Canvey Island, Essex - Dutch Cottage Museum - postcard c.1980s

• Postcard

   

• Picture / Image:  The Dutch Cottage Museum, 1618 Canvey Island [Essex]
• Publisher: Benfleet & District Historical Society / Beric Tempest
• Postally used: no
• Stamp:  n/a
• Postmark(s): n/a
• Sent to:  n/a
• Notes / condition: 

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Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information (internal links may not  work) :

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Canvey Island is a civil parish and reclaimed island in the Thames estuary in Essex, England. It has an area of 7.12 square miles (18.44 km2) and a population of 38,170.[1] It is separated from the mainland of south Essex by a network of creeks. Lying only just above sea level, it is prone to flooding at exceptional tides but has nevertheless been inhabited since the Roman invasion of Britain.

The island was mainly agricultural land until the 20th century, when it became the fastest-growing seaside resort in Britain between 1911 and 1951. The North Sea flood of 1953 devastated the island, killing 58 islanders and leading to the temporary evacuation of the 13,000 residents.[3] Canvey is consequently protected by modern sea defences comprising 2 miles (3.2 km) of concrete sea walls.[4]

Canvey Island is also notable for its relationship to the petrochemical industry. The island was the site of the first delivery in the world of liquefied natural gas by container ship and later became the subject of an influential assessment on the risks to a population living within the vicinity of petrochemical shipping and storage facilities.

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During Edward II's reign (1307–1327) the land was under the possession of John de Apeton[6] and the first attempts were made at managing the effects of the sea with rudimentary defences,[5][6] but periodical flooding continued to blight the small population of mostly shepherds and their fat-tailed variety of sheep for a further 300 years. William Camden wrote of the island in 1607 that it was so low that it was often quite flooded, except the hills, upon which the sheep had a place of safe refuge.[10] The uniform flatness of Canvey suggests that these hills are likely to be the red hills of the Roman saltmaking industry, or the early makeshift sea defences constructed by some of the landowners around their farms.

A timber channel, and chalk and ragstone remains of the sea wall built c. 1622.[16]

In 1622, Sir Henry Appleton (a descendant of John de Apeton) and Canvey's other landowners[17] instigated a project to reclaim the land and wall the island from the Thames. The scheme was managed by an acquaintance of Appleton's – Joas Croppenburg, a Dutch Haberdasher of Cheapside in London. An agreement reached in 1623 stipulated that in return for inning and recovering the island, the landowners would grant a third of the land as payment for the work.[6]

The presence of the Dutch engineer Cornelius Vermuyden, a relation of Croppenburg's, in England at the time of the project on a commission to drain the Fens and involved in repairing the seawall at Dagenham, has led to speculation that Vermuyden oversaw the project, but proof appears to be vague;[5] nevertheless, the work was completed by around 300 Dutch workers skilled in the construction of dykes and other sea defences. The engineers successfully reclaimed 3,600 acres (15 km2)[5] by walling the island with local chalk, limestone and the heavy clay of the marshes, with the main length along the Thames faced with Kentish ragstone.[5][7]

A broad drainage ditch was dug inland off the area facing the river while smaller inlets were filled in. Excess water would have collected in the broad ditch and then been discharged into the river by the means of seven sluices (later known as Commissioners Dykes).[7] The completion of the work saw a considerable number of the Dutch engineers take land as payment for their work, and consequently settle on the island.[15] Approximately one-third of Canvey's streets have names of Dutch origin.