Wherever you are in Wivenhoe, you’re never far from almost 2,000 years of history. Where the Roman Emperor Claudius brought trading vessels laden with wine and the middle-ages saw boats built and repaired for both business and battle. Where Vospers built motor torpedo boats during the second world war and James W. Cook & Co. launched coasters and dredgers, pilot boats and tugs, even floating pontoons for the 1951 Festival of Britain, from the slipways of the Colne.
More than 500 craft launched into the river, till one summer day in 1986, the very last drifted away and the traditions of centuries seemed to have come to an end. But 20 years on, Cook’s Shipyard is being reborn. New homes, new workplaces, new opportunities and energy. And a new way of life that everyone can enjoy.
