Three Keys but no Locks! – Kirby Traditional Cache

This cache was placed during the Essex International Jamboree 2008. It was close to, but not on the Jamboree campsite.

Kirby Quay, along with the other small wharfs in the area, was a centre for a thriving coastal trade between the farming communities of Essex and London. The Thames sailing barges that docked here were mainly used to transport grain, vegetables and other farm produce to London and to bring in coal. This cargo traffic continued until the middle of the 19th Century when the Quay fell into decline as the railway took over.

The modern "Quay House" was actually a Granary until about 1920. Especially look out for the wonderful "Hansel & Gretel" style old cottage on the eastern bank of Kirby Creek.

You may even see a restored Thames sailing barge, the "Armadillo", moored here. There were three original Thames sailing barges that were based on the Backwaters. These were the “Beaumont Belle” and “Gleaner”, owned by Alan Stanford of Beaumont Hall and based at Beaumont Quay. A third smaller vessel called “Hector” was owned by Hector Stone of Kirby le Soken and was based at Landermere Quay nearby.

The three adjoining parishes of Kirby, Thorpe, and Walton, form a peculiar and manorial jurisdiction, called “Liberty of the Soken”, which to this day has a seperate ecclesiastical court in which wills are proved, and marriage licenses granted. The origin of this peculiar “liberty” has been traced back to the Saxon King Athelstan, who granted it to the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's, London, in about 940. After the Reformation, Edward VI continued the priveleges of the “liberty” by granting it to Sir Thomas Darcy, when he was created Baron Darcy.

The Backwaters is a very important RAMSAR site. Ramsar sites are wetlands of international importance designated under the Ramsar Convention. The Walton Backwaters is a wild and beautiful area consisting of a 5000-acre natural saltmarsh archipelago of creeks and islands, which also contains the Hamford Nature Reserve.

It is also one of the locations in the eighth book in Arthur Ransome's best-selling Swallows and Amazons series of children's books, published in 1939 and called "Secret Water". The book is set in and around Hamford Water, The Twizzle and Kirby Creek, and brings the Swallows and the Amazons together with a new group of characters - the Eels and the Mastodon. Ransome used to sail around the Backwaters in his yacht “Nancy Blackett”.

Arthur Ransome's Secret Water