{"id":2426,"date":"2022-03-26T01:14:26","date_gmt":"2022-03-26T00:14:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/?p=2426"},"modified":"2022-03-27T10:08:11","modified_gmt":"2022-03-27T09:08:11","slug":"paglesham-eastend-churchend-and-creek-essex","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/?p=2426","title":{"rendered":"Paglesham Eastend, Churchend and Creek, Essex"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\">function popwalk(walk) {var url = \"\/Walks\/amap.php?f=\"+walk; varwalkwindow=window.open(url,\"walkwin\",\"height=740,width=1230,resizable=yes,scrollbars=yes\"); if (window.focus) {walkwindow.focus()}}<\/script><br \/> First published in: The Times <a href=\"javascript:popwalk('Paglesham.jpg');\" rel=\"nozoom\" title=\"Click here to view a map for this walk in a new window\">Click here to view a map for this walk in a new window<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/51916459312_caff8e52f2_z.jpg\" title= \"salt marshes of Paglesham Pool, looking to Wallasea Island 1\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/51916459312_caff8e52f2_s.jpg\" alt=\"salt marshes of Paglesham Pool, looking to Wallasea Island 1\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/51917755244_51c4bb532f_z.jpg\" title= \"salt marshes of Paglesham Pool, looking to Wallasea Island 2\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/51917755244_51c4bb532f_s.jpg\" alt=\"salt marshes of Paglesham Pool, looking to Wallasea Island 2\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/51917754989_8aa4a84bd5_z.jpg\" title= \"Plough &#038; Sail, Paglesham Eastend\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/51917754989_8aa4a84bd5_s.jpg\" alt=\"Plough &#038; Sail, Paglesham Eastend\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/51917754904_d4af51d0af_z.jpg\" title= \"fertile fields around Paglesham\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/51917754904_d4af51d0af_s.jpg\" alt=\"fertile fields around Paglesham\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/51918045970_f8e71b6004_z.jpg\" title= \"drainage ditch alongside Paglesham Creek\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/51918045970_f8e71b6004_s.jpg\" alt=\"drainage ditch alongside Paglesham Creek\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/51917755484_3d747d3ee4_z.jpg\" title= \"grave of William 'Hard Apple' Blyth, churchwarden, grocer and smuggler\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/51917755484_3d747d3ee4_s.jpg\" alt=\"grave of William 'Hard Apple' Blyth, churchwarden, grocer and smuggler\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/51917427121_1bd198842f_z.jpg\" title= \"shellfish station, Paglesham Pool\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/51917427121_1bd198842f_s.jpg\" alt=\"shellfish station, Paglesham Pool\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/51917755129_497e4d0806_z.jpg\" title= \"Paglesham boatyard on the River Roach 1\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/51917755129_497e4d0806_s.jpg\" alt=\"Paglesham boatyard on the River Roach 1\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/51917426871_5dda8fb15d_z.jpg\" title= \"houseboat and jetty on River Roach, Paglesham Waterside\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/51917426871_5dda8fb15d_s.jpg\" alt=\"houseboat and jetty on River Roach, Paglesham Waterside\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/51917524363_a805b42072_z.jpg\" title= \"Roach Valley Way across the fields to Paglesham Churchend\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/farm66.static.flickr.com\/65535\/51917524363_a805b42072_s.jpg\" alt=\"Roach Valley Way across the fields to Paglesham Churchend\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"javascript:pwindow=window.open('\/Walks\/prn.php?f=2426','pwin','height=700,width=1000,resizable=yes,scrollbars=yes');\" title=\"Click for printable version\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/Walks\/print.gif\" align=\"right\"><\/a><br \/>\nThe Plough and Sail out at Paglesham Eastend must be one of Essex\u2019s remotest pubs, an end-of-the-road inn catering for locals and the odd inquisitive outsider who ventures this far.<\/p>\n<p>Large, curiously-shaped old houses and widely scattered farms shelter (or hide, it sometimes appears) behind thickets of trees. Paglesham was a notorious haunt of smugglers back in Georgian times, and some of these handsome abodes were built from the proceeds, so local history asserts \u2013 notably the tall red-brick Cupola House with its outsize observation turret offering a gull\u2019s-eye view of coastguard activity on the nearby River Roach.<\/p>\n<p>A muddy path took us across flat fields of spring wheat and mouldering stubble where tottering Dutch barns and towering stacks of straw bales were the only upstanding features. At Paglesham Churchend we came to St Peter\u2019s Church, where a rickety stone tomb enclosed the mortal remains of William \u2018Hard Apple\u2019 Blyth, churchwarden and grocer by day, smugglers\u2019 ringleader by night.<\/p>\n<p>Hard Apple cut a fantastic figure in his 18th century heyday, keeping hold over his ruffian gang by deeds of prowess such as wrestling bulls, munching wine glasses and drinking a keg of brandy at a sitting. Ferrying contraband, outwitting and outsailing the Revenue in his cutter Big Jane, Hard Apple used the tower of St Peter\u2019s as a hiding place for smuggled goods. Occasionally apprehended, always slipping through the net, he died at the age of 76 in the odour of sanctity, uttering his final words: \u2018I\u2019m ready for the launch.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Beyond Churchend we found the marshy bank of Paglesham Creek, a broad muddy tidal outlet. Oystercatchers and curlew made their plaintive piping calls from the great tangle of saltmarsh on Wallasea Island RSPB reserve across the river. We walked the flood-wall path towards the distant sea, watching shifting clouds of geese and ducks swirling over the far horizon. Flotillas of wigeon paddled across the creek, and a flight of dunlin switched direction, all together in one instant, passing so close that we could hear the whir of their wings.<\/p>\n<p>Down at the tip of the Paglesham peninsula we paused before turning for home to contemplate a remarkable case of historical bathos. On this spot in 1870 Coastguard Watch Vessel No 7, downgraded and neglected, was finally broken up. Some forty years earlier, as survey ship \u2018HMS Beagle\u2019, she had carried Charles Darwin across the world on the voyage of discovery that gave rise to his epoch-making Theory of Evolution. Quite a claim for a forgotten hulk on this obscure stretch of a muddy Essex creek.<\/p>\n<p>How hard is it? 5\u00be miles; easy; field and river wall paths<\/p>\n<p>Start: Plough &#038; Sail PH, Paglesham Eastend, Rochford SS4 2EQ (OS ref TQ 944922)<\/p>\n<p>Getting there: Bus 60 from Southend-on-Sea<br \/>\nRoad: M25, Jct 29; A127 to Southend-on-Sea; A1159 to Rochford; follow \u2018Great Stambridge\u2019 and on; Paglesham signed from Ballards Gore.<\/p>\n<p>Walk (OS Explorer 176): Walk up left side of Plough &#038; Sail (\u2018To The Coast\u2019), past Cobblers Row and on (yellow arrows\/YAs). At Well House (944926) left along road. In \u00bd mile at East Hall Farm, right (936926, fingerpost) to skirt buildings. Follow YAs across fields for \u00be mile to Paglesham Churchend. Pass church (926930); on past houses; on bend, right (924931) onto field track (YAs). In 700m, right (924936) along Paglesham Creek flood wall. In 2\u00be miles at pillbox, turn right (953925) along River Roach to boatyard and jetty (948921); right to Plough and Sail.<\/p>\n<p>Lunch: Plough &#038; Sail, Paglesham, Eastend (01702-258242, <a href=\"http:\/\/theploughandsail.co.uk\">theploughandsail.co.uk<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>Accommodation: Holiday Inn, 77 Eastwoodbury Crescent, Southend-on-Sea SS2\u00a06XG (01702-543001, <a href=\"http:\/\/ihg.com\">ihg.com<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>Info: Southend-on-Sea TIC (01702-212534), <a href=\"http:\/\/visitessex.com\">visitessex.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Plough and Sail out at Paglesham Eastend must be one of Essex\u2019s remotest pubs, an end-of-the-road inn catering for locals and the odd inquisitive outsider who ventures this far.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2429,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-walks","category-3-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-corners","fix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2426"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2426\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}