St Mary the Virgin Church
Southminster Road, Burnham on Crouch.
The full name of the church is St Mary the Virgin although it is affectionately known as St Mary's throughout the area.
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.
Vespers
Tuesday & Friday at 5pm
Service
Tuesday - 9.30am
Wednesday - 7.30am
Thursday 12.15pm
Friday 7am
Sunday - 9.30am and 10am
Contact
tel- 01621 782071
Construction was mainly of ragstone 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 perpendictural 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.
