Threading our way through Tendring

If I were to try to create a narrative thread for the Tendring peninsular, the second section of our walk, it would be one of shepherding and a change in wind direction. Shepherding was a focus after meeting Peter (see my earlier post) and various messages we received. Then, the wind started to blow some changes after Kath Garda (aka Mary Poppins) and her Lincoln team struck a powerful glancing blow on the western edge of the county in early May.

The photo (left) shows some of the Lincoln team arriving at Braughing, Hertfordshire, on the final day of the walk through Essex and beyond. What a day that was!

But I’m jumping ahead! I need to go back in time to lay down the narrative trail. At the end of February this year, as we walked towards Tollesbury, we pondered the suggestion of a need for a new shepherd and some verses from a faithful friend:

Hear the word of the Lord, O nations
Proclaim it in distant coastlands
He who scattered Israel will gather them
And will watch over his flock like a shepherd
Jer 31.10

And David shepherded them with integrity of heart
With skilful hands he led them.
Ps 78.72

We proclaimed these words aloud on the coastland at Tollesbury, calling for righteous shepherds with the spirit of David. (It was just after this we heard that a righteous man called David had been appointed to a senior position in a Tollesbury school!)

Enticed to wander along in the beauty of Old Hall Marshes, we then met Peter the shepherd. Shepherding came sharply into focus...

The Shepherd’s role?

One of the most significant sites in the whole region is St Osyth Priory, positioned on high ground overlooking Clacton. Its presence has affected the surrounding land and people for generations, for good or ill. Some of it has been very ill, but it started well - opening a door to the supernatural for the glory of God.

Founded as a nunnery by Osyth, a Saxon Christian martyr with an incredible testimony of miracles, it is a story worth the telling. Born a Christian Saxon princess in East Anglia, Osyth married Sighere, the converted King of Essex, at her father’s behest. Resurrected from drowning as a child by three days of prayer, Osyth’s life remained miraculous. In the church of St Peter and St Paul, a local historian has written that King Sighere left his wedding supper to chase a white stag. By the time he got back, Osyth had left him. Repenting, Sighere gave her the village of Cicc (Chich) to set up a nunnery. Later, during a Danish invasion in 653AD, Osyth’s life was cut short. Meeting some Danes in the woods one day, she was beheaded for refusing to worship their gods. Like many early martyrs before her, (such as Denis, Fulcian and Victorice, Nectan and Nicasius), she picked up her head and walked back to the nunnery to warn the nuns. Arriving at the door, she knocked three times and then finally, gave up her spirit. Where she fell, a spring appeared.

Sadly, the nunnery she founded was destroyed in late Saxon times and in Domesday (1086), the estate is recorded as being owned by the Bishop of London. He founded a priory in 1118 for Augustinian Canons but it was dissolved in 1539, the land being given to Thomas Cromwell. After his execution in 1540, it probably reverted to the Crown to be dispensed as King Henry VIII thought fit. The man instrumental in Cromwell’s execution was Richard Rich, Baron Rich of Leez (Leighs), whose daughter Elizabeth later married the owner of the estate, John D’Arcy – both are buried in the local Osyth church of St Peter & St Paul.

Not long after this in 1582, Brian D'Arcy was Justice of the Peace in St. Osyth. He conducted searches for witches in the village and neighbouring areas. He used the same persuasive techniques as Matthew Hopkins (infamous as the ‘Witchfinder General’). By all accounts D’Arcy was a successful witch hunter. A book in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, states it is “a true and just recorde of the enformation, examination and confession of all witches taken at St. Osees.”

Today, the priory is closed to the public and is a source of some controversy within the area, being owned by property developers and dividing opinions within the village. When we were there, it was no longer even possible to access the common land in front of the priory gatehouse.

Is this a story of the release of supernatural power, sometimes rightly or wrongly used, corrupted by greed and so-called ‘witch-hunting’, bringing division upon the land and people?

The St Osyth website makes clear the Priory’s spiritual influence:

The first Prior William de Corbeuil, became Archbishop of Canterbury in 1123. The Priory was initially well endowed, succeeding grants eventually making it one of the richest monastic houses in the country, advancing to the status of Abbey. As the Abbey buildings extended so did its estate at Chich St Osyth, which rapidly became the largest parish in Essex. In addition the Abbey held land, manors and rectories in 36 towns and villages throughout Essex and Suffolk - for instance the Church at Blythburgh, Suffolk was built by monks from St Osyth. (http://www.stosyth.gov.uk/default.asp?calltype=ourhistory)

Is perhaps Chich St Osyth a spiritual centre in Tendring? Its influence certainly stretches across the peninsular.