Salcott

Salcott or Salcott cum Virley is a village and civil parish in the Colchester borough of Essex, England, that forms part of the Winstred Hundred grouped parish council. It is adjacent to Tolleshunt Knights, Tollesbury and Great Wigborough, near Tiptree.

History
Salcott came into being when salt extraction began on the adjacent marshes although this is hard to date. Virley, to the north, takes its name from the manor of Robert Verly. The communities are recorded as Virley in the Domesday Book which states "Robert de Verly from Robert Gernon".

At one stage Virley was known as Salcott Virley while the slightly larger and more compact (and in the 1300s more prosperous) Salcott was known as Salcott Wigborough. Salcott's fortunes dived in the early 1500s and it is believed many of the village fishermen turned to smuggling to scrape a living.

The communities have been connected by a wooden bridge across Salcott Creek for many years, and there was rivalry between the two. Folklore says that one side called the other "yellow bellies" over a particular incident, the detail of which has been lost in time. In 1977 the Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II was marked by a tug of war across the creek.

Churches
Each community had a church dedicated to St Mary the Virgin. They were both damaged in the 1884 Colchester earthquake.

Salcott Church began as a chapel of ease to the church in Great Wigborough and it is still open.

Virley church was in decline in the 1870s and was shut in 1879 then further damaged in the earthquake. The church is now a ruin that stands on private ground but the flavour of its services is recorded in Chapter 23, "Before the Altar" in the book Mehalah, a Story of the Salt Marshes, by Sabine Baring-Gould. There is a story that a local landowner was trying to build a mansion on the marsh. The Devil showed him firm ground but expeced his soul in return. The terrified man said that when he died his coffin should be placed in the wall of Virley church to protect him. It was said the church was marked with the devil's claws until it fell in the earthquake and the devil got his man.