A History of Manningtree,
the 1800's - Industry Arrives
Coming to much more recent times, William White tells us in his directory of 1848 that Manningtree then had a weekly corn market and a Whit Monday fair. ‘Its parish is remarkably small, containing only about seventeen acres of land and 1,255 inhabitants. A small market for corn etc is held every Thursday, in the High Street; and a fair for toys and pleasure on Whit Thursday.’
Later in the 1800’s industry had taken hold across the country and Manningtree was no different. However, before the rail network came what was transport in the area like?
There was, for instance, the London coach called Defiance that started from Harwich, called at the White Hart every day at noon, then travelled to London via Colchester, Chelmsford and Brentwood. According to the Royal National and Commercial Directory of 1839, it returned in the late evening, calling at the White Hart ‘every night at ten’. Such was the rate of travel that it must be assumed that there were in fact two coaches, one running each way. A number of more local coaches operated from the resident’s houses and also the Rose and Crown, the King’s Head, the Red Lion and the Packet Inn (now Townsends in the High Street). Many of these coaches also served as part of the rudimentary postal system of the time.
Of course, the sensible way to get goods from Manningtree and Mistley to London was by sea from Mistley Quay. The regular trading vessels were the Sarah Ann, Telegraph, Sisters, Lovely Nancy, Two Brothers, Little John, Manningtree Packet, Deborah, Traveller, Lark, Lydia, Friends’ Increase, two vessels both called Good Intent, one a sloop and the other a schooner, Friendship,
General Elliott, Mary and the Despatch. The Telegraph in the list was possibly the vessel of that name owned by Golding Constable, the miller of East Bergholt and Dedham and the famous artist’s father.
So life was organised and settled in a routine way in the first part of the 19th century, as it had been for centuries before. It was the coming of the railways in the 1840,s that changed it all, and speeded up life.
Read on for more of what the 1800's had in store for Manningtree. Find out about ship building, gasworks, iron works, the maltings, early plastic manufacturing and of course the railway. Click here for the next page.
Or skip ahead into the 1900's....
Next page or travel back in time to the 1700's.
For even more information we recommend the book
Manningtree and Mistley - The people, the trades and the industries by local author David Cleveland or a trip to the Museum in the Library found in Manningtree High Street.
