Wrabness is a small village and civil parish near Manningtree, Essex, England. The village is located six miles (10 km) west of Harwich, in North Essex on the banks of the River Stour. At the 2021 census the parish had a population of 369.
History Wrabness at the time of the Domesday Book, was owned by Bury St Edmunds Abbey, with a population of 20 households and was rented to a chief and two Lords of the Manor at an annual value of £6 to the abbey. Wrabness is an Anglo-Saxon name, coming from the cape of Saxon called or nicknamed Wrabba, however it has also been stated that the name comes from the location of the Ness on the River Stour. The village had been recorded as being spelt as Warbenase, Wrabnes, Wrabnashe and Wrabbenase. The parish was one of the divisions of Tendring Hundred, and from 1834, part of the Tendring Poor Union. The village had a population of 253 in 1821, but this had shrunk down to 248 by 1831.
A Wesleyan Chapel was built in 1845, replacing a former converted barn that had been used since 1825, however, by 1863, the population had shrunk down further to 226. In April 1871, the courts ruled that the Lord of the Manor, Edgar Walter Garland, did not have the right to seize property from his tenants when it had been passed to a family member through a will. By 1881, the population had again decreased to 210. In 1908, a new Wesleyan chapel was built to replace the earlier building, but this building closed for the final time in 1992.
From 1921, some large beach huts were built on the foreshore fronting on the beach, now numbering about thirty. In 1985, the foreshore area which had been owned by the Garnham family was sold to a company set up by the Wrabness Foreshore Tenants Association.
The Royal Navy Mine Depot The largest enterprise and main employer in Wrabness between 1921 and 1963 was the Royal Navy Mine Depot, where thousands of mines were stored for laying in the North Sea. Men from the Depot won medals for defusing enemy mines and handling dangerous ammunition for the Navy at nearby Parkeston Quay. During World War II, a bombing decoy site was set up at Spinneys Farm at Wix to protect the site. After its decommissioning, the government had planned to make the site into a Category C prison, which was objected to by the local MP, Julian Ridsdale in 1969. However, in 1971, the Architects Co-Partnership designed a new prison for the site which had similarities with HM Prison Maze H-Blocks. The development failed to happen and the site was purchased to become the Wrabness Nature Reserve.
Geology
Wrabness is a designated under a Geological Conservation Review because of the Wrabness Member, which is part of the Harwich Formation, and London Clay, and is characterized by tuffaceous clayey silts and silty clays, with distinct ash layers and tephra layers.
In 1701, Reverend Robert Rich, rector of Wrabness, found fossils at Wrabness which he credited at the time as being from Elephants that brought by Emperor Claudius during his invasion of Britain. This was later dismissed as inaccurate and in fact belonged to a Mammoth, with further Mammoth bones found in 1906. Wrabness foreshore is a well known location in the United Kingdom to find fossils, with finds including bones of deer, horse and whale from the Red Crag, and turtles, seashells, and shark and fish teeth from within the cement stones and pyrite concretions within the London Clay. It is the best location in the United Kingdom to find fossilised fruit and seeds that have been preserved in the London Clay.
Governance Parliamentary seat Wrabness comes under the Harwich and North Essex Parliamentary constituency, which Bernard Jenkin of the Conservative Party has held since its creation in 2010.
Prior to being in the Harwich and North Essex Parliamentary constituency, Wrabness parish sat within the following constituencies:
Constituency nameYears of operation Reference Essex1290–1832North Essex1832–1868East Essex1868–1918Harwich1918–1997North Essex1997–2010
Local authorities
Wrabness sits within the non-metropolitan county of Essex, governed Essex County Council and the non-Metropolitan district of Tendring, which is governed by Tendring District Council. The village was until 2024 in the Tendring district ward of Bradfield, Wrabness and Wix. However in 2019, Wrabness became part of the new Stour Valley ward. Wrabness Parish Council is the lowest level of local government.
Demography Ethnicity At the 2021 census, Wrabness population was recorded as having the following breakdown of ethnicity: Ethnicity background % of population - Wrabness% of population - U.K.Asian, Asian British or Asian Welsh2.49.6Black, Black British, Black Welsh, Caribbean or African0.04.2Mixed or Multiple ethnic groups1.43.0White96.281.0Other ethnic groups0.02.2 Age Groups At the 2021 census, it was recorded that the population consisted of 160 households, that fell into the following age groups: Age group% of population - Wrabness% of population - U.K.0-42.2%4.4%5-94.35.810-144.16.115-195.25.820-242.76.025-291.16.530-343.87.035-395.26.840-444.66.545-497.66.150-546.06.855-599.06.760-6410.35.965-698.74.970-7411.74.775-795.74.080-843.82.585 and over4.12.5 Economics and Education In the 2021 census it was recorded that the working population in Wrabness completed the following hours per week: Hours per week% of population - Wrabness% of population - U.K.Part-time - 15 hours or less worked16.610.3Part-time - 16 to 30 hours worked27.019.5Full-time - 31 to 48 hours worked41.759.1Full-time - 49 or more hours worked14.711.1 For those who did work, the breakdown at the 2021 census of the distance people travelled to work ir worked from home was: Distance travelled to work % of population - Wrabness% of population - U.K.Works mainly from home33.331.5Less than 10km24.835.410km to less than 30km23.014.430km and over4.24.3Other14.514.5
At the 2021 census, those of the population over the age of 16 had the following qualifications: Level of qualifications % of population - Wrabness% of population - U.K.No qualifications15.818.1Level 1, 2 or 3 qualifications 38.439.9Apprenticeship6.85.3Level 4 qualifications and above37.233.9Other qualifications1.92.8
Transport
Wrabness is served by Wrabness railway station on the Mayflower branch line of the Great Eastern Main Line. The station opened in 1854. The village was previously served by the First Essex bus service no. 103, but this was withdrawn in 2023. A community bus service is now available.
Buildings and structures Wrabness has eight properties that are listed on the National Heritage List for England.
The oldest building in the village is All Saints' Church, which dates from around the 12th century and is listed as Grade II*. The church's bell tower collapsed in the seventeenth century, and the bell was moved temporarily to a wooden bell cage in the churchyard, which is now Grade II listed. Grayson Perry's "Julie’s House"
In 2015 the external work was completed on the holiday home,Tendring District Council planning application 12/00880/FUL created by Grayson Perry working with Fashion Architecture Taste (FAT). Known as A House for Essex or Julie's House, it was built over the River Stour, as a commission for the charity Living Architecture. The house encapsulates the story of Julie May Cope, a fictional Essex woman, "born in a flood-struck Canvey Island in 1953 and mown down last year by a curry delivery driver in Colchester". Writing in The Daily Telegraph, Ellis Woodman said, "Sporting a livery of green and white ceramic tiles, telephone-box red joinery and a gold roof, it is not easy to miss. ... Decoration is everywhere: from the external tiles embossed with motifs referencing Julie's rock-chick youth to extravagant tapestries recording her life's full narrative. Perry has contributed ceramic sculptures, modelled on Irish Sheelanagigs, which celebrate her as a kind of latter-day earth mother while the delivery driver's moped has even been repurposed as a chandelier suspended above the double-height living room."
Perry made a variety of artwork used inside the house, depicting Julie Cope's life. He made a series of large-scale tapestries, The Essex House Tapestries: The Life of Julie Cope, which include "A Perfect Match" (2015) and "In Its Familiarity, Golden" (2015), and for the bedrooms, "Julie and Rob" (2013) and "Julie and Dave" (2015). He also wrote an essay, "The Ballad of Julie Cope" (2015) and created a series of black and white woodcuts, Six Snapshots of Julie (2015).Mark Edwards "Tapestry of Essex Everywoman's life caught at Grayson Perry's Firstsite show ", Ipswich Star, 12 December 2017. Accessed 9 January 2018 Perry also released the series in a signed colour edition of 68. The work was shown in an exhibition, Grayson Perry: The Life of Julie Cope, at Firstsite in Colchester, Essex, from January to February 2018."Grayson Perry: The Life of Julie Cope: 1 January – 18 February 2018 10am – 5pm Tapestry of Essex Everywoman's life caught at Grayson Perry's Firstsite show", Firstsite. Accessed 9 January 2018
Listed buildings and structures TitleList entry numberDate first listedGrade ListingDescription National grid referenceWrabness Hall Farmhouse111207530 January 1987Grade IILate medieval and 16th century farmhouseTM 17553 31881Barn, 60 metres West of Wrabness Hall Farmhouse123753230 January 1991Grade II18th century Weatherboard timber barnTM 17471 31896Butler's Farmhouse 130720330 January 1987Grade II19th century Red Flemish brick houseTM 17603 30403Foxes Farmhouse 111207730 January 1987Grade II16th century timber framed weatherboarded houseTM 17267 30856Bellhouse 12 metres South-west of the Parish Church of All Saints114787530 January 1987Grade II18th century timber bellhouseTM 17411 31874Parish Church of All Saints111207430 January 1987Grade II*12th century churchTM 17424 31889The Old Rectory111207630 January 1987Grade IIEarly 19th century Gault and Red Flemish brick houseTM 18412 31436The Firs114788930 January 1987Grade IILate medieval house extended in the 19th centuryTM 17452 30632
Wrabness Nature Reserve
Wrabness Nature Reserve is a Local Nature Reserve that was designated in 1993. It covers on the banks of the Stour Estuary, a 2,523 hectare biological and geological Site of Special Scientific Interest which stretches from Manningtree to Harwich in Essex and Suffolk. The site was once a former mine depot established in 1921 by the Ministry of Defence. It was closed in 1963. Following closure, a number of planning applications were put forward (including an application for a prison in 1968 and 1989). The site was saved from closure when it was bought by Wrabness Nature Reserve Charitable Trust in 1992. The site has now been taken over by the Essex Wildlife Trust.
This site has grassland, marsh, scrub and woodland. It has a diverse bird life, such as yellowhammers, whitethroats, song thrushes and short-eared owls. There are also winter visitors including black-tailed godwits, grey plovers and turnstones. Plants include corn mints and hairy buttercups, and there is a wide variety of invertebrates. The grassland is grazed to prevent the vegetation from becoming too coarse.
There is access from Wheatsheaf Lane.
Notable people Clive Owen (born 3 October 1964), actor, owned a second home in Wrabness.
References
External links
Wrabness Village Website RSPB Stour Estuary All Saints Church website