Every now and again a book comes along that seems to capture the true essence of a place. One such book is Estuary by Rachel Lichtenstein. She grew up in Westcliff-on-Sea, the granddaughter of London born, first generation Polish Jewish immigrants. At the time, she took the surrounding estuary landscape for granted, as many did and still do. She left for London and then returned to live in Leigh-on-Sea where she turned her steely eye on the estuarine landscape before her and the people and characters that live and work along its shores..
The book is a wonderful exploration of the estuary, covering a multitude of topics including Thames sailing barges, nature, wildlife, cocklers and their wives, offshore sea forts, sunken ammunition ships, weapons testing sites, the Thames Gateway, Tilbury Docks and Dr Feelgood’s Canvey Island. While focusing a forensic eye on these subjects, she still maintains a warm interest and understanding in the people that inhabit this landscape and particularly, the often over-looked women in these traditionally male-dominated worlds
The book treads lightly on its subject matter, humour is never far from the surface, but what really strikes home is the growing respect and fondness for the estuary and its working people as Lichtenstein sets out on her own voyage of discovery. A voyage not without danger and Lichtenstein herself became a victim of the estuaries tidal hazards. One of the surprising facts to emerge for me was the sheer number of wrecks that lay scattered across the floor of the estuary and the constant danger of the endlessly shifting sandbanks. In fact, the estuary has more wrecks per square foot than anywhere else on the UK coast.
No doubt one of the reasons for oldgreytravel’s empathy with this marvellous book is the similarities in Lichtenstein’s background to his own. I too was born in Westcliff-on-Sea, the son of Yorkshire migrants to east London who then moved out to the Essex estuary. I also ended up living in Leigh-on-Sea, just a stone’s throw from the oId fishing village that features so heavily in her book. I too took the estuary for granted as a teenager. Only later have I come to understand more fully the extraordinary visual landscape that the estuary provides with its mixture of low horizons, big skies and the juxtaposition of a sparse natural beauty with vast industrial complexes of docks, power stations and oil refineries. It really is one of the most extraordinary and complex coastal landscapes in the country.
Estuary, Out from London to the Sea, by Rachel Lichtenstein is published by Hamish Hamilton.
