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St Mary, Corringham, Essex

Location
(51°31′21″N, 0°27′48″E)
Corringham
TQ 710 833
pre-1974 traditional (England and Wales) Essex
now Thurrock
medieval London
now Chelmsford
medieval St Mary
now St Mary
  • Ron Baxter
19 July 2016

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Description

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.

History

Corringham was held by William from the Bishop of London in 1086 as a manor of 3½ hides and 10 acres, and was held as a manor of 4 hides and 10 acres by Sigar in 1066. The missing hide was held in 1086 by the Bishop of Bayeux. The chief manor remained in the possession of the Bishops of London, but was held from them from the later 12thc by the Baud family, the earliest recorded tenant of that name being Simon de Baud (d.1174). This family remained in possession until the end of the 16thc.

Features

Exterior Features

Windows

Exterior Decoration

Arcading

Interior Features

Arches

Tower/Transept arches
Comments/Opinions

Pevsner (1954), followed by Bettley (2007) describes the tower as “one of the most important Early Norman monuments in the county”. The List Description also dates it to the late-11thc as does RCHME which, however, has the nave earlier in the 11thc and the tower built in part on these early foundations.

Bibliography

J. Bettley and N. Pevsner, The Buildings of England. Essex, New Haven and London 2007, 310.

J. Cooper, The Church Dedications and Saints’ Cults of Medieval Essex, Lancaster 2011, 127.

Historic England listed building 119636

N. Pevsner, The Buildings of England. Essex, Harmondsworth 1954, 136.

RCHME, An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Essex, Volume 4, South east. (1923), 25-27.

T. Wright, The History and Topography of the County of Essex, II, 1831, 570-71.