Details
STONDON MASSEY
TL50SE ONGAR ROAD
723-1/1/542 (East side)
20/02/67 Church of St Peter and St Paul
(Formerly Listed as:
BRENTWOOD
ONGAR ROAD, Stondon Massey
Church of St Peter and St Paul)
I
Church. c1100, c1400 late C19. Flint, rubble and quartzite
with tile courses, all old walls rendered except W end where
original walling visible, some tiles are of post medieval type
but some are characteristic Roman tegulae especially low down.
Late C19 N vestry, organ chamber and chapel added to NE side
in split flint, limestone dressings. Roof peg-tiled. Norman S
doorway and one Norman window in N wall of nave (unrestored)
of tufa. Simple 2-celled plan, chancel arch removed by the C15
but reduction in width at chancel/nave junction.
S elevation, W to E: timber-framed porch, 1849-51, in late
medieval style, inner post, tie-beam and wall plates possibly
old. S doorway simple round head with voussoirs, plain jambs
and chamfered imposts. The splays have draw bar holes (door
hung from W jamb) timber lined and some tile within the tufa
courses. Norman window, narrow, internal splay, dressing
restored. Late C14 3-light window with cinquefoiled ogee
lights and tracery in a square head, Upper Greensand
dressings, part restored. Chancel, late C14 2-light window
similar to one in nave. Norman window, restored, similar to
one in nave. C19 doorway, steep shallow 2 centre arch and C19
boarded door and ironwork.
N side, W to E: Norman window, dressing in tufa but arch a
solid greensand block. Projecting late C19 chapel, organ
chamber and vestry, angle buttresses, windows lancets with
trefoiled heads, leaded panes and stained glass, W elevation
has 3 lights, N elevation has blind arch, C13 style,
containing 2 leaf, boarded door and above it quatrefoil light
in roundel, high in gable, trefoiled oculus. E elevation
single light lancet of 1849-51. Organ chamber and vestry, N
elevation 2-light window, C19 boarded door. Vestry E elevation
2-light window. Nave W wall, C15 window, 2 cinquefoiled lights
in 4 centred head, moulded label, partly restored, in gable
lancet window (possibly C19) and 3 simple oculi above,
uncovered in 1850. Belfry stage at W end, weatherboarded with
louvred vents and small octagonal spire rising from pyramidal
roof, wooden shingles. Chancel E wall, late C19 E window of
early perpendicular style, 3 lights, cinquefoil heads. The
original E end of the chancel is said to have been an apse. A
vertical crack in the rendering of the S wall and additional
lengths of timber cornice added to the squared off end within
the chancel support this, also when the rendering was repaired
on the S side the additional work was seen to be brick,
possibly Elizabethan. The whole nature of the original work
seen in the nave W wall looks very early, Saxo-Norman. The
rubble courses where undisturbed are pitched as are the tiles.
The tiles occur in 2 single rows level with the sill and arch
springing of the W window. In the gable is a band of 3 rows of
pitched tiles set at half height. At tie-beam level an
elaborate tile pattern crosses the entire wall. It comprises a
lower double course and an upper course. Between the 2, tiles
are set to create a series of equilateral triangles. Roman
tegula tiles exist in all the work although later ones have
been added. Together with the oculi and the use of tufa for
door and window dressings these features reinforce a very
early dating for the building.
INTERIOR: W end, early C15 belfry frame of Essex type with
lower table frame and belfry rising from centre. Curved arched
braces to tie-beams and curved 'shore' braces to belfry stage,
curved 'X' bracing of stage frame. Eastern principal lower
posts have inward facing chamfered fillets, western posts had
fillets, now cut away. E tie-beam with double hollow chamfer
moulding to E. Nave, terminal post of crown post roof sits on
belfry tower. E tie-beam (contemporaneous). Roof has 2 bays
with central 4 way braced crown post of square section with
square fillets on each face, no capital and simple block base
with rounded top, lateral braces to soulaces, collar purlin
visible but rest obscured by plaster ceilings inserted in
1735. Early C15 timber cornice, moulded, roll in a hollow
chamfer, runs round nave and chancel walls.
MONUMENTS AND FITTINGS: 3 bells. First by Robert Mot, 1588,
Second by John Bird, early C15 with inscription 'Johannes
Cristi Care Dignare Pro Nobis Orare'. Pulpit and reading desk
built as one, dated 1630, pulpit octagonal and panelled with
arabesque and pendant decoration. Reading desk panelled,
carved with pyramids, cabochon and pendants, sheaf of corn and
grapes. Screen between chancel and nave, 10 bays,central
doorway with 4 centred arch. Side lights with traceried heads
and moulded muntins, c1500, lower section completely replaced,
upper part some restoration. Brass in chancel of John Carre,
1570 with figures of man in civilian costume and 2 wives, 3
shields and merchant's mark, indents of groups of children in
stone slab of Purbeck marble. 2 other fragments of brasses now
set in mahogany panels attached to chancel wall - Rainold
Holingworth 1573 with figures of man in armour with wife and
shields. Palimpsest on male figure part of a 'Flemish' canopy
and an achievement of arms of Cleves quartering Mark with a
quartered scutcheon of Burgundy and Flanders over all.
Palimpsest on lady part of Flemish canopy with figures of St
Bartholomew and St Andrew. Font, octagonal, sides of bowl
panelled with quatrefoils enclosing bosses of foliage, moulded
base C15, some restoration in plaster. Chapel erected by
Marianne, wife of Philip Herman Meyer of Stondon Place in his
memory, 1870. William Byrd, the Elizabethan - Jacobean
renowned, but recusant, musician who lived at Stondon Place
was buried in the church in 1623. Wall plaque in Jacobean
style erected in 1923 to commemorate him.
(RCHM: Central and SW Essex : Monument 1: 226; Reeve EHL: A
History of Stondon Massey in Essex: 1906-).
Listing NGR: TL5726501587
