Cathedral Church of St Mary the Virgin (EHER 5870)

The church was wholly rebuilt in the 15th century, at which date it comprised an aisled nave, chancel with North and South chapels, a West tower and South porch. The spire was rebuilt in 1749. The nave collapsed in 1800 following excavation in the vaults, and was rebuilt by John Johnson. Chancel and South chapel restored by Frederic Chancellor 1862, who also designed the North transept and outer North aisle added in 1873. Chancel East window and clerestory by A W Blomfield, 1877-8. There was further restoration by Chancellor in the 1880s. The two East bays of the chancel were added in 1926-8 to designs by A K Nicholson. The large complex of vestries and the original chapterhouse were added in 1929, also to designs by Nicholson. A new chapterhouse was built elsewhere, and the chapterhouse converted to a song school in 1990, and the whole complex was refurbished in the early 21st century by Andrew Murdoch of Fitzroy Robinson. It became a cathedral in 1908.

Original HER entry merged with NRHE data import. The walls of the Cathedral Church of St Mary the Virgin are flint rubble with some freestone. The dressings are partly limestone, partly Reigate stone. The roofs are leaded. The old details are 15th or early 16th century. The south and west arches of the north chapel, the west arch of the south chapel are of around 1400-1410. They indicate that the plan at this period included at least a chancel, north chapel, north aisle, south aisle. The present south chapel was added or rebuilt around 1430. In the second half of the 15th century the south porch was added. In around 1489 the north and south arcades were rebuilt and a clerestory added to the nave. The exterior of the nave is said to have borne an inscription dated 1489. The north and south aisles may also have been rebuilt at this time. The west tower was added in around 1500. It was flanked by the ends of the aisles-they may have been lengthened to do so. The south chapel was lengthened and rebuilt, probably in the early 16th century. It has 16th century brickwork. Features and fittings: 15th and late 15th century windows, late 15th century doorways, the north aisle roof has late 15th-early 16th century timbers, the south aisle roof has timbers of around 1500, the ceiling of the south porch incorporates 20 traceried heads of 15th century panelling and a moulded beam, the ceiling of the lowest stage of the tower is of around 1500, there is a 15th century piscina, also a 15th century door, there is a 13th century coffin lid in the churchyard and indent of around 1430. <1> In 1800 the nave roof fell and the clerestory, most of the south and part of the north arcades were destroyed. Extensive rebuilding followed, most of the structure being altered or renewed during the 19th century. The north and south chapels were largely rebuilt, and a clerestory was added to the chancel. At the west end of the nave are shafts of a roof arch of around 1800. The south porch has 16th century brickwork. There are `modern' windows. The tower has an 18th century spirelet. A small library in the `parvise' (room over south porch) has very old works including one dated 1679. Inscriptions and scratchings are dated 1637, 1656, 1701. There are late 16th, 17th and 18th century monuments and floor slabs. The plate includes items dating to the 17th and 18th centuries. <1> Despite promotion to cathedral status in 1913 'the church will, whatever adjustments can be made, remain the parish church of a prosperous late medieval town'. <2> The church has a `new' east end of 1923 with a reused east window of 1878. On the tower the open lantern dates to 1749, when the spire was also rebuilt. Much of the church has been over restored according to Pevsner. The outer north aisle and north transept were added in 1873. The chapterhouse, muniment room and vestry in 1926. The interior of the church shows an early restoration, of 1801-1803, when the late 15th century piers were rebuilt. The clerestory windows were renewed at the same time. The nave ceiling dates to 1899. Many post medieval fittings, including the communion rail of around 1675, reportedly from Holland, the pulpit is of 1872. <2> The church was founded in the 13th century by the Bishop of London (contemporary with founding of town of Chelmsford itself). It was rebuilt in the 15th century. Limited excavations took place in 1983 prior to the laying of a new floor. Fragmentary foundations of the pre-15th century church were found, demonstrating that the earlier church was almost as large as its successor, was on the same alignment and consisted of an ailed nave, chancel, north and south chapels and west tower. Fragments of building materials were found but nothing architecturally diagnostic. <3> Finds with ECC, to go to Chelmsford Museum. <4> Built around 1424. Oldest features are 15th and 16th century in date. 15th century north and south chapels, south porch, north and south arcades, 16th century west tower. <5> The church must date from the founding of the town in 1199-1200, but was entirely rebuilt in the second half of the 15th century. Much of the church was then rebuilt and altered early in the 19th century. It became a cathedral church of the new diocese in 1908. There are many modern additions. The gates and gate piers of the churchyard are listed-the wrought-iron gates are 18th century in date. A number of 18th and 19th century monuments in the churchyard are listed also. <5> Watching brief, 1983 A site visit was made to a pipe trench, orientated EW, across the graveyard, leading from the footpath at new street, to the E wall of the Chapter house. The trench was 300mm wide by 500mm deep, with topsoil to a depth of 200mm. No archaeological features were visible in the trench, but 2 grave slabs had been laid flat below the turf. These were 2.5m and 6.75m to the east of the path respectively. <6> Excavation, 1983 In 1983 D. Priddy for Essex County Council carried out excavations to a limited depth prior to the laying of a new floor. These revealed fragmentary foundations of the pre-15th-century church. This demonstrated that the earlier church was not substantially smaller than its successors. It shared the same alignment and consisted of an aisled nave, chancel, N and S chapels and a W tower. Few finds were recovered, and no architecturally diagnostic stonework founds. Finds, the property of Essex C.C, will go to the Chelmsford and Essex Museum. <7> Field visit, 1988 St Mary's Cathedral Church (dedication confirmed) is as described externally. The floor inside has recently been re-laid. <8> Excavation. 1995 Excavations of 3 test pits in the churchyard identified disturbed Post Medieval graveyard soils, and sections of the foundations of the Chapter house and north aisle were exposed. Finds included pottery sherds, vaults, bones, a coin, etc. <9> Aerial photographs <10> <11> Watching brief, 1998 Watching brief carried out on rebuild of precinct wall revealed evidence for possible medieval footings and for several phases of rebuilding. Three courses of tile bedded on mortar were noted surviving in situ and may represent medieval footings largely removed by later rebuilds. Bricks dated to the late 17th/early 18th century, used as footings supporting a flint rubble wall, point to a rebuild around this time removing the earlier tile footings. Backfill from behind the wall produced quantities of ceramics including post medieval red earthenware, metropolitan and Staffordshire slipware, tin glazed earthenwares, borderwares and stonewares supporting this date. Also included were quantities of animal bone, oyster and bone from disturbed burials <12> - <15> Chelmsford Cathedral- Reconstruction of the east precinct wall along New Street. <16> 13 photocopies of internal of Cathedral. <17> Schedule of ledgers. <18> Watching brief, 2007 Observations of drainage works to the north side of the cathedral, the tower, south aisle, the porch and Corpus Christi chapel uncovered many points of interest, most notably the use of septaria in the tower foundation, a building sequence of the tower and eastern ends of the aisles, a difference in the foundations of the north and south aisles, evidence for extensive repairs to the west wall of the porch and the unusual ragstone foundations of the south chapel. <19> Watching brief, 2008 Background Documentary evidence suggests Chelmsford Cathedral took its present form after an extensive programme of reconstruction during the 15C and 16C. In 1800 the south arcade of the nave collapsed resulting in a major rebuild which was overseen by John Johnson. None of the paintings depicting the disaster show the south elevation, nor do drawings of the reconstruction. <20> Method The south elevation west of the porch was visually inspected from the ground and a scaffold. High resolution photographs were taken and scaled to 1:50 in Adobe Photoshop. A print of the south elevation has been annotated to indicate the building phases which have been recognised. The relevant part of the 1:50 survey of the cathedral was overlaid on to the photographs and the principal phases identified and indicated in colour. Results 5 building phases were identified through fabric analysis, ranging from late 15C, early 16C, late 18C, 19Cand Late 19C and early 20C. It is argued that the westernmost bay represents relatively unaltered Tudor work. It was observed that the brick buttress on the south aisle made a straight joint with the flintwork to the east but seems to be bonded with the brickwork on the west side. The mortar in the flintwork to the west of the buttress is a strong yellow brown in colour, whilst to the west of the Holiday (Henry Holiday 1905-6) window it is a paler colour. Such observations reinforce the conclusion that the wall has two different building phases, each on either side of the buttress. The weathering stones at the top of the buttress were renewed in the 20C and during that phase of work, Lodges renewed quite a lot of brickwork at the top of the buttress. The top of the Holiday window is original; the hood mould (or much of it) and top tracery lights are original and coated with what is probably an oil based preparation, they may be in Reigate stone. <21> Watching brief, 2018 During groundworks in Nov 2018, a brick lined chamber was unearthed just north of the southern precinct wall. Potentially earlier than late 18th century. Recording attached. <21> Letter plans and guide book with reference to proposed building of a visitors centre that the 20th century society were against. <22> Photo reference of south elevations <23> Photo ref proposed extension in 1989. <24> The church must date from the founding of the town in 1199-1200, but was entirely rebuilt in the second half of the 15th century. <25> Photographs <26> - <27> Additional references <18> - <35>