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St Andrew, Marks Tey

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Here we are in Colchester suburbia, and perhaps the worst part of it, where the hellish junction of the A120 coming in from Stansted Airport joins the busy A12 beside the railway line from London to Ipswich and Norwich. But St Andrew is out in the fields, remote enough from road and railway to be a peaceful spot. It is a curious sight, even in this county where we are used to the site of timber belfries and spires. The red brick west tower was severely damaged in the 1648 siege of Colchester, and later the upper stages were rebuilt using vertical boarding with a shingled spire set deeply within. The wooden parapet looks as if it might be more at home gaily painted and set on a Mississippi river boat. As often around here the nave was a Norman church, remodelled in the 14th Century and a chancel added to it. James Bettley observes in his 2007 revision of the Buildings of England volume for Essex that it was 'thoroughly' restored by EJ Dampier 1884-5, but this was probably slight compared with what was to happen here shortly after the publication of the book. You step into what is to all intents and purposes a 21st Century space. The interior was entirely scoured of its accretions and remodelling to Victorian taste in 2010. The flooring is of stone slabs with modern chairs facing a clean, light sanctuary with a simple wooden table. The saving grace is that the 20th Century glass was left in situ, and it is of a high standard. On the south side is Wippell & Co's memorial glass to the stained glass artist Arthur Erridge, who lived in this parish and died in 1968. It depicts the Evangelist St Luke painting his apocryphal portrait of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It was probably made to Erridge's design. The other important 20th Century glass here is FC Eden's magnificent Christ in Majesty with Saints and Martyrs of 1925. It is probably his biggest single work in East Anglia, and affords some enjoyment trying to identify all the depicted saints by their symbols. (Spoiler alert: they are, in the top row, St Mary Magdalene, St Agnes and the Blessed Virgin on the left and St John the Baptist, Moses and Elijah flanking Christ in Majesty. In the middle row are St Paul, St Peter and St Andrew on the left, St Augustine, St Gregory, St Ambrose and St Jerome, the four Latin Doctors, in the centre and St Alban, St William of Norwich and St Lawrence on the right. The bottom row consists of Charles I, Henry VI and St Edmund on the left, St Benedict, St Francis and St Dominic in the centre and St Catherine, St Etheldreda and St Joan de Valois on the right). The church's millennium window at the south-west corner of the nave is striking, although only time will tell if it will join the other glass in being so well thought of. It's theme is the same yesterday, today and forever, and it depicts citizens of the parish over time from a Roman soldier to members of the scouts and guides. This part of the church is home to two of its most singular features, for Marks Tey has the east of England's only medieval wooden font, a 15th Century piece with arcaded panels in the manner of the Seven Sacrament fonts of a few miles north. The carvings appear to have been erased, and it is heartbreaking to think that this may have been a unique example of a wooden Seven Sacrament font. Under the tower is one of Essex's best war memorials, a brass plaque depicting both St Michael and an English Tommy. Near it, another memorial calls to our minds Robert Smith, who was some time curate of this parish. The inscription begins by telling us that Without the walls of this chancel, at the back of that altar to which it was his hearts desire to draw his flock that they may eat the Bread of Life rest the mortal remains of Robert Smith. Smith died at the age of 33 in 1840, in an early stage of a career of no ordinary promise, and the language suggests that he was an early adherent of the sacramentalist movement that was then growing in the Church of England. The church is open every day, and is very welcoming. On one of my visits I found a notice pinned to the outer door inviting Pokemon Go players to come in, recharge their phones and use the church's free wifi. Simon Knott, December 2021 Follow these journeys as they happen at Last Of England Twitter.

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Norfolk churches - Suffolk churches
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