Egypt Bay - feedback from Mervyn King

Following my recent posts asking if anyone knew how Egypt Bay came to get its name, I have received another interesting suggestion, this time from Mervyn King. 

Mervyn told me about a reference to Egypt Bay in a book called ‘The Thames’ by A. P. Herbert, which was published in 1966 by Weidenfield & Nicholson (pictured below).

A. P. Herbert (Sir Alan Patrick Herbert) says: ‘Egypt Bay, a strange sandy indent, so named, I suppose, because of the sand’.

I recently looked online for some old maps of the area, and there’s a really good website called Old Maps. A very useful commercial site that contains many old maps of the area, dating back to 1872, all of which can be easily viewed online.

The 1872 map itself shows Egypt Bay to have been joined by a sizable stretch of marshland known as Egypt Saltings – with ‘The Kite, Coast Guard Station’ located near its mouth with the Thames. The indent of the bay was much bigger in those days, with most of what was Egypt Saltings having long since silted over.

Any more ideas? Use the contact page to let me know if you have any views on how Egypt Bay got its name.
 

Peninsula Family History

A new page (Peninsula Family History) has been added to this site, which gives others the opportunity to add their family history research, specifically relating to the Hoo Peninsula. To make a submission, please visit the Contact Page.

Added Today: The Willson family of Stoke, by Mervyn King.

Mervyn King, Family History

I was recently contacted by Mervyn King, who is researching his ancestors from the Hoo Peninsula. His Great-Grandfather married a local girl called WILLSON (sometimes WILSON) at Allhallows in 1896. Her ancestors lived all over the Hoo Peninsula for most of the 19th Century. Other names being researched by Mervyn include: DALTON (sometimes DORTON), USHER and OVERRIGHT.

Good luck to Mervyn and, hopefully, more information will be available soon, with regards to his research.