the Peninsula Wars and in 1816 commissioned John Constable to paint both the park of Wivenhoe House and The Quarters behind Alresford Hall. Constable described the Quarters as "a beautiful little fishing hut , where the young Lady (who is the heroine of all these scenes) goes occasionally to angle". This was General Rebow's daughter Mary-Martin wearing red who can be seen on the path. This painting was taken by descendants of the Martin Family to Australia in the nineteenth century and is now in the National Gallery of Victoria. In 1951, The Quarters became a private house. At the time of the 1831 Census, there were 291 villagers living in only 55 houses in Alresford. Of the 75 men over 20 years of age: 57 were involved in agriculture and 14 in retail or handicrafts. The population stayed between c.200 and c.300 until 1951. In 1839 and 1843, the Tithe Maps were drawn that showed 251 parcels of land with a rent-charge of £356 payable to Rev. John Taylor Allen. The whole parish measured 1426 acres 2 roods 21 perches of which 1056a 2r 31p were arable, 220 acres wood and 36 acres glebe. In 1848 there were horse-drawn omnibuses operating between Colchester and Brightlingsea which passed through the village. Even before Foster's 1870 Elementary Education Act, granted schooling to children between the ages of five and twelve, children in Alresford already had an education. In 1818, a Sunday school contained 30 boys and girls taught by the master, who was also the clerk of the parish, He was paid £4 pa. by subscription. "The poorer classes are without sufficient means of instruction, but desirous of having them." By 1833, this had grown to 37 males and 36 females supported by voluntary contributions " In 1846, WW Hawkins built the original school in Church Lane as part of the National Schools network. In 1882, this Parochial School (mixed), had 50 children taught by Miss Amelia Chisnell. and was given to the parish in 1890 by Mrs. Hawkins. White's Directory of Essex 1848 described the village as "..ALRESFORD is a pleasant village and parish, on the eastern side of the vale of the river Colne, 5½ miles South East of Colchester, containing 289 souls, and 1427A.2R.25P. of land, watered by two rivulets, which fall into a creek of the Colne, on the south side of the parish. The creek is