Horsey Island

The earliest known record of Horsey Island dates from 1212, when it was known as "Horse Hey".^[7] It has been intermittently inhabited, with evidence of buildings dating back to 1536 and appearing on a map in 1594 as Horsey Illande. The local geography has meant Horsey Island has been regularly susceptible to flooding, including severe floods in 1691, 1896, 1949 and the North Sea flood of 1953.^[8] The 19th-century sea wall was destroyed by floods around 1897, and the surrounding land was abandoned.^[3]

Explorer and author David Haig-Thomas purchased the island in 1939 and lived there until called up to serve in the Second World War.^[9] He was killed in action on D-Day, 6 June 1944.

The Wade was repaired after the 1953 flood.^[8] The farm is still in active use,^{[citation needed]} thus making it one of the most easterly inhabited islands in Britain, a claim sometimes attributed to the more built-up Mersea Island further west.^[10] It remains privately owned.^[11]

The island features in Arthur Ransome's children's novel Secret Water as "Swallow Island".^[12] The south eastern edge of the island is rich in birdlife and this inspired Paul Gallico to film the BBC's adaptation of his book The Snow Goose there.^[4]

The BBC show Top Gear visited Horsey Island at the end of a segment in series 28, episode 1, where presenters Paddy McGuinness, Freddie Flintoff and Chris Harris attempted to cross the causeway in cheap convertibles.^[13]

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51°52′34″N 1°14′42″E / 51.876°N 1.245°E / 51.876; 1.245