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St Mary, Peldon

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An attractive if oddly proportioned building which unusually for this part of east Essex is in the heart of a proper village. Peldon sits close to the epicentre of the Essex Earthquake which struck just after nine o'clock in the morning of the 22nd April 1884 Although not many people were killed, the damage was extensive, and over a wide area. Newspaper reports of the time noted that every single building in Peldon was damaged, but Peldon church seemed to get off more lightly than most, although all the churches in this area suffered damage to various degrees. The exterior here is a curious mix, and bears more evidence of alterations and repairs than most churches in the area, but in fact they are from a variety of times. The red brick clerestory was added in the early 16th Century, but the absence of aisles accentuates the height of the nave, especially with the red brick buttresses which are presumably later. The chancel had been rebuilt in the 1850s, but perhaps the earthquake destabilised it, for in 1953 it was taken down and replaced with a truncated structure which is little more than an apse. The dour ragstone tower, similar to several along the Essex coast, survived the earthquake, and although the nave received some damage a splendid hammerbeam roof of the 15th Century survives. Inevitably, the interior has a feel of the 19th Century, but it is seemly and prayerful and has a fair number of interesting details. The font is a 13th Century Purbeck marble bowl on collonades, familiar from a large group of these fonts down the east coast of which this is one of the most southerly. Some of the glass has been collected from redundant churches. The west window below the tower features AA Orr's figures of Faith, Hope and Love, made in 1926 for Rockley Chapel in Wiltshire. A panel on the south side depicting an angel holding a scroll reading seek peace and ensue it from the 1st Letter of St Peter is by GJ Baguley, who made it in 1870 for St Peter in the East, Oxford. Gay Hutchings' elegant glass of 2002 depicts the angel at the empty tomb, the garden alive with trees and flowers, but perhaps more memorable than any of the glass is the large Peldon Madonna in tiles on the north wall. Elizabeth Martha Godfrey, remembered on the nave wall, died in 1822 at the age of 25. She was deprived in infancy of a father's care, she remained until it pleased the Almighty to call her to himself, the comfort and the blessing of her now disconsolate mother. Nearby, Isabella Dora Sowman was called to higher service in 1933. The inscription goes on to tell us that she loved to worship in this church and to witness to our Lord's command to preach the Gospel to every creature. . Simon Knott, December 2021 Follow these journeys as they happen at Last Of England Twitter.

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