Church of St Nicholas, Great Wakering (EHER 11065)

A parish church. The chancel and nave were built in around 1100 and the ground stage of the west tower was built in around 1130, with the upper part built later in the same century. The chancel arch was rebuilt in the 15th century. The west porch was added in the late 15th century and the south porch is 16th century. The north vestry was built in around 1843. There are 19th century and later restorations.

July 1959. Grade II* listed. A parish church. The chancel and nave were built in around 1100 and the ground stage of the west tower was built in around 1130, with the upper part built later in the same century. The chancel arch was rebuilt in the 15th century. The west porch was added in the late 15th century and the south porch is 16th century. The north vestry was built in around 1843. There are 19th century and later restorations. The church is built from roughly coursed ragstone flint and septaria rubble, with limestone dressings. It has red plain tiled roofs. <1> See photos <2>. Walls are coursed ragstone rubble with some septaria and flint; dressings are Reigate and other limestone; roofs are tiled and spire is boarded. The chancel and nave were built in around 1100, and the ground stage of the west tower was added in around 1130. The upper part was completed towards the end of the 12th century. The chancel arch was rebuilt in the 15th century, reusing older material, and late in 15th century the west porch with room over was built. The south porch was added early in the 16th century. The north chapel or annexe was built in 1843 and the church has been restored in 'modern' times. There are photos and a plan of church in source <3>. Features and fittings include: windows of 12th-16th century; a 15th century rood loft staircase with lower doorway with two-centred heads; a 14th century north doorway (blocked); a 13th century south doorway with probably 15th century door; 15th century west doorway to west porch; chancel roof is trussed-rafter type; late 14th or early 15th century nave roof with king-post trusses; brass indent from around 1400 in chancel; brass indent in nave, used as threshold of south doorway, defaced; probably 16th century chest in north chapel; recess in chancel, possibly piscina, 13th century, stoup in south porch, date uncertain. Church restored in the 19th century and later. 19th century features include font in chancel east window. Traces of possibly 17th/18th century painted inscription to east of north doorway. Four headstones (three 18th century and one 18th/19th century) in churchyard are listed (see EHER 35018-35021). The south porch has a roof with very small octagonal crown post. Nave roof is crown post type. Norman font came from Horndon Church in the 1970s. <3> The north chapel or annexe was built in 1843 and the church has been restored in 'modern' times. Features and fittings include: 18th century (blocked internally) window in nave; 17th-18th century monuments and headstones in the churchyard; remains of 17th century inscriptions in the nave. <4> The neat shingled broach spire is 15th century. The most singular feature of this church is the two-storeyed 15th century west porch added to the Norman west tower. This is an Early Saxon motif, and one wonders what can have been the reason for introducing it here? Older foundations, or simply some obstacle in the way of a two-storeyed south porch? <5> See also <6>. The church had been granted to Beeleigh Abbey, near Maldon and remained a rectory in their gift until 1283 when Richard de Gravesend, Bishop of London, appropriated the Great Tithes and the Collation of the Vicarage. There was a further argument about the tithes in 1307 between the Abbot of Beeleigh and the Prior of Prittlewell, which was eventually settled in the Abbots favour. <7> Site Assessment: 12th century west tower is interesting and the west porch is an unusual feature. In fairly good condition, some stonework much decayed (in 1923). <3> 'The most singular feature of this church is the two-storeyed 15th century west porch added to the Norman west tower. This is an early Saxon motif and one wonders what can have been the reason for introducing it here? Older foundations or simply some obstacle in the way of a two-storeyed south porch?' <5> NRHE data transfer: St Nicholas's Church (C of E) [NAT]. <8> Although the Domesday Book has no mention of a church, there is the possibility of a pre-conquest monastic establishment here. Place name evidence and a number of Anglo Saxon burials and small finds at least point to an early settlement. See EHER 19979 for more. <9> - <13>