Ruins of St Mary's Church (EHER 14)

A 15th century parish church now ruined, the walls are flint and septaria-rubble with limestone dressings. Surviving walls stand to 1m above ground.

Now ruined, the walls are flint and septaria-rubble with limestone dressings. Little evidence for the date of the main building but the south porch is of around 1500. The church became ruinous in the 17th or early 18th century. The remains consist of the former east wall, most of the south wall, the south porch and a fragment of the west end of the north wall or part of a west tower. The south porch has flint-inlaid panels with capital letters and flushwork decoration. There are blocked windows in the side wall and a former south doorway to the nave, with a segmental head, also blocked. <1> <2> Excavation, 1923 In 1923 the undergrowth was cleared and the church excavated. The building's foundations were revealed and shown to consist of a chancel, nave, south aisle, west tower and the still standing south porch. <3> <4> The south porch was used as a private chapel after the church was demolished but has itself been demolished "in recent years". Excavations, 1961 According to this source excavations took place in 1961 and the graveyard and ruins cleared exposing rubble walling and good 18th-19th century monuments. The plan of the church was recovered and shown to be more complex than the RCHM appreciated. There are some glazed tiles in Colchester Museum, but the writer cannot trace any records or publication relating to this investigation. The work is unpublished and no further information could be obtained. The site has been bulldozed though church's outline and broken tombstones can be seen. "The porch was a moderately good example of flint-inlay work of around 1500". Graded IIIc by Rodwell <5> The church became ruinous in the 17th-early 18th centuries, was demolished and replaced by a new one when Sir Richard Rigby decided to turn Mistley into a spa. Some walls remain to a height of 3-4 feet, gravestones still in place but many are broken. Masonry was still visible in 1981, according to this source though overgrown with brambles. The possible remains of Deserted Medieval Village may have been seen from evidence in 1975 when a pipeline trench crossed this area. Presumably thought to be a Deserted Medieval Village from isolated position and construction of a new village in the 18th century. <6> <7> <16> Nine photos in SMR. <8> The foundation date of church is not known, despite local histories suggesting 1170. First record of a priest is 1203. The church was probably demolished around 1735 when it was replaced by Richard Rigby's church, the south porch surviving to become a burial vault for the Rigbys. The porch was demolished in 1972, the doorway being removed to Colchester Museum. No records or finds survive from the 1961 excavation other than interims in the parish magazine and floor tiles given to Colchester Museum. Few finds were made, apart from floor tiles and flaking `Tudor glass'. Four grave slabs were once set in the floor of the nave and south aisle. One, of Jhonne Bonner, 1535, is in the modern Mistley church. The ones that remain comprise a slab in the centre of the nave, part of inscription left, 13th century; one at the east end of the aisle with indents for inscription plates but no figure, 16th century; another slab now subsiding into its vault. A shattered slab of Purbeck marble at the east end of the nave has an indent for a brass and may have been a table-tomb or altar reused as a tomb slab, and may be the slab built into the north wall noted as found in 1961. The evidence available indicates the following sequence - a single-celled church, to which a separate chancel was added; the addition of a south aisle with buttresses (13th century type) and the addition of the south chapel, both by mid 16th century; the enlargement of the chancel, by the 1680s. A timber belfry was present, rather than a west tower. Architectural fragments, mostly from the porch, lie scattered over the site and floor tile fragments are visible in the topsoil. <9> - <15> Other reference: <17> Site Assessment "Everything has now been bulldozed and rough grass covers most of the site, part of the church's outline is still visible and the occasional fragment of broken tombstone can be seen". Proper archaeological recording should have accompanied destruction, it is difficult to see why the latter was done anyway". <5> Masonry and in situ gravestones reportedly visible in 1981. <6> Barford suggests total excavation is to preferred to preservation of what remains. Previous excavations hardly touched the interior of the church. Although scheduled, the site is badly overgrown with trees taking root in the masonry. <9> Suggest visit to see and record what remains. Scheduled listing. <20> Additional references <21> <22> <23>