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St Andrew, Abberton

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Abberton is alphabetically the first parish in Essex, and one of the first in England. It gives its name to Abberton Water, a large reservoir formed when the valley below was flooded in the 1930s. The merged villages of Abberton and Langenhoe lie close to the edge of Colchester, but they still have a distinctly rural feel. There were once two churches, but Langenhoe's medieval church was flattened in the 1884 earthquake and rebuilt, the replacement church in its turn being demolished in the 1960s. Now, both villages share this one. The Abberton end of the village is smaller, and out beyond it a long, narrow lane leads out through woods towards the reservoir and the church. The church sits in its sloping churchyard on a bluff dropping towards the reservoir, a wide expanse of water stretching several miles in each direction. There is not another building in sight and the silence is surprisingly moving. The severe red brick tower is of the 16th Century, the church against it principally of the 14th Century but in any case both were enthusiastically restored when the brick chancel was added in the 19th Century. Inside, the little church is unpretentious, and appeared to be open all the time when I visited in 2012. However, coming back in the second Covid summer of 2021 I found it locked without a keyholder notice, so I had to rely on my memory of a pleasingly simple white interior, a few memorials, a delightful sense of travelling back in time to perhaps half a century ago. James Bettley, revising the Buildings of England volume for Essex, noted, perhaps wrily, that there were two simple 19th Century restorations of the nave, 1841, when a west gallery was erected, and in 1865, when it was taken down. The simple Low Church furnishings presumably date from the second of these. The church has electricity now, but an ornate candelabra studded with candlesticks still hangs in the little chancel. Glass in an upper light drips with grapes and reminds us I am the Vine. Simon Knott, December 2021 Follow these journeys as they happen at Last Of England Twitter.

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