Transactions of the Sabine Baring-Gould Appreciation Society Volume 12 (2012)

The Transactions of the Sabine Baring-Gould Appreciation Society Volume 12 (2012) Contents: Introduction 3 Mehalah and Mersea Island: ‘Mehalah’ Country (Roger Bristow) 4 ‘Mehalah’, A Gothic Novel (Troy White) 11 Ray Island and the Legacy of ‘Mehalah’ (David Nicholls) 25 Sabine’s Mersea Wordtide (David Shacklock) 31 Notes on Contributors 52 The Transactions of the Sabine Baring-Gould Appreciation Society The original talks from which the main articles in this journal are drawn were presented at the annual gathering of the Sabine Baring-Gould Appreciation Society held at East Mersea, Essex, between 30 September – 2 October 2011. The copyright for articles appearing in this publication rests with the original author Copyright © 2012 Published for SBGAS by Greenjack Publications, 100, Cheltenham Road, Gloucester, GL2 0LX Transactions Editor: Martin Graebe e-mail: [email protected] Phone: 01452 523861 Articles for publication Articles for publication are welcomed. The main categories of material published in this journal are: ñ Papers presented at the SBGAS Annual Meeting ñ Original essays on aspects of the life and work of Sabine Baring-Gould ñ Reprints or transcripts of hard-to-find published material and manuscripts written by or about Sabine Baring-Gould If you wish to offer a piece for publication, please submit a brief description to the editor by e-mail at the address above. Articles should be submitted as electronic documents in a format that can be read in Microsoft Word. Illustrations should be sent as separate files. It is the responsibility of authors to ensure that copyright permission has been obtained (in writing) for the use of any text or illustrations used in the article, other than short extracts quoted within the scope of ‘fair use’ provisions. 2 Introduction The annual meeting of the Sabine Baring-Gould Appreciation Society in the autumn of 2011 was held on Mersea Island, Essex, where Sabine Baring-Gould lived for 10 years between 1871 and 1881. It is the setting for his most famous novel, Mehalah. This year’s Transactions feature four papers from the weekend. Roger Bristow presented a summary of the people and places mentioned in the book, which he prefaced by talking about the time he spent working as a geologist in the area as a young man and how the discovery of Mehalah sparked his interest in Baring-Gould. Becky Smith read a paper by Troy White based on his PhD thesis and called Mehalah: a Gothic Novel. In this he dissects and analyses the novel in a way that brings out a number of thought-provoking points, both about the style and structure of the book, and about what was going through Baring-Gould’s mind when he wrote it, at a challenging time in his life. David Nicholls is the warden for Ray Island and has been involved in archaeological work there. He has also researched many aspects of local history to better understand the real people and places that influenced Baring-Gould when he wrote Mehalah. In his presentation, Ray Island and the legacy of Mehalah, he shared this local knowledge with us. David Shacklock presented a summary of the books that Baring-Gould wrote while he was living at East Mersea as Sabine’s Mersea Wordtide. May I, once again, thank all the authors who have contributed to this issue. I hope that you will enjoy reading it. Martin Graebe March 2012 This publication is distributed to members annually as part of their membership entitlement. For information about the Sabine Baring-Gould Appreciation Society please visit the Societies website – www.sbgas.org. 3 Mehalah Country: Background to the Novel Roger Bristow In 1967, I was making a geological map of the Tollesbury area of Essex – the area I was mapping extended southwards to the Blackwater Estuary and eastwards towards Mersea Island. Whilst in the Tollesbury area, I acquired a copy of the Essex Countryside Magazine. In it, there was an article about a former local vicar of East Mersea called Sabine Baring-Gould who had written a novel with the funny name of Mehalah set in the marshes of this part of Essex. I thought „that sounds interesting, I will get a copy and read it.‟ So, the following day I went into the nearby town of Maldon and for the princely sum of 2s 6d (12.5p) I acquired a cheap Collins edition of Mehalah – can you imagine doing that today? In reading the story, I became fascinated by the wealth of accurate, local, topographical detail. I did not actually map Ray Island, but remember gazing at it fascinatedly from the west side of The Rhyn. The Old Hall Marshes, supposedly the location of the Red Hall, was a lonely, bleak spot, but nevertheless a lovely area to walk over (when not raining or windy) accompanied by the piping of the various wading birds. Some of the character names used in the novel were based on real people – Pudney (the farmer at „Smith‟s Hall‟) is one name that I clearly recall. All this fired my enthusiasm for SB-G, but it was not for about 15 more years that I acquired my second Baring-Gould title – John Herring. These notes, and the associated map, made with the help of David Nicholls, Brian Jay and the staff at the Mersea Museum, identify the large ‟cast‟ of the book and the principle locations in which the action is set. The Characters Bunting, Jabez, storekeeper at Salcott Cutts, Mrs, cleaner to the Rabbitt family Dowsing, Abraham, Mehalah‘s shepherd Goppin, farmer at Virley Grout, Reuben, innkeeper of the Rising Sun, Salcott Macpherson, Captain. Captain of the coastguard Marriage - 4 brothers and 3 sisters of this name who lived at Peldon Mead, Isaac, owner of the Leather Bottle in the ‗City‘ 4 Mellonie, Mrs Morrell, Jim, fisherman Musset, Phoebe, pretty daughter of the owner of the grocery/drapery store in the ‗City‘. A bit of a flirt. The surname is said to be a corruption of the Huguenot name ‗Moussett‘. Pettican, Admonition. Young wife of Charles with many male ‗cousins‘ Pettican, Charles. Invalid cousin of Mrs de Witt (her mother‘s brother‘s son) Pooley, Nathaniel, farmer Pudney, Joshua, farmer of Smith‘s Hall Rabbitt, Reverend Edward. Curate at Virley with 14 children Rebow, Elijah, cousin of George de Witt and antihero of the book. Lived at Red Hall Sharland, Mehalah - heroine of the book. Often known as Gloriana or simply as Glory. Lived on The Ray. The name Mehalah is said to be a regular marshland name. Sharland, Mrs Lydie (nee Vince) - Mehalah‘s mother. Lydie Vince‘s mother was a gypsy Siggars, Widow Sparks, Timothy - idle ‗cousin‘ of Admonition Pettican Tyll, Parson. Curate of the two parishes of Mersea (a non-resident rector on the grounds of ‗insalubrity‘ of the spot). Underwood, Susan, charwoman at Red Hall Wise, a farmer who lived at Mersea de Witt, George. Cousin of Elijah Rebow, and Mehalah‘s acknowledged intended. The surname is supposedly a Huguenot name de Witt, Mrs. George‘s mother and aunt of Elijah Rebow (her mother was the sister of Elijah‘s father) Localities mentioned in the text (with map references): Abberton. Village about 4 km north-west of Mersea [TM 005 190] Abberton Hill Abbot’s Hall Marsh [TL 977 137]. Saltings on the north side of Salcott Channel and about 1.5 km south of Great Wigborough. Barn Hall [TL 930 149] An old farmhouse built by the D‘Arcys. Barrow Farm, near the Strood [TM 020 145]. 5 Blue Anchor Inn, Wyvenhoe [=Wivenhoe c.TM 040 220]. Bradwell. Village about 6 km south of Mersea, across the Blackwater estuary [TM 005 070]. Bradwell chapel. St Peter‘s Chapel on the edge of the marshes [TM 030 081]. Brightlingsea. Village on the opposite side of the Colne estuary to Mersea [TM 085 165]; church has a lofty tower. Burnt Hill, a ‗red‘ hill which SB-G places on the south side of Ray Island, but none has been found there. More likely, the red hill on the northern side of Mersea Island [TM 023 153], identified by David Nicholls, is the basis of this description (see Ch. 4). A red hill is described as ― large broad circular mounds of clay burnt to brick red, interspersed with particle of charcoal. A few fragments of bone are found in them, relics of the meals of those who raised these heaps, but they cover no urns, and enclose no cists, they contain no skeletons. The burnt or red hills are always situate at high-water mark; near them, below the surface of the vegetable deposits, are multitudes of oyster shells. Near them also are sometimes found, sunk in the marsh, polished chert weapons.” Coastguard station on Mersea Hard – see Mersea Hard. Decoy, set in a wood about 0.5 km south of Waldegraves Farm [TM 033 127]. “The decoy was a sheet of water covering perhaps an acre and a half in the midst of a wood. The clay that had been dug out for its construction had been heaped up, forming a little hill crowned by a group of willows. [. .]The pond was fringed with rushes, except at the horns, where the nets and screens stood for trapping the birds.” George de Witt came here with Phoebe Musset. Devil’s Walls - at the top of Salcott Creek [TM 023 143] Dog & Pheasant, East Mersea [TM 055 146]. [Old] Fountain Inn, East Road, West Mersea – next door to the Fox Inn. Now private houses (Alpine Cottages). Fox Inn, East Road, West Mersea [TM 025 134] - next door to the former Old Fountain Inn Grim’s Hoe, a Romano-British (Ist Century) barrow on Mersea [TM 023 143] ―a great barrow with the Scotch pines on top.

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