St Mary the Virgin Parish Church, Burnham on Crouch
A church was
first recorded on this site in 1155 although the current
St Mary's Church is of 14th century origin. St Mary's Church
has been referred to as the cathedral of the marshes. Construction was
mainly of rag stone although there are traces of roman
bricks which may have come from a roman villa which is rumoured to have stood nearby. The Church has 9
bays with a castellated aisle on the south and 9
perpendicular windows with panel tracery.
The south porch
has a Tudor linenfold paneled door. Over the porch
are gargoyles and the arms of the Fitzwalter
Family, Sir Robert Ratcliffe and Little Dunmow Priory. The west tower
has angle buttresses, a perpendicular, west window with
reticulated tracery and a castellated parapet. The upper
part was rebuilt in 1703. Rebuilding,
extensions and restoration have taken place at regular
intervals leaving us with the beautiful building that we
see today. In 1774 a major
fire occurred that destroyed the roof and most of the
furnishings.
The interior is
undivided between nave, chancel and aisles. The brick
floors were laid in the early 18th century although some
of the bricks date from the Tudor period.
The pulpit was
installed in 1877 and is built from stone and marble in
Victorian style. The pulpit is a memorial to local
oyster merchant William Auger who was a churchwarden
from 1862 to 1877.
A plain square
font of Purbeck marble originated in about 1200 AD which
means that it may have been part of the original church.
Between
the Church and Burnham Hall there is a reminder of the
days when the gentry rode to church with the provision
of mounting steps which were no doubt put to use by the
nearly old dairy. Worley's - A dictionary
of the County In 1915 George Worley wrote
about the Church in his Dictionary of the County The
church stands a mile north of the modern town. It is a large building of flint
and stone, mainly in the late 15th century style,
through the north aisle and tower are at least a century
earlier, and the fine south porch is a sixteenth century
addition. Note the grotesque gargoyles,
and the shields of arms sculptured about it. The top stage of the tower was
blown down in the great gale of 1703, and afterwards
rebuilt on a lower scale, but there is still an
extensive view from the summit. It contains five bells, the
oldest, by John Walgrave (early fourteenth century)
bearing the inscription, Sancta Katerina Ora pro nobis.
The plain square Purbeck font is of Norman age. Registers start from 1559. Other pages about this church
Click here
to read about the church bells at this church
Click here
to read about the church chest at this church
Click here to
visit a web site run by St Mary's Church
