BRIGHTLINGSEA (pronounced BRITTLESEA)  , a port and fishing station in the Harwich parliamentary division of Essex, England, on a creek opening from the east shore of the Colne estuary, the terminus of a branch from Colchester of the Great Eastern railway, 621 m . E.N.E. of London . Pop. of urban district (Igor) 4501 . The Colchester oyster beds are mainly in this part of the Colne, and the oyster fishery is the chief industry . Boat-building is carried on . This is also a favourite yachting centre . The church, of All Saints, principally Perpendicular, has interesting monuments and brasses, and a fine lofty tower and west front . Brightlingsea, which appears in Domesday, is a member of the Cinque Port of Sandwich in Kent . Near the opposite shore of the creek is St Osyth's priory, which originated as a nunnery founded by Osyth, a grand-daughter of Penda, king of Mercia, martyred (c . 653) by Norse invaders . A foundation for Augustinian canons followed on the site early in the 12th century . The remains, incorporated with a modern residence, include a late Perpendicular gateway, abbots' tower, clock tower and crypt .

The gateway, an embattled structure with flanking turrets, is particularly fine, the entire front being panelled and ornamented with canopied niches . The church of St Osyth, also Perpendicular in the

main, is of interest .