Church of St Thomas the Apostle

Details

NAVESTOCK

TQ59NW SHONKS MILL ROAD 723-1/4/513 (North side) 20/02/67 Church of St Thomas the Apostle (Formerly Listed as: BRENTWOOD SHONKS MILL ROAD, Navestock Church of St Thomas the Apostle)

I

Parish church. C11-C12 origin largely rebuilt in the C13 and C14 and repaired after a land mine exploded in the churchyard in 1940. Flint and rubble with a timber-framed W tower. The church comprises a nave of four bays and a chancel of 2 bays. A single S aisle to the nave continues to the E for one bay as a chapel. The walls are rendered and the roof peg-tiled. NAVE: the S elevation of the nave has, from W to E , C13 lancet window, C13 doorway with segment headed arch and C20 timber porch, C15 3-light window with super mullions. Nave, N elevation from W to E , C15 2-light window with super mullions, C11-C12 door with semicircular tympanum and segment head with intermittent roll moulding, C15 2-light window with super mullions, C14 window reticulated tracery. CHANCEL: N side, W to E , C15 low side window, C14 2-light window with reticulated tracery and label with head stops, C14 2-light window with reticulated tracery. Chancel, S side, C14 window 2 lights, reticulated tracery. Chancel, E end C14 3-light window reticulated tracery. BELFRY TOWER: set in line with the S aisle originally faced in weatherboarding is now plastered with a steeply sloping tiled roof over its aisles and surmounted by a shingled broach spire. The tower is carried on 4 canted heavy oak posts whose framing is strengthened by long continuous passing braces carried down to the ground sills and posts of the aisles to the tower and jointed by notched lap joints. Within the tower base, 4 attached shafts with capitals and bases of perpendicular profile support an inserted belfry floor with arched braces meeting at a foliage boss. Tower formerly ascribed to the C15 but as a result of radiocarbon tests and on structural evidence, is now considered to be of the C13, probably c1250 or earlier. The doorway between tower and S aisle dated c1400 (RCHM) is probably contemporary with the inserted work and together with some reshaping of the old tower braces, represents refurbishing at the opening of the C15. The 4-bayed arcade of the S aisle is of timber, plastered to resemble C13 stone ashlar work and is now exposed at the chancel-nave junction. This core of timber is now thought to date from the C13 and to continue to the W within the imitation stone work. The various oak doors with iron work appear to be post-medieval replacements, the S door in particular copies the C12 form. FITTINGS AND MONUMENTS: the fittings include a C13 piscina in the S chapel and several C17 monuments including, chancel E wall, to John Greene, Sergeant at Law and Judge of Sheriff's court, 1653 and Anne (Blanchard) his wife, 1641, large tablet with recess containing half length figure of a man in judge's robes and flanked by Corinthian pilasters supporting an enlablature and broken pediment with 10 shields of arms. Chancel, N wall, monument of Anne (Nicolls), wife of Charles Snelling, 1625, also Roland their child, 1625, slate panel within arched marble frame, with small effigies of woman, now headless, and swaddled child, 2 shields of arms. Nave, S wall to John Greene, 1625 slate tablet in marble frame with pediment, cherubs and shields of arms. The bells include a tenor and second with the inscription,'Miles Graye made mee 1637', a third by John Walgrave of London (early C15) mentioned in an inventory dated 1458, and a fourth by John Harding c1560. The windows of the chancel retain some of their medieval exterior iron grilles with barbed terminals, most complete on the E window. (RCHM: Central and SW Essex : Monument 1: 190; Archaeological Journal: Hewett CA: The Timber Belfries of Essex: 1962-: 227; Essex Journal: Hewett CA & Smith JR: Faked Masonry of the Mid-C13 in Navestock Church: 1972-; The Buildings of England: Pevsner N: Essex: 1965-: 303).

Listing NGR: TQ5404798374

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

373791

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
An Inventory of Essex Central and South West, (1921), 190
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Essex, (1965), 303
Archaeological Journal in Archaeological Journal, (1962), 227
Essex Journal in Essex Journal, (1972)

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