CHURCH
A late Anglo-Saxon timber church
has been excavated beneath the existing church.
Its position next to Bergholt Hall suggests that
it was established as a proprietary church, probably in the 10th or 11th century. (fn. 57) The church
was held with the manor by Robert de Sackville
c. 1119 and the advowson descended with the
manor whose owners presented regularly. (fn. 58)
When the Sackville family sold the manor in the
late 16th century they apparently retained the
advowson, although they regularly granted turns
to others. In 1575 the new lord, John Dister,
presented; in 1613 Edward Legg, in 1679 Sir
Harbottle Grimston, and in 1705 and 1706
William Boys of Colchester. (fn. 59) In 1597 the
incumbent was removed because of irregularit-
ies in his presentation and the Crown presented
by lapse. (fn. 60)
In 1775 John Frederick Sackville, duke of
Dorset, sold the advowson to Robert Drummond. Two years later Drummond sold it to
Marshall Lugar who sold it in 1781 to Thomas
Fisher. After Fisher's death in 1789 the advow son passed to his sons Joseph (d. 1816) and
William (d. 1844). William's executors pre-
sented in 1846 and in 1856 conveyed the advow son to his heir, William Fisher Hobbs. On
Hobbs's death in 1866 the advowson descended
to H. P. L. Blood. In 1876 Blood presented
jointly with C. T. Corrance to whom he sold the
advowson in 1891. After Corrance's death in
1896 the advowson was sold to Maria Vawser
who held it until her death in 1932 when it
passed to her daughter Gertrude Maria, wife of
the incumbent A. J. Havard. In 1934 she transferred the advowson to H. Clapham. (fn. 61) By 1946
the bishop of Chelmsford was patron. (fn. 62)
The rectory was a rich living in the middle
ages, valued at 100s. in 1254, £7 6s. 8d. in 1291,
and £10 with another 20s. from tithes in 1535. (fn. 63)
In 1564-5 the glebe comprised 27 a. of land,
pasture, and wood worth £20, which had
increased by 1610 to 32¾ a. In 1650 the glebe
was said to be worth £13 and the tithe £80. (fn. 64)
By 1810 the glebe comprised 33 a. 3 r. 13 p.,
most of it near the rectory house although 12½ a.
lay adjacent to Fordham. By 1835 the gross
income of the rectory had risen to £463. In 1842
the tithes were commuted to a rent-charge of
£600. (fn. 65) The glebe had increased to 38 a. 2 r. 13
p. by 1848, but declined thereafter to 37 a. in
1866 and 35 a. 1 r. 29 p. by 1887. (fn. 66)
The Old Rectory, standing about ½ mile south
of the church and West Bergholt Hall on Cooks
Hall Lane, was probably the site of the rectory
house recorded in 1610. (fn. 67) The core of the house
is a timber-framed building of the later 17th or
early 18th century which has a double pile plan
with a through stair hall. Late in the 18th cent-
ury, and perhaps not in a single campaign, the
exterior was encased in brick, a canted bay
window was added to the west, the south-east
room was extended southwards, and the interior
was refitted. A two storeyed porch was added
to the west wing early in the 20th century.
About 1953 a 19th-century north service wing,
incorporating some older timbers, was largely
demolished and replaced by a new residential
wing. In 1848 the house 'a good residence
commanding a fine view of the vale', had a
barn, stable, coach-house, cartlodge, and gran-
ary. (fn. 68) The house was sold and replaced by
'Penneys' on Lexden Road between 1902 and
1906. That house was itself replaced by 20 New
Church Road in 1945, and that by 1 Church
Close c. 1986. (fn. 69)
The names of incumbents are known from
the mid 12th century. (fn. 70) The late 12th- or early
13th-century rectors Robert, Richard, and Alan
were rural deans of Lexden deanery. (fn. 71) John de
Sackville, rector in 1361, was probably a
member of the family who held the manor and
advowson. (fn. 72) In 1332 James Bures founded a
chantry at St. Mary's altar for himself and his
family, endowing it with 2 houses, 40 a. of land,
1 a. of meadow, 8 a. of wood, and 33s. 4d. rent
in Bergholt and Fordham. John Doreward gave
40s. rent in 1407. (fn. 73) The abbot of St. John's,
Colchester, presented to the chantry in 1362. (fn. 74)
A chantry priest was last recorded in 1511. By
1560 the chantry house with 3 a. of land had
been leased to a tenant of Bergholt manor. (fn. 75)
The parishioner who in 1520 abused the
rector in the pulpit, calling him a false, forsworn
man, may have held Protestant views. (fn. 76) In 1541
neither the rector, Edward Torrell (1531-59),
nor his curate recited the Ten Commandments,
the Lord's Prayer, and other prayers, and
Torrell had once refused to return from
Colchester to give a woman the last rites and to
say evensong. By 1543 obits were not being
kept. (fn. 77) Agnes George refused to attend mass
in 1556, was imprisoned at Colchester and
executed at Stratford. Her husband Richard, a
labourer, was arrested in 1557. He escaped
execution but his second wife, Christine, was
also burnt. (fn. 78)
In 1589 the Ten Commandments were not set
up in the church and in 1608 there was neither
cloth nor cushion for the pulpit. (fn. 79) By 1633 the
church needed a new communion table, a decent
cloth for the table, and a hood for the rector. (fn. 80)
Gregory Holland, instituted in 1613, was threatened with sequestration in 1644 as a royalist and
conformist, and for ungodly behaviour. He was
allowed to retain the living, but by 1651 had
been forced to relinquish the greater part of his
stipend to a curate, Robert Billio, chosen by
his parishioners. (fn. 81) Billio (d. 1695) later established a nonconformist church at Braughing,
Herts. (fn. 82) Holland had died or resigned by 1658
when Nathaniel Seaman, previously master of
Colchester grammar school, was admitted to the
rectory which he held until his death in 1679. (fn. 83)
The new bible and other books and the table
of degrees of marriages needed in 1684 were still
lacking in 1705. In 1684 the churchwardens
were also admonished for not presenting those
who neglected to send their children to catechism and in 1705 they were ordered to set up the
Lord's Prayer, Creed, and Commandments in
the chancel. (fn. 84) In 1723 the rector lived in the
parsonage house and served no other church.
There were two services on Sundays and Holy
Communion was celebrated four times a year.
Children were catechized every Sunday and
Friday in summer and once a month in winter.
The pattern of services was similar in the later
18th century. In 1766 there were said to be 40
communicants. (fn. 85)
The low attendance of 79 in the morning and
113 in the evening on census Sunday in 1851
was explained by the remoteness of the church
from the village, but another reason for poor
attendance may have been the growing popularity of Methodism. (fn. 86) Between 1838 and 1856 the
churchwardens employed a man to keep order
in the church, paying him a new pair of shoes
each year. (fn. 87) In the later 19th century the rector's
work was hampered by the small size and dilapi-
dated condition of the church. (fn. 88)
In 1897 H. C. Corrance resigned the living
on his conversion to Roman Catholicism. (fn. 89) His
energetic successor A. J. Havard disagreed with
some parishioners over the election of noncon-
formists to the management of the church
school, the election of churchwardens, and the
delay in constructing a new church. (fn. 90) Nevertheless he served the parish for 47 years and was
the driving force behind the building of the new
church in 1903. (fn. 91) When that was consecrated in
1904 the old church became a chapel of ease
used increasingly infrequently, until it was
declared redundant in 1976. (fn. 92) C. K. Douglas,
rector 1945-78, did much to foster community
spirit among members of the rapidly expand-
ing village. (fn. 93)
The medieval church of ST. MARY is built
of rubble, which includes Roman tile and possibly 12th-century brick, with freestone dressings
and has a chancel, a nave with south aisle and
timber porch, and a weather boarded bell turret.
Beneath it a timber building of indeterminate
plan was replaced by a stone single cell church
with apsidal end in the 11th century. Part of the
north wall of that building survives as the east-
ern end of the nave wall. The apsidal east end
was extended and given a square termination
late in the 13th century, and the south aisle was
added in the early 14th century. At its west end
it respected an already existing extension of the
nave which encased a timber bell turret. The
extension appears to have been subsequently
rebuilt in stone, perhaps when other work,
including the north windows in the nave and
the nave roof were being replaced. The bell
turret and south porch are 15th-century. The
supports for a sanctus bell were uncovered in
the south aisle roof in 1995. There is a 19th-
century gallery. (fn. 94)
In 1545 the chancel was dilapidated, and in
1607 the church had no tiling, paving, or glazing. (fn. 95) By 1684 and 1705 major structural repairs
were required to the belfry and north wall, as
well as new paving in the nave and chancel. (fn. 96)
The west gallery on Tuscan columns with tri-
glyph frieze was built in the early 19th century.
Two dormer windows were inserted above the
arcade. (fn. 97) The church was damp in the later 19th
century and repairs were required to the tower,
porch, and nave roof. (fn. 98) Plans made in 1866 for
a thorough restoration and extension of the
church were found to be impractable, presum-
ably because of the cost, but urgent repairs were
carried out in 1878. (fn. 99) After the consecration of
a new church in 1904 the old church was main-
tained, but by 1946 was only used in the summer
months. (fn. 1) The redundant church was acquired
in 1977 by the Redundant Churches Fund
which restored the fabric. The building has
since been used for concerts, exhibitions, and
occasional services. (fn. 2)
A medieval grave slab survives in the south
aisle. The font is 13th-century with a plain circular bowl, square pedestal, and 18th-century
lid. The altar-rail has been reconstructed from
portions of an 17th-century rail and the base of
the lectern may be of similar date. The massive
oak chest is of 15th- or 16th-century date and
there are some early wooden hat-pegs. (fn. 3) The
royal coat of arms of 1603 above the chancel arch
was restored in 1986 and there is another coat
of c. 1826 on the front of the west gallery. (fn. 4)
The church was reseated with new pews in
1877, partly constructed from sections of earlier
box-pews. (fn. 5)
In 1552 there were apparently three bells but
only one was recorded after 1684. (fn. 6) That bell,
apparently 15th-century by Henry Jordan, was
cracked c. 1850 and was replaced in 1883 by one
cast by John Warner and Sons of London. A
new second bell, presented at the same time, had
been removed to the new church by 1946. (fn. 7)
A site for a new church was set aside at the
inclosure of the heath in 1865, but the money
was not raised to build one until after 1898. The
new church of ST. MARY erected in 1903 and
1904 in 13th-century style comprises a chancel,
nave, and south aisle. The pulpit and font were
given in 1904, the altar and lectern in 1913. (fn. 8) The
church was restored sometime before 1955 by
the architect F. T. Clater. (fn. 9) The plate includes
an Elizabethan silver communion cup, a pewter
flagon of c. 1772-80, and a silver plate presented
by the incumbent in 1816. (fn. 10)
The churchyard at the old church was full by
1900 and one at the site of the new church was
consecrated in 1902, despite the objections of
the parish council, the medical officer of the
rural district council, and many inhabitants. It
was still in use in 1995. (fn. 11)