The Corpus of ROMANESQUE SCULPTURE in Britain & Ireland
Thurrock (now)
Parish church
South Ockendon is an ancient parish and now a large village in the Unitary Authority of Thurrock, 4 miles N of the Dartford Crossing and a similar distance SE of Upminster, immediately outside the M25. The villlage extends for 2 miles along the B186 that runs N from West Thurrock towards Brentwood, and the church is at the northen end of the village along with South Ockendon Hall and the railway station. St Nicholas's has a chancel with a N chapel and a S vestry; an aisled nave; the 15thc N aisle with a porch, and the 19thc S aisle with a rood stair turret at its E end. The W tower is round and 13thc (the neo-Norman upper storey by Armstrong). The external appearance is mostly due to the restoration of 1865-66 by Richard Armstrong. It is of knapped flint with Reigate stone dressings. The only Romanesque feature is the reset S doorway.
Parish church
Orsett is a village in the Thurrock district of Essex, on the N side of the A13 some 5 miles NE of Grays. The church, in the centre of the village, has a Norman nave with a 14thc chancel, with an organ chamber S of the chancel and a transeptal S chapel both added in 1865. On the N side of the chancel is the Whitmore Chapel of c.1500, and the nave has a N aisle added in the 13thc and modified in the 14thc. The tower is at the W end of the N aisle and dates from the 15thc. It is of flint, rebuilt in brick in the upper storeys, with a weatherboarded spire. Romanesque work is found in the elaborate S doorway, protected by a timber-framed porch, and a blocked round-headed lancet to the W of it. The N porch was converted to a vestry in the 19thc. Construction is of flint and ragstone rubble with Reigate stone dressings.
Parish church
Little Thurrock is now part of the Thurrock Unitary Authority, on the N bank of the Thames between Grays to the E and Tilbury to the W. The medieval church marks the site of the former village, but this has been completely absorbed by 20thc housing developments. St Mary's has a 12thc nave with a N porch, a chancel rebuilt in the 14thc with a N organ chamber added in 1909 and a 19thc S vestry. The church was restored by F. Franey in 1878-79, and he added the W tower in 1883-84. Construction is of flint and mixed rubble with limestone dressings. The S doorway is 12thc alng with parts of the chancel arch.
Parish church
East Tilbury is on the N bank of the Thames, alongside a reach of the river known as the Lower Hope. Alongside the river at this point is the Coalhouse Fort, a coastal defence dating from 1861-74 in its present form, and from this a road runs inland to East Tilbury, with the church less than half a mile from the coast. It is a fascinating if not a beautiful building, consisting of a 13thc chancel with stepped E lancets, a nave with a N aisle containing a N porch, and the remains of an arcade visible on the S wall. On the N arcade wall a blocked round-headed window above pier 1 confirms that the aisle is a later addition. At the W end of the former S aisle an arch leads to the lower storey of the former tower, destroyed by the Dutch fleet in 1667. The arcade was blocked and the S aisle removed after this. The ground storey of the tower is now a vestry, but in 1917 another tower was begun by men of the London Electrical Engineers using heavy blocks of Kentish Rag taken from the Coalhouse Fort. In 2015 a timber kitchen extension was built on the W front, and in the course of this work the remains of a 13thc W doorway with dogtooth ornament were discovered and conserved. From the exterior the building is dominated by the enormous tiled roof that covers the nave and N aisle.
Parish church
Corringham is a small town within the Thurrock Unitary Authority, neighbouring Stanford-le-Hope to the W. The church is on the southern edge of the town, a mile N of the Thames estuary. It consists of an early Norman W tower with a later pyramid roof, a nave with a N aisle and a S porch, and a chancel with a N chapel. The tower is ornamented at the top with two rows of blind arcading, incorporating bell openings in the centre of the upper row, and the tower arch is also described here.
Parish church
Stifford is in the Thurrock Unitary Authority, between Purfleet in the W and Grays in the E. The parish covers the settlements of North and South Stifford, separated by the A13, with the church in North Stifford, basically a village High Street extending for a mile and occupied by the church, a pub and several housing that includes several attractive timber framed buildings. St Mary’s is on the S side of this street and consists of a chancel with a S chapel housing the organ, a nave with a 2-bay S aisle linked to the chapel, a N porch facing the High Street, and a W tower with a short broach spire. A blocked arch at the E end of the N nave wall suggests that there was formerly a chapel here. The nave and its N doorway are 12thc in origin; the aisle was added in the 13thc, as was the tower; The chancel chapel dates from the late 13thc. The church was restored by Henry Stock of Snooke and Stock in 1861-63. It is of rubble including flint and ragstone with some puddingstone. Romanesque features recorded here are the N doorway and the font.
Parish church
Aveley is a small town in Thurrock, on the N side of the A13 and separated from the Thames, 1½ miles to the S, by the Mar Dyke and Purfleet. It is largely a suburban development now, but the old centre, containing the church, is towards the S of the settlement. St Michael's consists of a chancel with a N chapel, all 13thc, a nave with N and S aisles, of which the S is of the 12thc and the N 13thc. Above the E bay of the S arcade is part of a window arch that must predate the arcade. There is no chancel arch. A clerestory was added to the nave in the 15thc. At the W end is a low tower with a battlemented parapet and a pyramid roof or short spire, and alongside the tower on the SW is a modern kitchen extension by Richard Burbidge (1994-96). Construction is of roughly coursed ragstone and flint. Romanesque features described here are the S nave arcade, a Purbeck font and a pillar piscina.
Parish church
Chadwell St Mary is a parish in the Unitary Authority of Thurrock, a mile to the N of Tilbury and 2 miles E of Grays. The church, in the centre of the old settlement, now stands at a busy crossroads where the roads to Tilbury, Grays and Orsett meet. It consists of a chancel, nave and W tower, with a 19thc addition on the S side, away from the road, that covers the S doorway. The nave, with S doorway and the remains of the N doorway above the present 13thc entrance is early 12thc. The chancel belongs to the 14thc and the tower was built c.1500. Construction is of flint rubble with some ragstone and Reigate dressings.