St Mary and St Clement, Clavering, Essex (1/4)

St Mary and St Clement
St Mary and St Clement

The chancel of St Mary and St Clement was built in the late 14th century. The rest of the church was built at the end of the 14th and beginning of the 15th centuries. The roof is original, with angel carvings. The screen has traces of saints still visible, mostly as outlines.

It also has a huge amount of graffiti. There is too much to show in one report, so the visit to this church will be split into four. This post will record the graffiti in the south porch and doorway. The other posts will cover the south arcade, the rood screen stairway doorway, and the north arcade and outside.

South Porch and Doorway

There are two pictures in the doorway, a deeply engraved stag and a much fainter, crude drawing of a cart pulled by two horses. 

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Of the graffiti showing symbols, there is an anchor (possible an anchor cross), several hand-drawn pencial circles, several Marian marks, some dot patterns and a curious monogram that may be an interlinked AW with a cross finishing the final upstroke of the W.

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The rest of the graffiti is a selection of ziz-zag lines, some cross hatching, a vine design, a couple of pencil-drawn flags and some names and initials, the earliest of which is dated to 1708.

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St Mary and St Clement

Church End
Clavering
Saffron Walden
CB114QL

Normally open during daylight hours. You can park closer to the church, but I found it easier to park on the road (B1038).

Report by Anthea Hawdon.

 

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