Description

MASHBURY

719/4/390 MASHBURY HALL CHASE
10-APR-67 CHURCH (OF NO KNOWN DEDICATION)

II*

The nave and chancel are C12, when it probably had an apsidal E end. Probably in the C15 the chancel arch was rebuilt, the chancel squared off, and the W belfry added. The S porch was added in the early C16. The church was struck by lightening in 1872, and was restored in 1873 to designs by F Whitmore and again in 1890-4, probably by A Y Nutt, when the small W bell cot was added and the E wall of the chancel rebuilt. There were further repairs in the C20.

MATERIALS:
Flint rubble with some brick. Limestone dressings and decorative stone work at the E end. Tiled roofs and timber bell cot.

PLAN:
Aisleless nave and chancel, S porch and W bell cot.

EXTERIOR:
The E wall of the chancel was rebuilt in the late C19 and has decorative stone banding and chequerboard work in the gable. The 3-light E window is in a Decorated style. There is a C16, 2-light uncusped window in the chancel N wall and a cusped, C15, 2-light window in the S wall. A building break in the S wall may indicate the springing of the former apse, and a C12 window head has been reset nearby.

The W wall of the nave was partially rebuilt in the C19 following lightening damage, and the upper part of the W gable is brick. C16 or C17 brick repairs in the sides of the W gable and along the W ends of the N and S nave walls denote earlier repairs including raising of the roof. The timber bell cot of c.1893 stands on timber posts on corbels and has a cusped, 4-centred arch in each face. The W window is of two cusped lights. The N wall has a single, small, C12 window set above a C12 doorway with a round head and plain jambs. The N door is of three battens and may be C12; it has two strips of decorative C12 ironwork. There is also a 2-light, mid C14 window with tracery in the N nave wall towards the E end. The S nave wall has a C12 window just to the E of the porch and a 2-light window of the late C14 or early C15 with cusped lights. The S door is mid C12 and has three orders. The outer two have chevron and stand on shafts with chip-carved abaci and cushion capitals. The inner order is plain. The brick S porch was added in the C16 and has a depressed-headed opening under a hood mould and three uncusped brick lights on each side.

INTERIOR
The C15 chancel arch has two chamfered orders dying into the side walls. The lower part of the E splay of the S nave window has been cut back, probably for a former rood stair. At the W end of the nave is a large structure that formerly supported a bell cot (the present bell cot does not rest on it). It has four, probably C15 posts with curved braces supporting a moulded cornice. The lower part is panelled, forming two small enclosures. The chancel roof has C15 moulded wall plates and an exposed pair of arch braces in the centre, but is otherwise plastered. The nave roof has moulded and embattled wall plates and an embattled rood beam at the E end.

PRINCIPAL FIXTURES
Late C19 choir stalls with poppy heads and tracery panels. Plan nave benches. Probably mid C19 Norman-style font with a square bowl on shafts. Stained glass: some C14 and C15 medieval fragments reset in the chancel N and S windows and in the nave N window. The former, early C17 pulpit has been removed to St Mary, Maldon.

HISTORY
Mashbury the place is mentioned in the Domesday book of 1086, but the church was not included and the existing building of the C12 probably represents the initial foundation of a church there. It is a small parish with scattered settlement, the church stands in close proximity to the Hall, although other buildings including a rectory house are said to have been pulled down in the late C18 or early C19. The rectory had been joined to that of Chignall St James by the early C19. It became redundant in the early 1980s.

SOURCES
Buildings of England: Essex (2007), 593
RCHME Essex II (1921), 186
Council for the Care of Churches Report, 1983

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION
The church of unknown dedication in Mashbury should be designated at Grade II* for the following principal reasons:
* Very complete small church of the C12, including some original windows and one original door including some contemporary ironwork.
* Later medieval alterations, including C15 roofs, chancel arch and windows.
* C16 brick porch

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17545181

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.

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