Church of St Augustine of Canterbury, Birdbrook (EHER 6971)

Parish church. Chancel and Nave late 11th-early 12th century, altered in 13th century. South porch, North vestry and general restoration, 19th century. Walls of stone, flint and pebble rubble containing Roman brick and opus signum, dressings of limestone and clunch, roof of handmade red clay tiles, bellcote weatherboarded, spire shingled. Roman brick has been used within the fabric of the church. Medieval graffitti is also present inside the church.

June 1962. Grade II* listed. A late 11th or early 12th century parish church, altered in the 13th century and restored in the 19th century. The walls are built from stone, flint and pebble rubble containing Roman brick and opus signum; the dressings are of limestone and clunch; and the roof is covered with handmade red clay tiles. The bellcote is weatherboarded and the spire is shingled. <1> See photos <2>. The church has walls of stone, flint and pebble rubble mixed with tiles. The dressings are limestone and clunch. The roofs are tiled. The chancel and nave date from the late 11th or early 12th century (indicated by Roman brick). In the early 13th century the nave was lengthened westwards to form a chapel and soon after the chancel was partly rebuilt, lengthened probably and widened towards the south. An arch was built across the nave, approximately 8ft east of the west wall, to support a bell-cot. Features and fittings: windows and window details of the 11th or early 12th century, 13th century, 14th century, 15th century; 13th century north and south doorways; 15th century nave roof with moulded and embattled wall plates and other moulded timbers; a stone in the churchyard may be an altar slab; a late 14th century ident of a woman in the chancel; a locker of uncertain date in the chancel; a 13th century coffin-lid in the chancel; an early 13th century piscina; parts of a late 15th century screen and seating incorporated in modern choir stalls; stoup in the south porch; a recess in the north wall of the chancel with a three-centred head, with the remains of a flue, possibly indicating a fireplace in a vestry behind the altar; a carved above the south doorway is 13th century two panels between the 13th century windows on the outside of the east wall of the chancel are each carved with a head. In the 19th century the church was restored. At this time, the chancel south wall was built and the south porch also. There are three bells, one dated to 1570, another 1591, another 1612. The communion rails are early 18th century. A monument in the tower is dated to 1681, a floor slab in the nave to 1713 or 1743. The plate includes a cup of 1562 and a cover-paten of 1561. <3> Herringbone masonry in the north walls indicates an Early Norman date. There are blocked Norman windows in the north and south walls of the nave. The other windows are mostly 13th century lancets from the lengthening of the chancel to the east and the nave to the west. The font is a gothic imitation from 1793 - in its east panel is a miniature painting of Christ said to be by Samuel Cooper. The communion rail dates from around 1700. There is also a monunent to Thomas Walford (local antiquarian), dated 1833. <4> Large, two-celled Norman church enlarged in the 13th century. The only original fabric is in part of the nave and chancel north walls with herringbone Roman brick. The south side was blanket refaced in the 19th century. Some fine 19th century gravestones in the churchyard. The building has been devastated, archaeologically and historically speaking (see Site Assessment). Graded BBIIIc by Rodwell. <5> There is graffiti in the church, mostly on the 15th century arch supporting the bellcot. Other graffiti is on the south door jamb. The chancel was restored in the 19th century so has no graffiti. On the arch, is a heraldic device, a small consecration or merchant's mark. There is a male head on the south door's east jamb. The doorway is 11th century but the head could date between then and the mid 15th century when the type of head-dress went out of use in the country. Other graffiti includes a shield on the post jamb of this door and three examples of the `Three Mens Morris' board game on the nave's north east window sill. <6> There is a blocked round-headed doorway in the chancel north wall. The early 15th century nave roof has five bays, with "high moulded butt-purlins and moulded and crenellated collars, each truss stiffened with moulded eaves- blades which terminate at the collar, the wall plates are moulded and crenellated". The roof construction has been described as `unique' in Essex (source 9). The building is roofed with hand-made red clay tiles. The bell cote is weatherboarded, the spire shingled. <7> <8> South porch, north vestry, and general restoration date from the 19th century. A blocked aperture below the west window in the chancel north wall has 17th- 18th century brick quoins. Monuments include one of 1756, another of 1789. Other 18th century monuments also. There is 19th century graffit on the west side of the inserted 15th century arch in the nave. <7> Roman brick in fabric. Walls contain Roman brick and `opus signinum'. The north wall of the chancel has many herring-bone courses in Roman brick. In the north wall of the chancel, a blocked door's infill includes much Roman brick and `opus signinum'. The earlier part the nave has several Roman brick herringbone courses. <1> Several herring-bone courses of Roman brick in the north wall of the chancel, also in the north wall of the nave. <3> <10> <11> Roman brick in north walls of nave and chancel and much Roman brick reset in the rest of the church, and must have been used in the quoins which don's survive. <5> Site Assessment: "Though much restored, the church retains some good examples of 13th century work". <3> The reused herringbone-patterned Roman brick in the north walls has been very clumsily repointed. The south side of the church is characterless due to 19th century blanket refacing. The ground level is high and a concrete-lined trench has been dug. "Internally, the floors have been renewed, with imitation stone tiles, in recent years, undoubtedly involving the total or near total destruction of the below-ground archaeology. A major legacy enabled the pressure of restoration, begun in the 19th century to continue steadily to the present day, with the result that the unwritten history of this. Site Assessment: Roman brick herringbone work has been very clumsily repointed. Because of a legacy restoration continued from the 19th century to the present, obliterating the church's unwritten history. The churchyard "has been thoroughly devastated and an incongruous rockery has been constructed out of gravestones, these including some particularly fine 19th century examples, now disintegrating through frost action". <5> NRHE data transfer: May 1950. Field survey. Roman brick in N. walls of Chancel and Nave of St. Augustine's Church. <12> Church graffiti appear on an arch across the nave and on the south door jamb. They are dated from the late 11th to the mid 15th century. <13> See also <14> <15>.