Mistley - Robert Adam Designs etc

 The first quay was built around 1720 but around about 1770, the quay was enlarged by Richard Rigby and was known as Port of Mistley. At that time, the village of Mistley, then known as Mistleythorn, consisted of warehouses, a granary, a large malting office and new quays.Newcastle ships brought in coal for Essex or Suffolk and corn was stored for the London markets and all the coastal ports.  Rigby wanted to turn Mistley into a fashionable spa and Robert Adam was asked to design a saltwater bath by the river. The Swan Pool was the only part constructed plus the unusual church, which had towers at the east and west ends and semi-circular porticoes on the north and south sides.The main body of the church was demolished in 1870. The warehouses and other riverside building are being converted into flats and there is the threat that Edme Mills may leave the village (see next post)