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Coastal Protection Website - Walton-on-the-Naze, Essex, England
Tales from the Backwaters
~ The Walton Backwaters Experience ~
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Tales from the Backwaters
Picture Links
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Beaumont Quay - Memories of a Bygone Age
Just a short drive down Quay Lane - past the farm buildings and into a small car park enclosure - to the timeless, salty, upper reaches of the 'secret' Walton Backwaters. A tablet on an old barn, that still remains standing, records the fact that the quay is constructed of stones from the old London Bridge.
Nearby, the old Thames sailing barge, 'The Rose' lies peacefully in her last resting place, a poignant reminder of the glorious hundred years of Thames Estuary trading, when 120-ton sailing vessels tacked their way up the Backwaters to this once bustling quayside that then boasted a large granary, stables and a 600 ton coal store!
Just a lime kiln and the overgrown relic of a man-made channel, The Cut, still remain - alongside the skeleton of the dark, mud-pickled ribs of 'The Rose'...
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Beaumont Quay
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Landermere Quay and The Old 'Kings Head'
In 1781, after some scandalous 'goings-on' at the nearby Naze Tower (see below), Richard Rigby, local lord of the manor, bought Landermere Quay (that lies close to Beaumont Quay, but on the south side of the waters and accessible from Beaumont Quay via the short walk round the head of Beaumont Creek) and improved its run-down facilities. These improvements included, among other things, a row of cottages and an inn called the 'The King's Head'. The inn was subsequently purchased by a George Munnings who commanded the local revenue cutter, 'Repulse', much feared by the local Backwaters smugglers operating from their fishing 'smacks'.
Legend has it that the crew of the old sailing barges had worked out a routine whereby the barge captains could dodge the customs men at Landermere by pausing at the nearby Skippers Island - now a bird sanctuary - to shelter there with their contraband, to return to their vessel docked at the quay, under cover of darkness. Once sheep were swum across the shallow island causeway from Landermere to graze on rich coarse grass. Much of this causeway still remains in 'walkable' condition.
Two centuries later, 'The King's Head' lost its licence in 1913 because of its reputation as a notorious smuggler's haunt. It became the home of photographer Nigel Henderson who, by marriage, became associated with the celebrated 'Bloomsbury Group' that dominated artistic lfe in pre-war London. Many of this famous group spent time at this former public house of Landermere - at the time of Walton's seaside heyday. Where once smugglers had plotted their dark escapades, there was now the creme of enlightened Edwardian artistic society! Today, Nigel Henderson's son, Stephen, continues the artistic tradition.
Landermere is reputed to be the one-time home of the much-travelled tallest man in Britain, Frederick Kempster, who died at the age of thirty in 1918 after having attained a height of eight-foot-four-and-a-half-inches!
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The old 'Kings Head'
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The Secret of Gull Cottage
Nestling among the isolated buildings that today mark the tiny settlement at Landermere Quay, is Gull Cottage, so named because it was once the home of a certain William Withey Gull who, from humble beginnings as the eigth child of an Essex barge owner, went on to become a brilliant medical scholar, attaining household name status in 1871 when he attended and cured the Prince of Wales of typhoid. Subsequently, he became Queen Victoria's personal physician.
It was in this capacity that William Gull has become inextricably linked with the horrific murder of five prostitutes from the streets of Victorian London, of destroying the evidence of the royal indiscetions of Queen Victoria's grandson, Prince 'Eddy', Duke of Clarence, and ultimately of being accused of being the world's most enduring criminal legend - the man they call 'Jack the Ripper'...
The story goes that the Prince fell in love with an illiterate shop girl, Annie Crook, who became pregnant and gave birth to a girl, Alice Margaret. A fellow shop girl, Mary Kelly, was employed as the child's nanny at a secret location. Although the affair was a closely guarded secret, 'tongues began to wag' and the Queen ordered Lord Salisbury, the Prime Minster of the day, to deal with the potentially explosive situation. It was William Gull, in his capacity as court physician, who signed the certificate that was to put Annie Crook away - to be confined to hospitals and workhouses until she eventually died, insane. Mary Kelly fled back to her friends in the East End of London. She shared her 'secret' with several prostitutes and devised a plan of blackmail.
Gull was now charged with the task of 'eliminating' the prostitute witnesses, which he proceeded to do in a cold, dispassionate and gruesome manner...
The eventual body count was as follows: Ann Nichol - throat cut and brutal torso mutilation; Ann Chapman - intestines severed, lifted out of the abdomen and placed on the victim's shoulder; Elizabeth Stride - throat slit; Catherine Eddowes - killed by mistake; Mary Kelly - finally tracked down to her own lodgings, murdered and her body hastily relocated away from the gory crime scene. Thus, all the evidence was 'surgically' removed by a man eminently suited to the task!
William Gull's grave is in St. Michael's Churchyard, Thorpe-le-Soken - a short distance from Landermere - which he is supposed to share with his wife. The headstone bears the inscription: "What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humble with thy God?" It was Gull's favourite biblical text.
It is said that Gull had eventually been confined to an asylum under the name of 'Mason', while a sham death and burial was staged with a coffin filled with stones. Speculation exists as to whether he was secretly laid to rest in his rightful place when he finally did die.
Some even say that there are actually three people buried in the grave...
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Frederick Kempster
shaking hands with the landlady of the 'Kings Head'
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Prince 'Eddy'
Duke of Clarence (1890)
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Dr. William Gull
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The Naze Tower
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The Naze Tower Scandal!
The recently opened tea rooms in the refurbished Naze Tower is not a new function for this building, one of the oldest standing in the district. Richard Rigby, of Landermere fame, had - several years prior to this - established a certain notoriety when he had aquired permission in the 1770's to open the Tower as a 'Tea Room'. This was at a time when tea rooms were the height of fashion. Tea was an expensive luxury and tea caddies had locks on them to ensure that the servants didn't steal. An invitation to a tea room was indeed an event of note!
Rigby's friend, Lord Sandwich, was at that time having an affair with a wannabe actress, Martha Ray. Having 'a likeness for the sea', Ms Ray was discretely ushered, at Rigby's suggestion, to the perfect hideaway, the Tea Rooms at the Tower!
In the spring of 1779, a party was laid on with other 'theatrical young ladies' invited along with a number of male friends of Rigby and Sandwich. They would be wined and dined after which guests would stay the night, since at that time the nearest hotel was a three hour coach drive away at Colchester or Mistley.
Amongst the guests was a Reverend Hackman - an ex-Captain in the Army - who, unaware of the contrivance of the assignation between Sandwich and Ms Ray, became infatuated with Martha. Despite predictable rejection, he was besotted and followed her to London, where, at Covent Garden Theatre, he realised that she was with Lord Sandwich as she emerged from his coach. Consumed with jealousy, he waited until the theatre performance was over and as she stepped into the street he lunged forward and shot her in the temple, killing her instantly. He then attempted, unsuccessfully, to put an end to his own life.
He was tried for murder and hanged... and the Tea Rooms? They were closed down - to be reopened again just two hundred and twenty five years later!
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copyright - Mike Todd (Nazeman Education Trust)
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THE NAZE:
STORM SURGE - Nov 2007
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other BACKWATERS pages...
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counter reset:
May 2005
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