Paglesham (England)

Paglesham ( PAG-əl-shəm) is a village and civil parish in the north east of the Rochford Rural District, Essex. The parish includes two hamlets of Eastend and Churchend, which are situated near the River Crouch and Paglesham Creek. It is part of the Roach Valley Conservation Zone. At the Eastend is The Plough and Sail Public House. There is an unmade road (Waterside Road) full of large potholes leading to a boatyard on the River Roach. There are a small number of houses and a pub, the Plough and Sail. At Churchend is St Peter's Church. There are a small number of houses and two farms. The Punch Bowl Inn, which was closed, reopened in 2024. The two hamlets form one of Essex's oldest fishing villages and the area was once renowned as a smuggling centre. This included being home to one of the more famous smugglers in the region, Hard Apple, who was actually the parish councillor and local constable William Blyth. Admiralty records show that the celebrated vessel HMS Beagle, in which Charles Darwin circumnavigated the world, ended its days as a static ship in the river near Paglesham Eastend, guarding against smugglers. It is speculated that the keel of the vessel may yet survive, buried in the mud of the riverbank. Paglesham was also an old civil parish, connected to Rochford.