Paglesham - our home port for the last few years
Paglesham boatyard on a calm morning, taken by Josephine after sailing from Plymouth in September 2013
Paglesham boatyard, September 2013
RSA moorings at Paglesham, September 2013
Boats alongside staging at Paglesham, unloading at the end of the our summer cruise, 1997
The boat in the foreground is the author's homemade sailing dinghy, ahead of it is the HSC Wayfarer 'Meander'
The black tarred wooden shed used to be Shuttlewood's boat building shed, Frank Shuttlewood being a master builder of fishing smacks and yachts. It is now a store and rather damp at high spring tide! CLICK HERE for a list of the boats built in that shed.
Paglesham boatyard jetty, 2000
Another picture of Meander at Paglesham, taken at the return of our summer cruise 2000 and looking out into the river from near the black shed. This is before the pontoons were extended out into the rivier.
Sketch map of the creeks near Paglesham
This map is from the book 'Watch Vessel No 7' by Ann Boulter of Paglesham. HMS Beagle, the ship that carried Charles Darwin around the world between 1831 & 1836, became a coastguard watch vessel stationed near Paglesham and was eventually broken up close by Shuttlewood's boatyard. Ann's book is about the history of the area during this period and the survey work that she was involved in to determine what may still remain of HMS Beagle benearth the Paglesham mud. The map shows the locations where HMS Beagle and three other watchvessels were moored with officers and their families living on board to counter smuggling. Note that the creeks encircling New England Island are not navigable today but all the other water indicated on this map is navigable, at least it is for dinghies when the tide is in!
Rochford, the market town many of us pass through on the way to Paglesham has a town square with some traditional shops and nice buildings. Not so sure about the 60's style retail block to the right of the photographer.