East Mersea
Encyclopedia
East Mersea is a scattered village and civil parish
on Mersea Island
in the English
county of Essex
.
at St. Edmund's Church in East Mersea is unusual for an English
grave because it is covered by a mortsafe
, a protective cage used at the time in Scotland
to protect corpses from graverobbers.
Richard Jones, in Myths of Britain and Ireland, refers to popular speculation that Sarah Wrench was a witch, and that the cage was designed to keep her from escaping her grave after death. Although East Anglia
was at one time known for witch trials
, this was in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, not the mid-nineteenth.
Civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...
on Mersea Island
Mersea Island
Mersea Island is the most easterly inhabited island in the United Kingdom, located marginally off the coast of Essex, England, to the southeast of Colchester. It is situated in the estuary area of the Blackwater and Colne rivers and has an area of around...
in the English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
county of Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
.
Grave of Sarah Wrench
The grave of Sarah Wrench (1833-1848), by the North wall of the chancelChancel
In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar in the sanctuary at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building...
at St. Edmund's Church in East Mersea is unusual for an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
grave because it is covered by a mortsafe
Mortsafe
Mortsafes were contraptions designed to protect the bodies of the dead from disturbance. There had been body-snatching close to the schools of anatomy in Scotland since the early 18th century...
, a protective cage used at the time in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
to protect corpses from graverobbers.
Richard Jones, in Myths of Britain and Ireland, refers to popular speculation that Sarah Wrench was a witch, and that the cage was designed to keep her from escaping her grave after death. Although East Anglia
East Anglia
East Anglia is a traditional name for a region of eastern England, named after an ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom, the Kingdom of the East Angles. The Angles took their name from their homeland Angeln, in northern Germany. East Anglia initially consisted of Norfolk and Suffolk, but upon the marriage of...
was at one time known for witch trials
Bury St. Edmunds witch trials
The Bury St Edmunds witch trials were a series of trials conducted intermittently between the years 1599 and 1694 in the town of Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk, England....
, this was in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, not the mid-nineteenth.