Looking down river
Buildings
'Greensleeves' and 'Hazel May'
Close-up of 'Greensleeves'This Essex village, situated where the River Crouch is narrow enough for a road bridge, has an interesting history. The first bridge, a wooden one, was replaced with an iron bridge in 1856, and replaced again with the existing one in 1872. Not so many years ago, the structure was strengthened by adding metal supports under it. The most prominent building is now an antiques centre, but in its heyday was a mill, beside which barges would berth for transporting grain and flour.
Even today, fair sized vessels can be seen moored near the bridge. One of the larger ones is the ‘Hazel May’, the motor vessel beyond the little green gaff cutter, ‘Greensleeves’ shown in the photos above.
When I first saw ‘Greensleeves’, I thought she was Charles Stock’s ‘Shoal Waters’, but a closer examination revealed she was very similar, perhaps a sister ship.
Getting vessels as large as the old Thames barges to Battlesbridge these days could be a bit tricky, because of silting and a narrowing of the channel, but it’s still possible at high water springs.
Links
Battlesbridge
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battlesbridge
Battlesbridge Conservation Area
http://www.chelmsford.gov.uk/media/pdf/3/2/Battlesbridge_Conservation_Area.pdf
Guide to Battlesbridge
http://www.information-britain.co.uk/county26/townguideBattlesbridge
‘Hazel May’ Photo
http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=7805596
Another ‘Hazel May’ Photo
http://www.warrenellis.com/?p=7738
My previous Blog about ‘Shoal Waters’, Charles Stock’s boat
http://bills-log.blogspot.com/2009/11/shoal-waters.html
Bill, I think you'll find Greensleeves is a Memory, they were built on the hamble until very recently by Salterns Boatbuilders.
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If I recall correctly Greensleves was Roy Hart's boat which beat everyone in class in the around the island race a few years ago but was disqualified for not having the correct flares.
You must be right, because Roy lives at Battlesbridge; he has an outdoor clothing business there. Some years ago he had an Americas Cup yacht laid up at Battlesbridge. That's the biggest boat I've seen there and the one with the deepest draught. How he got her in and out is a mystery, perhaps by road.
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