St Mary the Virgin Church
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.
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.
Contact
tel 01621 782071
Southminster Road, Burnham on Crouch.