Sunday Times Where Was I? Holiday Competition

Not too bad this week, though the puzzle solver is hampered by the fact that there are non numeric characters where there should be numbers in some of the distance measurements on the online version. The most likely answers, near as I can figure it are.

Q1. The Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation

Q2. Secret Water

The initial clues place us at Heybridge basin, near Maldon in Essex. The Chelmer and Blackwater canal begins at its western end in Springfield basin, Chelmsford  and the blurb about this canal does indeed indicate that legally, it only needed to have a minimum depth of two feet. It was also never nationalised and ceased commercial operations c1972.

Six miles south west of Springfield basin take us to Ingatestone and Ingatestone hall, which was built by one William Petre (b1505). Petre was an operator who worked for 'enry the eighth and was appointed treasurer of the first fruits and tenths c1549. The first fruits and tenths were money that Henry diverted (stole) from the churches en route to Rome in protest about not being allowed to divorce. The first fruit was an initial sum (an annate, the church's whole profit for the first year) and the tenths were ten percent of the church's annual income thereafter.

The resort the puzzle author is seeking is most likely Walton on the Naze, it has a 2600ft pier and a village around nine miles southwest of there, which is named after the abbey of a 7th century saint, feast day October 7th, is St Osyth. There is a ruined church with two towers in Mistley, near Manningtree, which was built by Robert Adam (b1728, father called William), which looks to be in the right location, though Adam built more than two churches.

The tower is likely to be the Naze tower, it is 86 ft high and was built c1720. West of there lies a salt marsh called Hamford water and this is the setting for a story from the "Swallows and Amazons" series of books by Arthur Ransome. The story, which was published in 1939, is called 'Secret Water' and features another group of campers called 'The Eels'