Bradwell-on-Sea is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

, England; it is on the Dengie peninsula. It is located north-north-east of

Southminster Southminster is a town and civil parish on the Dengie Peninsula in the Maldon district of Essex in the East of England. It lies about north of Burnham-on-Crouch and south-east of Maldon; it is approximately east-north-east of London. To the ...

and is east of the county town of

Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Colchester and Southend-on-Sea. It is located north-east of London ...

. The village is in the District of Maldon and in the parliamentary constituency of

Maldon Maldon (, locally ) is a town and civil parish on the Blackwater Estuary in Essex, England. It is the seat of the Maldon District and starting point of the Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation. It is known for Maldon Sea Salt which is prod ...

, whose boundaries were last varied at the 2010 general election. In 2011, it had a population of 863, a decline from 877 in the previous census.Office for National Statistics : ''Census 2001 : Parish Headcounts : Maldon''
Retrieved 2009-12-17 In 2021 the population was 892.

History

Bradwell-on-Sea was a

Saxon Shore The Saxon Shore () was a military command of the Late Roman Empire, consisting of a series of fortifications on both sides of the English Channel. It was established in the late 3rd century and was led by the " Count of the Saxon Shore". In the ...

fort in

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

times known as '' Othona''. The

Anglo-Saxons The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...

originally called it ''Ithancester''. Saint

Cedd Cedd (; 620 – 26 October 664) was an Anglo-Saxon monk and bishop from the Kingdom of Northumbria. He was an evangelist of the Middle Angles and East Saxons in England and a significant participant in the Synod of Whitby, a meeting which r ...

founded a

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...

within the old walls in 653, which survives as the restored

Chapel of St Peter-on-the-Wall The Chapel of St Peter-on-the-Wall, Bradwell-on-Sea, is a Christian church dating from the years 660–662 and among the oldest largely intact churches in England. It is in regular use by the nearby Othona Community, in addition to Church of En ...

, one of the oldest churches in Britain. From there, he continued the evangelisation of

. In the 20th century, the village became known as the site for

Bradwell nuclear power station Bradwell nuclear power station is a Magnox-design nuclear power station that is undergoing decommissioning. It is located on the Dengie peninsula at the mouth of the River Blackwater, Essex. In 2019, it was the first nuclear power station in ...

this closed in 2002, and has now been decommissioned. It also has a school, St Cedd’s Church of England primary school and a sailing club. The village has been called ''Bradwell juxta Mare'' (local pronunciation is same as in juxtaposition and a female horse; Latin pronunciation is yux-ta and mare-eh), ''Bradwell-next-the-Sea'' and ''Bradwell near the Sea''. Notable residents include the Tudor martyr Thomas Abel, the newspaper editor Sir Henry Bate Dudley, the artist

Frederick Hans Haagensen Frederick Hans Haagensen (23 September 1877–14 May 1943 ) was an Anglo-Norwegian visual artist and graphic artist. He often used the signature ''FH Haagensen''. His attraction to nature and the sea can be traced back to his childhood memories ...

, the MP

Tom Driberg Thomas Edward Neil Driberg, Baron Bradwell (22 May 1905 – 12 August 1976) was a British journalist, politician, High Anglican churchman and possible Soviet spy, who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1942 to 1955, and again from 1 ...

(later Baron Bradwell), who lived at Bradwell Lodge and who is buried in the churchyard. The local newspaper is the ''Maldon and Burnham Standard''. There is a

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

page called The Bradwell News and gossip.

World War Two

During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

the airfield sited to the north-east of Bradwell Waterside was a front-line station, and named

RAF Bradwell Bay Royal Air Force Bradwell Bay or more simply RAF Bradwell Bay is a former Royal Air Force station located east of Maldon, Essex, England and south west of West Mersea, Essex. History The central area of the current airfield was first laid do ...

. Before the war a small grass airfield was sited there for refuelling and re-arming the aircraft used by pilots practising shooting and bombing at the ranges on nearby

Dengie Dengie is a scattered village and civil parish in the Maldon district of Essex, England, with a population of 119 at the 2011 census. It is about 4 km NE of the nearest town (and railway station), Southminster, on the slightly higher ground ...

Marshes. In 1941 the airfield was enlarged, swallowing up the pre-war grass landing ground, and three concrete runways were laid down. As it was quite near the coast, and many aircraft in distress landed there, it had Fog Investigation and Dispersal Operation (FIDO) system installed to help pilots find a safe landing in foggy weather. Many night-fighter squadrons were based here, equipped first with the Douglas Havoc, then the

de Havilland Mosquito The de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito is a British twin-engined, multirole combat aircraft, introduced during the World War II, Second World War. Unusual in that its airframe was constructed mostly of wood, it was nicknamed the "Wooden Wonder", or " ...

, the ubiquitous multi-role-combat aircraft of its time. The airfield was also used as a jumping-off point for fighters escorting long-distance bombing raids on Germany, and such types as the

Spitfire The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. It was the only British fighter produced continuously throughout the ...

and North American Mustang could be seen. A recent memorial, in the shape of a crashed de Havilland Mosquito, has been placed near to the edge of the airfield to remember all those who lost their lives in defence of Britain in the war whilst based at RAF Bradwell Bay.

References

External links

The Rotary Club of Burnham on Crouch & Dengie Hundred

Essex Walks - Bradwell-on-Sea

Information and photographs of Bradwell on Sea Village

Bradwell Bay Preservation Group

RAF Bradwell Bay Facebook group

Bradwell-on-Sea - Conservation Area Review and Character Appraisal
Essex County Council and Maldon District Council, 2006 {{authority control Villages in Essex Maldon District Populated coastal places in Essex Beaches of Essex

History

World War Two

See also

References

External links