St Mary the Virgin, Burnham-on-Crouch, Essex The church of St Mary the Virgin at the north end of Burnham-on-Crouch dates back to the 12th century although the current building dates from the 14th century. It is unusual in having no differentiation between nave and chancel, with the north and south arcades stretching down to the…
St Mary the Virgin, Dedham, Essex The village of Dedham is on the River Stour is where John Constable went to school and the church of St Mary the Virgin has one of his paintings to prove it. The village was a wealthy wool town and spent some of those riches on its church which,…
St Michael, Great Sampford, Essex (1/3) You only need to walk around the exterior of St Michael in Great Sampford to realise that it has a history of rebuilding. Somewhat unusually this rebuilding was mostly confined to the 14th century. The church had been under the jurisdiction of Battle Abbey in Sussex and the Knights…
St Giles, Great Maplestead, Essex St Giles church in Great Maplestead was built in the 12th century with major additions in 13th and 14th centuries. In the 16th century, the Deane family, who lived in nearby Dynes Hall, added a small south chapel in the church. It holds their monuments. The most splendid monument in…
All Saints, Ashdon, Essex (2/2) All Saints church has a number of apotropaic marks on its stonework. It has several of one particular type – the eight pointed star. This has shown up in other churches (most notably in St Mary and St Clement, Clavering). It is described in MB Jackson’s book, Ciphers and Scripts….
St Mary the Virgin, Little Easton, Essex The church of St Mary the Virgin dates back to the 12th century and has been altered through the succeeding centuries. There are two sets of existing medieval wall paintings showing the events leading up to the crucifixion and also one of an unidentified seated prophet. The south…
Holy Trinity, Littlebury, Essex Holy Trinity church dates back to Norman times. The south and north doors are 12th century. The tower is 14th century. It was heavily restored in the late Victorian period with the chancel being completely rebuilt when the organ was installed and the crucifixion scene painted. The font cover dates to…
St Laurence, Ridgewell, Essex (2/2) St Laurence church has several compass drawn circle designs, including a very clear daisy wheel and an unusually long sequence of linked compass drawn circles. There is a large incomplete daisy wheel by the west door in the tower, it is obscured behind an old noticeboard. ” template=”/var/sites/r/rakinglight.co.uk/public_html/wp-content/plugins/nextgen-gallery/products/photocrati_nextgen/modules/ngglegacy/view/gallery-caption.php” order_by=”sortorder” order_direction=”ASC”…
St John the Baptist, Pebmarsh, Essex The church of St John the Baptist, Essex, was built in the 14th century and restored in the 19th. Apart from a small amount of graffiti on a the western most column in the north arcade, everything else is around the south doorway (both inside and out) and…
St Nicholas, Elmdon, Essex St Nicholas church in Elmdon Essex has a 15th century tower, but the rest of the church was completely rebuilt in the 19th century. This has wiped the nave and chancel clear of graffiti barring a few faint initials on the 16th century tomb of Thomas Meade in the chancel. …
St Mary and St Clement, Clavering, Essex (2/4) South Arcade The south arcade of St Mary and St Clement has an abundance of exciting graffiti. There are several compass drawn and hand drawn circle designs of varying complexity in the south arcade. The most notable of which are one large spiral within a compass drawn…