Clem Parker of Bradwell had a fine fleet of barges often seen working around Mersea. I was fortunate to pick up a nice postcard size photograph for £1 at a craft fair in Canterbury many years ago. The seller thought it showed a barge at Rye but when I had a better look I could see it was in the River Colne passing the Fingringhoe Sand and Ballast works and that the barge was NELLIE PARKER

1. NELLIE PARKER passing Fingringhoe Ballast Quay

I also have a fine photo of her at the Strood in company with a bullnosed Morris car. She is loaded with forty tons of hay for the London horses

2. NELLIE PARKER at the Strood

The way things are going, this spot on the Pyefleet Channel by the Strood will be dry land before long. The barges would keep the channel clear, lightly touching the bottom if they thought it was getting shallow, to stir up the mud and let the tide take it away.

Also at The Strood I have a fine photo of another Parker barge VERONICA unloading tarmac for Essex County Council. She was a famous racing barge and won the Thames Barge Races between the wars.

3. VERONICA at the Strood

Published in Mersea Life March 2025