A new experience for us today. We’ve been to Essex. We are moored up just above Waltham Town lock. We are a little ahead of our schedule to get to Rembrant Gardens for the 9th. So we only did a short trip this morning, stopped for lunch then decided to stay here for a couple of days.
After lunch we got out the bikes and cycled into Waltham Abbey (the town) to see Waltham Abbey (the abbey). The town is in Essex, as we rode over the bridge the sign said “Welcome to Essex”. Actually we may have been in Essex yesterday. For part of the route the river Stort is the county boundary. So, if the boundary is in the centre of the river and we strayed over to the east bank then technically we may have been in Essex.
The town of Waltham Abbey is very ancient. The first abbey was built here in the 7th century. We were given a very full and informative pack at the tourist information office. The problem was finding the office, we walked past it twice without realising!
King Harold is (probably) buried here. Why they brought his body all the way from Hastings I dont know. It must have taken quite a while to get here so I expect he was a bit ripe by then.