The fine brasses to Elizabeth and Beaumont lie in the chancel of the parish church. In the 1750s, there was a health spa at Wivenhoe, with fashionable folk taking seawater baths at a fee of one guinea for the season. An earthquake on April 22nd 1884 damaged over 200 buildings, with nearly two tons of brickwork crashing through the roof of Wivenhoe Hall. In 1916 the army erected a bridge over the river, which King George V came to inspect, but it was demolished after the war. The flood surge barrier was completed in 1993, and is designed to resist the highest tide likely to be seen in a thousand years.
Sluices ensure the tidal flow is unchanged except when the barrier is closed.
The north wall of the Church of St Andrew at Fingringhoe dates from 1100. The church originally belonged to a French priory in Mersey, and was dedicated to their St Ouen, who was Archbishop of Rouen. St Ouen has since been corrupted to St Andrew. Items hidden within the church at the time of the Reformation have recently been uncovered, including a Trinity crucifix. Fingringhoe Mill closed in the early 1990s.