The Corpus of ROMANESQUE SCULPTURE in Britain & Ireland
St Mary, St Peter and St Paul (medieval)
Parish church
St Osyth is a village in the Tendring district of E Essex, 3 miles W of Clacton-on-Sea and 10 miles SE of Colchester. The village is surrounded by water, with St Osyth Creek to the S and Flag Creek to the W, both of which flow into the estuary of the River Colne. St Osyth Priory, an Augustinian house begun in 1118, dominates the centre of the village, and the parish church stands to its SE, just outside the priory walls.
The present church has an aisled nave with 5-bay brick arcades dating from the 16thc, wide aisles also of brick, N and S porches, N and S transepts, a chancel with N and S chapels, both converted to other uses, and an early 14thc W tower. The 16thc work widened the nave to the S, so that the chancel is now off-centre with respect to the nave. The line of the original, 12thc S arcade is indicated by the survival of its W respond, well to the N of the present arcade. There is also a loose scallop capital on the window-sill of the former S chapel (now the kitchen).