Wrabness is a small village, near Manningtree

Manningtree

Manningtree is a town and civil parish in the Tendring district of Essex, England, which lies on the River Stour. It adjoins built-up areas of Lawford to the west and Mistley to the east and the three parishes together are sometimes referred to as "Manningtree".Manningtree is a claimant for the...

, 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...

. The village is located six miles (10 km) west of Harwich

Harwich

Harwich is a town in Essex, England and one of the Haven ports, located on the coast with the North Sea to the east. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the northeast, Ipswich to the northwest, Colchester to the southwest and Clacton-on-Sea to the south...

. It is served by the Wrabness railway station

Wrabness railway station

Wrabness is a railway station serving the village of Wrabness, in Essex, England. The station, and all trains serving it, are operated by National Express East Anglia...

. Wrabness had a population of approximately 400. Clive Owen

Clive Owen

Clive Owen is an English actor, who has worked on television, stage and film. He first gained recognition in the United Kingdom for portraying the lead in the ITV series Chancer from 1990 to 1991...

owns a house in Wrabness.

All Saints' Church

The oldest building in the village is All Saints' Church, which dates from around 1100. The church's bell tower collapsed in the seventeenth century, and the bell moved temporarily to a wooden bell cage in the church yard. The bell cage remains to this day.

Wrabness Nature Reserve

Wrabness Nature Reserve covers 52 acres (210,436.7 m²) on the banks of the river Stour estuary. 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.

The reserve is an important wildlife site - owls, yellowhammers, whitethroats, turtle dove, song thrush, nightingales and bullfinches can be seen. There are also many wild plants such as corn mint, hairy buttercup, sea aster and ox-eye daisy.

There is good access with a hard-core path around the reserve making it accessible for pushchairs or with disabilities.

External links

• Wrabness Village Website
• RSPB Stour Estuary