ESSEX RIVERS AND THEIR NAMES.
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east, also into the North Sea. One only (the Cam) flows due
north into the Wash. A third peculiarity of our Essex rivers
is that, of all those which rise within the county or flow actually
through any part of it, every one, with the single exception
already noted, completes its entire course within the county.
This decidedly-unusual feature is due to the fact that Essex
is a peninsula in the strictest sense; for, of its 175 miles (or
thereabouts) of boundary, not less than 150 miles are defined
by rivers and the sea-coast; so that only about 25 miles (or
about one-seventh of the whole 175 miles) lack a definite water-
boundary. A fourth peculiarity is that, of the three Essex
rivers which together define about four-sevenths of the whole
county-boundary (namely, the Lea, the Thames, and the
Stour), all rise outside the county and do not flow actually
through any part of it. In the matter of rivers, therefore,
the County of Essex is highly peculiar and remarkably self-
contained.
Those interested in our Essex rivers and their courses should
not overlook a study of them, by our past-President, the late
Prof. G. S. Boulger, published by this Club more than forty
years ago.1 Though defective, through lack of local knowledge,
in regard to some details of their courses, the map of their
basins which this author drew up was so good that it can hardly
be improved on even now. A later treatise on our Essex
rivers is that of Prof. J. W. Gregory, F.R.S.,2 written from the
geological point of view and tracing in most admirable manner
their ancient courses, some of which differ widely from the courses
the same rivers follow now. Neither of these studies of our
rivers treats, however, of their names.
A study of the river-names of Essex presents, in one respect,
fewer difficulties than a study of the river-names of some other
counties. This is due. to the fact that, though we have very
many rivers, very few of them have names in a strict sense,
most being known by what may be called descriptive epithets.
It may be doubted, indeed, whether many of our smaller streams
ever had real names. To an "Ancient Briton" living beside
one of them, it would be merely "The River," and he would
speak of it by that term to his neighbours; while those at a
1 Trans. Essex Field Club, ii., pp. 79-87 (1882), with map; also iv., pp. 131-134 (1886).
2 Evolution of the Essex Rivets, 68 pp., demy 8vo., with 10 illustrations (Colchester,
Benham and Co., 1922).