The Corpus of ROMANESQUE SCULPTURE in Britain & Ireland
St Barnabas (medieval)
Parish church
Great Tey is a village in the Colchester district of Essex, 6 miles W of Colchester. The village extends for approximately a mile along the minor road that runs across the Colne Valley from Bures and Wakes Colne south to Marks Tey. The church is alongside this road at the S end of the village, and a moated site immediately to the E suggests the presence of a manor house.
St Barnabas’s is an imposing sight and was once bigger still. What survives is the crossing of a cruciform church with a tower above it, a long 3-bay chancel, the remains of one nave bay, and N and S transepts. The 1st storey of the tower is now a gallery. Entry is through a porch added to the W side of the S transept, and the N transept now houses the organ. The crossing and the remains of the S nave arcade are 12thc, the chancel and the transepts were both rebuilt in the 14thc and the S tower arch was rebuilt in the 15thc. In 1829 most of the nave including the aisles were removed, and the nave closed off with a W wall. The porches on the W sides of both transepts are modern too. Construction is of flint rubble with some Roman bricks and freestone.