8 miles from West Mersea Parish

This pinnacled gatehouse, elaborately decorated in East Anglian 'flushwork', is the sole survivor of the wealthy Benedictine abbey of St John.

8 miles from West Mersea Parish

The remains of one of the first Augustinian priories in England, founded in c.1100 and an impressive example of early Norman architecture.

9 miles from West Mersea Parish

The banks and ditches of a series of late Iron Age defences protecting the western side of Camulodunum – pre-Roman Colchester.

14 miles from West Mersea Parish

Two porticoed Classical towers, which stood at each end of a grandiose but highly unconventional Georgian church, designed by Robert Adam in 1776.

20 miles from West Mersea Parish

A pretty thatched 13th century chapel with lancet windows.

20 miles from West Mersea Parish

The romantic ruins of a royal castle overlooking the Essex marshes. Hadleigh was begun in about 1215 by Hubert de Burgh, but extensively refortified by Edward III during the Hundred Years War.