St Osyth
| St Osyth | |
|---|---|
 Village Sign |
|
 St Osyth
|
|
| St Osyth shown within Essex | |
| Population | 4,277 (2011) |
| OS grid reference | TM123156 |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | CLACTON-ON-SEA |
| Postcode district | CO16 |
| Dialling code | 01255 |
| Police | Essex |
| Fire | Essex |
| Ambulance | East of England |
| EU Parliament | East of England |
| UK Parliament | |
St Osyth is a village and civil parish in northeast Essex. It is about 5 miles (8.0 km) west of Clacton-on-Sea, and about 12 miles (19.3 km) southeast of Colchester. It is located on the B1027 road and is named after Osyth, a 7th-century saint and princess. The name is locally pronounced "Toosey".
St Osyth is claimed to be the driest recorded place in the United Kingdom.
Before being renamed to commemorate Saint Osyth, the village was called Chich (also Chiche or Chick), from an Old English word meaning "bend", in reference to St Osyth Creek. Thomas Darcy, the first Baron Darcy of Chiche was buried in St. Osyth.
St Osyth was the subject of an episode of Channel 4's Time Team programme, "Lost Centuries of St Osyth", (series 12 episode 9, first broadcast in February 2005). This programme sought to uncover the early origins of the village, which was presumed to have grown up at around the same time as the Priory, in the twelfth century. Many of the investigations around the current village centre found little evidence of settlement earlier than the fourteenth century; it appeared that the early village centre lay some way off, between the Priory and the river.
The village was a focus for the St Osyth witch persecutions in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries with a total of ten local women being hanged as a result. In 1921 the skeletons of two women were discovered in the garden of a house in the village. One was claimed to be the witch Ursley Kempe who was the first to be prosecuted. The skeletons became a local tourist attraction.
Legend has it that Saint Osyth (or Ositha) was a young lady who was involved in various fantastical events during her lifetime (c. 700). Tales include:
St Osyth is claimed to be the driest recorded place in the United Kingdom with an average rainfall of just 513 mm per year. Although a significant part of the parish boundary is coast which does not need to be "beaten", St Osyth is one parish which maintains the tradition of beating the bounds on Rogation days.
...
Wikipedia