Tollesbury Wick Marshes

The marshes were once part of a salt production industry during the Iron Age and Roman periods, and red hills created by this process are found across the area. Tollesbury Pier railway station was to the south-west of the marsh, the southern extension of the Kelvedon and Tollesbury Light Railway, offering a passenger service from 1907 to 1921. The anticipated development of housing and yachting facilities near the station never materialised. The Essex Wildlife Trust acquired the area in the 1990s. Previously the area was highly drained flat arable and rough set-aside farmland, with little wildlife. The trust allowed water to collect in the area, but the land had drainage problems and also…