Location
Mersea is the most easterly
inhabited island in the UK. It is linked to
the mainland by The Strood, an artificial
causeway about half a mile long which forms
part of the B1025 road to Colchester. The
Strood is liable to flooding at high tide
and, when a large high tide is forecast,
there will often be an ambulance brought
over in advance, to deal with any accidents
that may happen.
The beach surrounding the
island is mainly sand and shingle, turning
into mudflats as you wade further out. In
summer the waters on the main beach are
warm, as the tide comes in over the dark
mudflats, which have been heated by the Sun
to a comfortable temperature.
Thankfully only a small
percentage of Mersea Island is populated,
although this percentage has increased over
the years, the Island is still made up of a
high percentage of farmland and salt
marshes.
The Colne Estuary which
borders the north east side of the Island,
is one of the many Sites of Special
Scientific Interest in the area.
Island Geology
Mersea Island is one of
the most important geological sites in
Essex, and the cliffs at Cudmore Grove
provide superb exposures of Thames/Medway
gravels laid down during the Hoxnian
interglacial stage when monkeys, bears and
early man lived in Essex. Beneath the beach
gravel, and inaccessible, are channel
deposits from the more recent Ipswichian
interglacial stage which have yielded bones
of hippopotamus, elephant, rhinoceros and
hyena
