Roman bricks within walls of Church of St John the Baptist, Great Clacton (EHER 2846)

Church, walls include Roman brick and limestone. Summary from record 2308: The church walls include Roman brick and limestone.

Church, walls include Roman brick and limestone <1>-<5> An observation was made on the fabric of the south wall of the chancel and the condition of the building. At the south-east corner of the chancel (which was remodelled in the 14th and 19th centuries) east of a modern buttress and a 14th century window where the wall thins out and lacks a plinth, the masonry facing of the upper half of the wall has collapsed. The exposed wall core consists of stone, almost all of it septaria. The condition of the church has deteriorated severely in the last three years. The rainwater goods and drainage are defective, and there must be damp at the top and bottom of the walls. Vandalism has intensified and extended to the monuments around the church. The south-east corner is bowing outwards and it is only a matter of time before it collapses. <6><7> There is a list of references for St. John Gt. Clacton. <8> An archaeological watching brief on drainage works discovered no evidence of earlier occupation of the site, nor of an earlier church. The nave wall footings were observed to be of septaria rubble. A probable Victorian brick tomb was discovered on the north side of the church. <13> A floor and alter pertaining to the 12th C phase of the church were uncovered. Cutting deposits of sand that sealed the floors were post-medieval vaults or graves, sealed in turn by the present day floor, which was constructed by Hakewill in 1866. <9> The truncated base of a shallow pilaster or buttress at the bottom of the southern chancel wall was recorded and interpreted as the probable remains of a 12th C arch. A vault was uncovered in the south of the chancel. The remains of two Victorian brick structures were found to the north and west of the church.<10> Tree-ring analysis on timbers from the belfry yielded a tree-ring series but could not be matched against any of the available reference material and remains undated. <11> Description from the NRHE data import. The dressings of the St John the Baptist Church walls include Roman brick and limestone. <1> <2> <4> <5> <6> <14>