The name "Mersea" sounds like "mercy" but in Old English the Island of Mersea's name was actually "Meresig" which meant "island of the pool". We enjoyed our trip there straight after Easter and I have chosen a few extra pictures for your interest:-
 |
| Easter display in a corner of West Mersea Church |
 |
| Abandoned old punt in reeds near West Mersea Beach |
 |
| Heading to Packing Shed Marsh Island. It sits in the channel just off Mersea and was once a hive of industry in the processing and packing of oysters |
 |
| At Mersea Stone - a concrete pillbox relic of World War II |
 |
| Easter display by a window in East Mersea Church |
 |
| This grave in East Mersea churchyard caught my eye. It contains the mortal remains of a World War I soldier called Alfred Edward Russell. He died in December 1918 aged thirty. His wife Katie is also buried here. She died in 1984 - aged 95 - sixty six years after her husband. Their daughter Bertha is also interred here. She must have been six years old when her father died a few weeks after The Great War ended. |
 |
| A view of Pewit Island across Pyefleet Channel |
Lovely sunny images. I'm glad that Katie had Bertha to focus on after Alf died. Perhaps that's why she was able to live such a long life.
ReplyDeleteI have a feeling that there would have been a cloud of melancholia over her life beyond Alfred's death.
DeletePresently here in the Land of Oz we're remember the Anzacs. Anzac Day is on 25th April; and this year it is 100 years since the landing at the Gallipoli Peninsula.
ReplyDeleteYorky...please read my comment left on your previous post....I'll say no more. :)
I shall go back to my last post in a moment Lee. Your wish is my command. And I salute the boys of Australia and New Zealand who died so far from home in a war that was not of their making.
DeleteOh, that makes me sad...to think of that lady being widowed for so long. Strange to think of such a vast difference in ages when they were laid to rest.
ReplyDeleteAnd as usual, your photos are simply wonderful.
That is just how I thought about the grave Jennifer. I had a vision of Katie's long life as a widow - thinking daily of her dear Alfred.
DeleteI wonder if the river Mersey is also a Norse derived name?
ReplyDeleteWhy is there a scarecrow in the church?
That's two questions so I'll finish by saying I like the punt image.
How sacrilegious you are Lord Adrian. You will never be allowed into Heaven or provided with a pair of angel wings and a halo. That is not a scarecrow - it is a representation of the cross on which the son of The Virgin Mary died for our sins - whatever that might mean.
DeleteThanks, I got muddled up again.
DeleteThe Virgin Mary just died like all of us do. If having a bit of legover was a sin then what the hell are we here for?
PS. telling stories or lies is bad happen she is in hell. My brother was a good liar and I wasn't far behind. My mum used to say who is lying. We were quick stick our stories to tally.
DeleteWe didn't do anything as bad as nailing folk up to trees or getting young kids to give us a blow job. We did discuss how many pints it would take any lass of our acquaintance to perform what is a Catholic Creed.
Non but they did you were hooked for better or for worse
The punt image is my favourite of the small collection on this post.
ReplyDeleteWhat's the story behind the abandoned shed on the last one?
That shed was also connected with the oyster industry Miss A. My picture doesn't reveal how isolated Pewit Island is and how hard to access amongst the saltmarshes and muddy channels.
DeleteI wondered about the name Mersea, and whether it was a combination of the French mer with sea, and why anyone would do that. oceansea? seasea? Thank you for the clarification. If Katie didn't get remarried, it could well have been her choice. I've known lots of women, once they were free, who never chose that way of life again. My favorite was Blanche. She was married for 65 years, always the ideal wife and mom. Her husband passed when she was 88. Her daughters' husband also passed that year. She and her daughter lived together until Blanche finally died at 98. The two of them said those were the happiest years of their lives. They became basketball fans and watched all the games, the house stayed clean by itself, they only cooked when they wanted to eat. They weren't being negative saying they were happier without husbands, just that they found unexpected, wonderful new lives for themselves.
ReplyDeleteIt may have been Katie's choice or perhaps she never found another man to love and share life with. Back in the 1920's it would not have been easy to move on with another man's child. Maybe what she shared with Alfred was a special once in a lifetime relationship.
DeleteAnd maybe so many of the young, eligible men in the area had died in the war that the pickings were slim for a remarriage. I hate to think that she spent the next 66 years alone because of her love for her late husband...as romantic as that is, 66 years is a long, long time for a woman as young as she was when Alfred died. I hope she had a happy life, in any case.
DeleteMy friends could have been happy as widows because they had some retirement money. Katie's situation was undoubtedly not the same. Don't you wish there was a way to find out how someone in the past lived their life?
DeleteI'm sure that I did a comment here! Anyway one thing I learned from this post was the pronunciation of Mersea (as in West Mersea). I had only heard it pronounced as Mercy a (a as in at).
ReplyDeleteBeautiful, beautiful pictures as usual, Mr. Pudding. I think the drape on the cross on the first picture is magnificent. If I was a believer, I might be very moved by that!
ReplyDelete