Kersey

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Introduction

Kersey is a much visited and attractive village, once a centre to the cloth industry. It was recorded in Domesday as "Careseia" and appears on John Speed's 1610 map as "Carſey". The main street contains many timber framed, plastered buildings and a famous ford (AKA Kersey Splash). One house retains an early Elizabethan porch. The church of St Mary contains six 15th century painted panels that portray St Edmund holding an arrow.

The village gave its name to a coarse woollen cloth that was important in the mediaeval textile trade.

Kersey Mill reputedly used to contain a brew-house, but we have no further details.

Author Hammond Innes lived for the last years of his life in a 16th century house near the Splash, where he died in 1998 at the age of 83.

Cyclists should be careful if riding through the ford; it can be very slippery.

Shoulder of Mutton Lane (now just an un-named bridleway at the boundary with Semer, but named on maps of about the end of the 19th century) suggests there may once have been an inn of that name, though no record has yet been found.

Gallery

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History

The 1869 Kelly Directory lists Ephraim Watson as a beer retailer.

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