[2] On the 'Plough' side of the carved village sign, situated on West Street, the ploughman and his team of horses are depicted working the land, agriculture goes on down to the water's edge.

The centre of the sign shows the yacht 'Endeavour II' which was the 1937 British challenger for the America's Cup, while on the left is depicted the fishing smack 'Sallie'.

The railway continued to Tollesbury Pier 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) south-east of the village, where promoters hoped to develop land for bungalows, houses, and a yacht station.

During World War II the pier was destroyed as an anti-invasion precaution, and the area used for defensive guns and to control electrically operated mines blocking the River Blackwater estuary.

Tucked away in the south east corner of the Square, by the church wall, stands the 18th-century village Lock-up or Cage.

[5] The parish church of Tollesbury, dedicated to Saint Mary the Virgin, stands at the highest point in the village.

When the nunnery was dissolved by Henry VIII in 1539, the manor was given to Thomas Cromwell a few days before he was made Earl of Essex.

The tower of the church is an imposing structure and it may well be that here was a place of refuge for parishioners in time of attack from marauders across the North Sea.

The lowest stage of the tower dates from the 11th century and consists of rubble, flint and conglomerate walling with freestone quoins.

[6] The grave of Admiral Sir Thomas Hugh Binney, KCB, KCMG, DSO (9 December 1883 – 8 January 1953), a senior officer in the Royal Navy and the 16th Governor of Tasmania, lies in the churchyard.

A meeting was held in Witham in December 1802, to consider the subject, including the purchase or hire of a building for public worship in Tollesbury.

About this time, Mr Rudkin of Abbots Hall purchased a cottage in Tollesbury and fitted it up for worship, which was served regularly by William Merchant of Layer Breton and Mr. Forster.

However, this cottage was found 'highly inconvenient, and indeed from its extreme heat through the multitude which attended, dangerous', so a new meeting house was erected in 1803 and the Revd Mr. Harding of Duxford nominated as minister.

[8] The marshes were once part of a thriving salt-production industry during the Iron Age and Roman periods, and Red hills created by this process are found across the area.

By the end of March the company had decided that the location was unsuitable, but not before local people had protested by hanging effigies of the organisers (former diplomat Lord Harlech and the film actor Stanley Baker) in the village square.