Osea Island

Before 2004, the island had a small community of tenants such as the painter Luke Elwes, photographer Hélène Binet, and philosopher David Papineau. It was revealed in 2019 that Bajan singer Rihanna rented the island to record her upcoming album.{{Cite web|url=https://www.eadt.co.uk/news/rihanna-reportedly-rents-island-near-chelmsford-1-6088671|title=Pop star Rihanna 'rents island' in Essex to record album|date=5 June 2019}}

The name "Osea" means "Osyth's Island" and thus the name is tautological.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Hwl1Tefe1q4C&q=Osea+Island+tautological&pg=PA100|title=Essex Coastline: Then and Now|publisher=Matthew Fautley, 2004|page=100|access-date=6 December 2020|isbn=9780954801007|date=2004}}

File:Osea Island map.png

In 1913 the British Deperdussin Aeroplane Company tested a newly developed seaplane at Osea. It was a single-engined seaplane with two large floats. It was piloted by John Cyril Porte, the managing director of the company, and took off from the deep water channel to the south of the island. It had a successful ten-minute flight.

Osea Island was the site of a Coastal Motor Torpedo Boat base during the First World War and 2,000 sailors were billeted there, mainly in temporary huts which were removed after the war. Augustus Agar was awarded the Victoria Cross while stationed on the island and detailed his experiences in his book Baltic Episode.Baltic Episode (Augustus Agar) Naval Institute Press, 1963

In the Second World War, the island was occupied by the British Army.

The 1979 Children's Film Foundation film Black Island, produced by Kingsgate Films and directed by Ben Bolt, was shot on and around the island.{{cite web|url=https://secure.bfi.org.uk/filmtvinfo/publications/pub-rep-brief/pdf/britfilms.pdf|title=British Films 1971–1981 - by Linda Wood|access-date=2009-05-16}}{{dead link|date=October 2023|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} The film is about two young castaways who are captured by escaped convicts on the island and their subsequent escape attempts.

Both the 1989 television adaptation of Susan Hill's novel The Woman in Black and the 2012 film adaptation of the same used the island's causeway as the location for the fictional Nine Lives Causeway.

The island was used for auditions on the ITV1 show Superstar, filmed in early 2012, in which it was known as Superstar Island. It was the second episode and included eliminations. Andrew Lloyd Webber was casting for a new lead role, in his production of Jesus Christ Superstar. Melanie C, Dawn French and Jason Donovan were also on the panel.

The island is the setting for the television drama miniseries The Third Day.

Osea Island holds a place in the history of drug and alcohol treatment in Britain. It was formerly owned by a member of the Charrington brewing family, Frederick Nicholas Charrington,Fitch, Edward Arthur: Maldon and the River Blackwater. Gowers, undated. who also founded the Tower Hamlets Mission,[http://www.towerhamletsmission.org/history.html Tower Hamlets Mission] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120222112530/http://www.towerhamletsmission.org/history.html |date=22 February 2012 }} which continues to house a drug and alcohol treatment centre, Charis. Charrington established a retreat for wealthy alcoholics on Osea Island, among whom it is rumoured that Walter Sickert was included.

From 2005 to 2010, it was a rehabilitation centre specialising in the treatment of addiction problems and mental health called the Causeway Retreat, managed by former nurse Brendan Quinn. In 2008, Amy Winehouse attended the rehab clinic on the island. The Causeway Retreat was refused registration on 30 September 2010 by the Care Quality Commission, and Brendan Quinn was suspended as a nurse by the Nursing and Midwifery Council on 20 September 2010.{{citation|url=http://www.nmc-uk.org/Documents/FTPOutcomes/October2010/Reasons%20ICIO%20Quinn%2020101020.pdf|date=October 2010|publisher=nmc-uk.org|title=Reasons for the Interim Order Hearing of the Investigating Committee|access-date=8 December 2010|archive-date=27 July 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727073109/http://www.nmc-uk.org/Documents/FTPOutcomes/October2010/Reasons%20ICIO%20Quinn%2020101020.pdf|url-status=dead}} On 19 November 2010 Brendan Quinn's Twenty 7 Management, which had run the Causeway Retreat, pleaded guilty at Chelmsford Magistrates' Court, and was fined £8,000 plus £30,000 costs for running an unlicensed hospital.{{citation|url=http://www.cqc.org.uk/newsandevents/newsstories.cfm?widCall1=customWidgets.content_view_1&cit_id=36886 |title=CQC: Regulator successful in Causeway Retreat prosecution|publisher=cqc.org.uk}} District Judge David Cooper said the firm's standards "would really shame a third world country".{{cite news| url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-11798981 | location=London | work=BBC News | title=Essex celebrity rehab centre 'duped' patients | date=19 November 2010}}

The island is used by musicians as a private retreat to record albums. It has its own fully equipped recording studio as well as ample accommodation.{{Cite web|url=https://milocostudios.com/studios/osea-island/intro/|title=Osea Island - Introduction {{!}} Miloco Recording Studios|website=milocostudios.com|language=en-US|access-date=2018-03-19}}

{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

• [http://unlockingessex.essexcc.gov.uk/custom_pages/monument_detail.asp?content_page_id=89&monument_id=38083&content_parents=48,175 Pillbox photos] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081005153453/http://unlockingessex.essexcc.gov.uk/custom_pages/monument_detail.asp?content_page_id=89&monument_id=38083&content_parents=48,175 |date=5 October 2008 }}
• {{IMDb title|qid=Q123287288|title=Black Island}}
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SnrGvZXzXY Video of the Island]

Category:Islands of Essex

Category:Tidal islands of England