THE ESSEX CHURCHES SITE
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St Mary, Tollesbury
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We left Tolleshunt D'arcy past White Farm, site of the notorious murders of August 1985. We were on the way to one of Essex's more obscure outposts. Tollesbury is really out on the end of it all, looking out to sea at the mouth of the Blackwater with just one road into it, and the nearest town of any size is Maldon. There is a pretty market place and beside it a curious church built of every material you can mention - Roman brick, Tudor brick, Victorian brick, ragstone, puddingstone, flint and even concrete. The overall effect is not entirely attractive.
Open. A big sign said Our historic church is open every day, and I had to smile, because it was as if the locked churches and open churches around here were competing. The interior was warm and inviting, some super modern glass and an excellent Kempe east window, and I'm not usually a fan. below it is a very Anglo-Catholic reredos by Christopher Webb. If I tell you that the congregation here is clearly evangelical in character, they are really to be congratulated in keeping the sacramental integrity of the building intact and being so welcoming. The visitors book shows they get a huge number of visitors in the summer, hardly any in the winter! The most unusual feature of the church is an early 18th Century font bearing the inscription Good people all I pray take care, That in ye Church you doe not sware, As this man Did. The suggestion is that the font was donated as an act of penance and reparation by someone for swearing in church. Fascinating.
And so, we turned towards Colchester, with the prospect of a number of small churches in quick succession, not least because we were now entering earthquake country.
Simon Knott, October 2012
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