St Mary's Church is an active

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

in the village of Great Baddow, Essex, England. The church stands on the High Street in the centre of the village and dates from the 12th century. Much extended in the 16th century, and heavily restored in the 19th and 20th centuries, the church is a

Grade I listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

History

The urban village of

Great Baddow Great Baddow is a major village and civil parish in the Chelmsford borough of Essex, England. It is close to the city of Chelmsford and, with a population of over 13,000,City of Chelmsford The City of Chelmsford () is a local government district with borough and city status in Essex, England. It is named after its main settlement, Chelmsford, which is also the county town of Essex. As well as the settlement of Chelmsford itself, ...

. In his ''Essex'' Directory of 1848, William White described it as "one of the handsomest villages in Essex". The Church of St Mary dates from the 12th century. In the 14th century, the churchyard at St Mary's was the gathering place of a contingent of men from Essex, who then marched south to London to join

Wat Tyler Wat Tyler (1341 or – 15 June 1381) was a leader of the 1381 Peasants' Revolt in Kingdom of England, England. He led a group of rebels from Canterbury to City of London, London to oppose the collection of a Tax per head, poll tax and to dem ...

in the

Peasants' Revolt The Peasants' Revolt, also named Wat Tyler's Rebellion or the Great Rising, was a major uprising across large parts of England in 1381. The revolt had various causes, including the socio-economic and political tensions generated by the Black ...

. The building was enhanced and extended in the 16th century, with

brickwork Brickwork is masonry produced by a bricklayer, using bricks and mortar. Typically, rows of bricks called '' courses'' are laid on top of one another to build up a structure such as a brick wall. Bricks may be differentiated from blocks by ...

of high quality. A major restoration in the 19th century, was followed in the 20th by further renovations and reordering of the interior. St Mary's contains a notable monument to the Gwyn sisters and their friend Ann Antrim by

Henry Cheere Sir Henry Cheere, 1st Baronet (1703 – 15 January 1781) was an English sculptor and monumental mason.George Edward Cokayne, ed., ''The Complete Baronetage'', 5 volumes (no date, c.1900); reprint, (Gloucester: Alan Sutton Publishing, 1983), Vol. ...

. Another monument honours Major-general Sir Nicholas Trant, who served under the Duke of Wellington in the

Peninsular War The Peninsular War (1808–1814) was fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Kingdom of Portugal, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French ...

. A soldier of considerable daring, Wellington described him as, "a very good officer, but as drunk a dog as ever lived." St Mary's has memorial plaques to the men of Great Baddow who died in the

First First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

and the

Second World Wars World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. In September 2022 the church was the starting point for a commemorative walk, ending at

Chelmsford Cathedral Chelmsford Cathedral, formally titled the Cathedral Church of St Mary the Virgin, St Peter and St Cedd, is an Church of England, Anglican cathedral in the city of Chelmsford, Essex, England, dedicated to Mary (mother of Jesus), St Mary the Virgi ...

, for families, mainly from Essex, who had lost children to

violent crime A violent crime, violent felony, crime of violence or crime of a violent nature is a crime in which an offender or perpetrator uses or threatens to use harmful Force (law), force upon a victim. This entails both crimes in which the violence, vio ...

. The church remains an active parish church in the

Diocese of Chelmsford The Diocese of Chelmsford is a Church of England diocese, part of the Province of Canterbury. It was created on 23 January 1914 from part of the Diocese of St Albans. It covers Essex and part of East London. Since 1984 it is divided into three ...

Architecture

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked with prot ...

gives a foundation date for the church as the 12th century. The chancel dates from the 13th century and the tower from the 14th. Major expansion of the building occurred in the early 16th century. James Bettley, in the ''Essex'' volume of the Pevsner Buildings of England series, considered the church exterior "splendid", due largely to its Tudor brickwork dating from this time. The remainder of the construction material is

flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Historically, flint was widely used to make stone tools and start ...

rubble Rubble is broken stone, of irregular size, shape and texture; undressed especially as a filling-in. Rubble naturally found in the soil is known also as 'brash' (compare cornbrash)."Rubble" def. 2., "Brash n. 2. def. 1. ''Oxford English Dictionar ...

. A

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...

renovation was undertaken by C. and W. H. Pertwee between 1892 and 1903. Further modifications were made in the 20th century. Internally, the

pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, accesse ...

is early 16th century.

Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (195 ...

thought it, "the best of its date in the county". The church is a

. The churchyard contains the Duffield Memorial. Designed by Herbert Maryon in 1912, it commemorates a prominent local solicitor, William Ward Duffield, his wife, Marianne and their son. The

lychgate A lychgate (from Old English ''līc'', corpse) or resurrection gate is a covered gateway found at the entrance to a traditional English or English-style churchyard. Examples also exist outside the British Isles in places such as Newfoundland, the ...

to the churchyard is by

Ninian Comper Sir John Ninian Comper (10 June 1864 – 22 December 1960) was a Scottish architect, one of the last of the great Gothic Revival architecture, Gothic Revival architects. His work almost entirely focused on the design, restoration and embellishm ...

and dates from 1930.

Gallery

St. Mary's Church Great Baddow - geograph.org.uk - 46442.jpg, The west tower - dating from the 14th century St Mary the Virgin, Great Baddow, Essex - geograph.org.uk - 1497590.jpg, The 20th century porch St Mary the Virgin, Great Baddow, Essex - East end - geograph.org.uk - 1497603.jpg, The interior looking to the east end St Mary the Virgin, Great Baddow, Essex - Pulpit - geograph.org.uk - 1497612.jpg, The pulpit - much admired by Pevsner

Notes

References

Sources

* * * * * {{cite book , last = White , first = William , author-link = William White (Sheffield, England) , title=Great Baddow , url = https://www.worldcat.org/title/35158908 , publisher=

White's Directories ''White's Directories'' were a series of directory publications issued by William White of Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centr ...