Description

TL 74 SE TILBURY-JUXTA-CLARE
2/11 Parish Church of St
21.6.62 Margaret

I

Parish church, C15 and C16. Plastered flint rubble with limestone dressings,
W tower of red brick in English bond, roofs of handmade red clay tiles.
Orientated NE-SW. The Chancel, Nave and S porch are mid-C15, W tower early
C16, with minor restoration of 1850. The E gable of the Chancel has cusped
and gabled kneelers and apex stone. The E window is of 5 cinquefoiled lights
with vertical tracery in a 2-centred head; the head and label are moulded.
In the N wall are 2 windows each of 2 cinquefoiled lights with tracery under
a segmental-pointed head with moulded label. In the S wall are 2 windows
uniform with those in the N wall. Between them is a doorway with jambs and 2-
centred arch of 2 moulded orders and a moulded label. The chancel-arch is 2-
centred and of one moulded order on the W side, and 2 chamfered orders on the
E side; the responds have each a semi-octagonal attached shaft with moulded
capital and base. The roof of the Chancel is C15, composed of 18 couples of
7 cants with scissor-braces formed of short timbers tenoned into the frames,
with moulded wallplates. The E gable of the Nave has kneelers and apex stone
like those of the Chancel. In the N wall are 2 windows; the eastern is of 3
cinquefoiled and sub-cusped lights with tracery in a 2-centred head; the
external reveals, label and rear-arch are moulded. The western is of 2
cinquefoiled lights with transomed tracery in a segmental-pointed head; the
mouldings are similar. Between these windows is the N doorway, blocked
externally. The rear-arch is segmental-pointed; the rebate for the door and
the original pintles are exposed. In the S wall are 2 windows uniform with
the corresponding windows of the N wall. Between them is the S doorway, with
jambs and 2-centred arch of 3 moulded orders and a moulded label. The roof
of the Nave is of 7 cants, plastered to the soffit. There are 3 moulded
tiebeams, each mounted on wallpieces on simple head-corbels, mostly grotesque,
with short curved braces and blind tracery in the spandrels. The W tower is
of red brick with diaper patterns in blue headers, built in 1519 for Elizabeth,
Countess of Oxford (Morant). It is of 3 stages without external division, with
diagonal buttresses, a semi-octagonal SE stair-turret and crenellated parapet.
The tower-arch is 4-centred and of 3 orders, chamfered on the E face, square
on the W face, with chamfered responds. In the S wall is a doorway to the
stair-turret with a moulded segmental arch. The W window has a 4-centred arch
of alternate red and blue bricks, the remainder C19. The second stage has a
loop in the N and S walls. The bell-chamber has in each wall a window of 2
pointed lights under a 4-centred head. In the E and W walls above the window
is a decayed stone panel. The stair-turret is lit by plain loops; in its S
wall there is a similar stone panel and a recess for another. The S porch has a
4-centred entrance archway with responds which have semi-octagonal attached
shafts with moulded capitals and bases. It has a moulded label with male and
female headstops, possibly introduced. The E and W walls each have a window
which is C19 except the splays and segmental-pointed rear-arch. The roof of the
porch is of 7 couples, similar to that of the Chancel, but with moulded and
crenellated wallplates. There are 2 C15 piscinae, in the Chancel and the S wall
of the Nave, each cinquefoiled with foiled drain and a wooden credence shelf,
apparently original. The head of the piscina in the Chancel is grooved for
glass. The sills of the NE windows of Chancel and Nave are carried down to form
seats. There is a C15 stoup in the E wall of the porch, with round head and
restored bowl. There are wall paintings in the Nave. On the N wall is a
representation of a timber-framed building with exposed close
brick nogging in oblique patterns, tiled roof, and in the foreground a figure
with a horse, mid or late C15. Superimposed at the W side is conventional
foliage, late C16. On the S wall there are traces of a figure with diapered
and quatrefoiled background, late C15, and conventional foliage and part of
a black-letter text, late C16. Inside the N wall of the tower there is a winged
beast in moulded plaster; and in the S wall is a small plinth and head, a molet
in moulded plaster and a headless boar on a shelf, insignia of the De Veres.
The font has an octagonal stem with recessed sides and moulded shafts and bases
at the angles, and a base incorporating a step, C15. The bowl is C19/20, and
the decayed original bowl is inverted beside it. The pulpit is early C17,
octagonal with guilloche arcades in the panels, restored, and C19 turned shafts
of marble. There is C15 glass in the head of the E window, mostly tabernacle
work, and fragments reset in the NE window of the Nave. The S doors of the
Nave are C15, with continuous curved and moulded edge-timbers, stiles and ledges
rivetted at the crossings, and humped planks with C19 fillets. There are 2
bells, the first by Miles Graye, 1607, the second by Thomas Gardiner, 1729.
Against the outside of the S wall of the Chancel there is a memorial slab to
John Clerke, senior, 1681, and Anne his wife, 1692, with shield of arms; and
inside there is another to John Clerke, 1722, with shield of arms. Set in the
outide and inside walls there are a number of stone bosses and other ornaments
of doubtful provenance, some collected in Bury St. Edmunds by Mrs. C.W. Brett
in the early C20. One which may be original is a small terracotta female figure
in the outside W wall of the Nave, possibly the Countess of Oxford. In the
tower there is framed coat of arms of George III, dated 1764, with broken
pediment, and a dado of late C16/early C17 panelling. This church is remarkable
in being entirely of the C15 (except the tower), with minimal restoration, and
an interior unobstructed by monuments or late features.

Listing NGR: TL7595540290

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17535840

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects, Supplement 2014
• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
• 
  For the Record
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Care and Repair