which established a farm to train the English poor prior to them being sent overseas to the British colonies. Considerable subsidence and slippage on the ridge occurred between 1898 and 1923, causing a collapse of the southern curtain wall.

The Salvation Army gave the castle to the Ministry of Works in 1948, and it is now owned by English Heritage, classed as a scheduled monument and a Grade I listed building. Subsidence and landslips have continued; the north-east tower largely collapsed in the 1950s, and further major slippages occurred in 1969, 1970, and 2002. One of the three-storey towers at the eastern side stands to nearly full height with narrow rectangular windows in the upper levels. The second tower has only about one-third of its original form. Some sections of the curtain wall have survived, as well as the foundations of the great hall, solars, and the kitchen.

The castle is still surrounded by the 19th-century Salvation Army farm, and beyond that by Hadleigh Country Park, owned and managed by Essex County Council and a Site of Special Scientific Interest with special regard for invertebrates.

I leave the castle behind and head off towards Leigh on Sea.

I pass Leigh on Sea Railway Station and take a road that will lead me into Old Leigh.

In the 11th century Leigh was a marginal community of homesteads. The Domesday Book records 'five smallholders above the water who do not hold land', who were probably engaged in fishing thus giving Leigh a claim to nearly a thousand years of activity in the fishing industry.

The main seafood catch from Leigh fishing boats has always been shellfish and whitebait. Many of the local trawlers were at one time bawleys, and two of Old Leigh's pubs – the Peter Boat and Ye Olde Smack – owe their names to types of local fishing boat. Local fish merchants land, process and trade a wide range of supplies daily, including shrimps, lobster, crab, seabass, haddock, cod and mackerel, cockles, whelks, mussels and oysters.

The riverside settlement of 'Old Leigh', or 'The Old Town', is historically significant; it was once on the primary shipping route to London. From the Middle Ages until the turn of the 20th century, Old Leigh hosted the settlement's market square, and high street (known as Leigh Strand). Leigh had grown to become a prosperous port by the 16th century; ships as large as 340 tons were built here for fishing and other purposes. Elizabethan historian William Camden (1551-1623) described Leigh as "a proper fine little towne and verie full of stout and adventurous sailers". By the 1740s however, Leigh's deep water access had become silted up (as attested to by John Wesley) and the village was in decline as an anchorage and port of call.

With the advent of the railway line from London to Southend during the mid-19th century, much of the "old town" was demolished to accommodate its passage, and new housing and streets began to be built on the ridge of hills above the settlement.

I enter Old Leigh, been here many times before but you never tire of the place!

My first stop is The Crooked Billet, first time in this pub. Quite a pleasant pub too! I had a nice Nicholson Pale Ale from the Cornish St Austell Brewery.

Next I went across the road for my old Leigh tradition of seafood from Osborne Bros.

As I walk on further I pass the site of an old spring hidden behind a wall and metal bars.

Natural springs are common in parts of Essex and were originally the only source of fresh water for some settlements. In Leigh-on-Sea High Street is an early nineteenth century brick structure at the bottom of a conduit carrying water from a cliff top spring. A cast iron plaque dated 1846 records the reinstatement of the well head in 1825.

The spring no doubt issued from the junction of the Thames terrace gravels with the underlying London Clay. A stone in Rectory Grove, not now in its original position, was placed at the well head in 1712.

Next I popped into The Peterboat Pub , one I have been into before. But not today its closed for refurbishment and closed till the weekend.

Across the road is The Hatch where you can buy coffee and snacks, I wasn't interested in any of those but the old 1930's Southend Pier Train Carriage in there grabbed my eye.

I walk on and find the Leigh Heritage centre, I don't remember having ever see this before. Its free entry and I popped in for a quick look about.

The Heritage Centre stands in the Centre of the Old Town in the old Smithy. Along with many other buildings in the Old Town the Smithy was purchased by the Borough Council many years ago with a view to a development which never took place and it was allowed to fall into disrepair until the Leigh Society formed and decided to rescue the building.

Over the centuries the building had been owned by several people and used for a variety of uses.

I walk on and pop into The Olde Smack , another pub I have never been in.

On entering I notice it is a Greene King pub, I order a pint of Ye Olde Smack Bitter. Not impressed but then I never am with any Greene King beer.

I leave the pub and walk up get a small portion of chips to eat by the small beach here.

I cross over the railway and up the road before walking up the steep Church Hill.

Up at the top of the hill is church of St Clements.

It's well documented that Leigh has a mention in the Domesday Book, and for good reason. From ancient times to now Saint Clement’s has been at the heart of Leigh, a thriving fishing community and the last port stop before London.

The Patron Saint, Saint Clement, was Pope and Martyr. He was a Roman citizen of noble birth, baptised by Saint Peter in Jerusalem. For his faith in Jesus Christ Saint Clement was bound to a heavy anchor and thrown into the sea. Saint Clement is one of the patron saints of fishermen, so it is appropriate that he is the Patron Saint of Leigh, with the town’s long seafaring tradition and cockling industry.

Of the current church the oldest part of the building is the present north aisle, dating from c.1400. Legend has it that the stones the church is built from were taken from the ruins of Hadleigh Castle, although this is wholly apocryphal. Into the north wall are set some stone steps leading up to the long since removed Rood Screen. The ceiling of the north aisle resembles the inverted hull of a ship, and it is thought that it may have been constructed by the boat builders of medieval Leigh. Much has been added to the church building over the centuries, as the town and population of Leigh grew, as chronicled in Bundock’s book.