CHURCH
The surviving church dates from
the 12th century. (fn. 73) The living remained a rectory. The advowson followed the descent of the
manor from 1349 or earlier, (fn. 74) until 1719, when
it was retained by the Grimston family, later
earls of Verulam. (fn. 75) In 1938 it passed to the
Diocesan Board of Patronage. (fn. 76) The patrons
presented regularly until the earls of Oxford
granted turns in 1548 and 1554. (fn. 77) In 1640 the
patron was Robert Jacob, who may have
acquired the turn granted to trustees by William
Tiffin before 1635. (fn. 78) In 1938 the benefice was
united with that of Chappel. (fn. 79)
The rectory was not valued in 1254. In 1291
it was worth £10; in 1535, £12 0s. 4d. (fn. 80) In 1650
the glebe was worth £10, the tithes £86. (fn. 81) A
dispute over the payment of tithe in kind in
1710 (fn. 82) suggests that the rector was trying to
increase his income. In 1835 the living was
worth £476 gross, £458 net. (fn. 83) The tithe was
commuted in 1839 for a rentcharge of £580 ayear, and in 1851 the living was worth £606
10s. (fn. 84) In 1889 the net value was only £300-
£325, and the rector reported that it was still
lower in 1898, but in 1911 the gross value was
£603. (fn. 85)
Robert Malet gave the tithe of his demesne
to Eye priory c. 1085. (fn. 86) In 1337 the rector agreed
to pay the priory 13s. 4d. a year for the tithe,
and the pension was still paid in 1535. (fn. 87)
There was c. 12 a. of glebe in 1768, and in
1839 the rector held a total of c. 17 a. probably
all glebe. (fn. 88) Part of the land was sold to the railway, presumably the Colchester, Stour Valley,
Sudbury, and Halstead Co., c. 1848, but 15 a.
remained in 1887; that was sold in 1908, 1909,
and 1912. (fn. 89) There was presumably a medieval
rectory house, perhaps repaired in 1405 when
the rector bought timber. (fn. 90) The house was certainly recorded in 1541 and 1662. (fn. 91) In 1736 the
rector found it too damp and unhealthy to live
in, and by 1747 he had rebuilt it. It was repaired
in 1778. (fn. 92) In the 1840s the timberframed housewas encased in grey brick and enlarged by the
addition of an entrance hall, staircase, and drawing room on the east. Then or a little later a
three-storeyed service tower was added to the
north-west. The work was probably carried out
for F. S. Grimston, rector 1847-66. (fn. 93) After the
union with Chappel in 1938 the house was sold,
the rector living in the former Chappel vicarage
house until a new house was built next to the
church in the early 1960s. That house was itself
sold after 1980, when the church was served
from Great Tey. (fn. 94)
Robert Northburgh, rector in the 1340s and
1350s and perhaps a relation of Michael North-
burgh, bishop of London 1354-61, seems to
have acted as a trustee for St. Botolph's priory,
Colchester, and the Hospitallers. (fn. 95) William
Okeham, rector 1399-1416 and a former rural
dean of Cambridge, leased part of the manorial
demesne in 1402 and 1404. (fn. 96) John Harrington
(1504-48) was accused in 1528 and 1529 of
adultery and of keeping his illegitimate son in
his house. (fn. 97) In 1540 he kept hogs and cows in
the churchyard, and so neglected the cure that
many parishioners died without the last rites. (fn. 98)
Before 1546 one parishioner gave land and
several others gave cows to endow obits. (fn. 99) The
Lady chapel and St. Mary's guild were recorded
in 1524. By 1548 the churchwardens had sold 6
old vestments, 1 cope, 5 banner cloths, 1 altar
cloth, and some church plate, but the church
retained 3 vestments, 2 copes, and 1 canopy
cloth from its preReformation equipment. (fn. 1)
John Colley, presented in 1548, was deprived,
presumably for marriage, in 1554, but restored
after Elizabeth 1's accession. (fn. 2) In 1560 he was a
particularly diligent, resident, incumbent. (fn. 3) His
puritan successor Robert Monk (1565-1601)
was a pluralist. (fn. 4) The curate in 1592 did not wear
the surplice and conducted services negligently,
his successor in 1596 did not beat the bounds.
In 1593 parishioners were not properly seated
in church according to their rank. (fn. 5)
Samuel Withers (1601-40) was commended
for living in the parish, where he leased a small
farm, in love and peace. (fn. 6) His royalist successor
Edward Layfield lost another living in 1645 but
retained Wakes Colne throughout what he
described as 20 years of calamity. (fn. 7) In 1684 the
church was reasonably well equipped, but continuing puritan influence was reflected in the
placing of a chest instead of the communion
table against the east wall of the chancel. (fn. 8) Most
18th- and early 19th-century incumbents were
nonresident or pluralists. (fn. 9) James Brome(1729-64) at first served Wakes Colne from
Pebmarsh, conducting one service each Sunday
and communion four times a year. (fn. 10) The pattern of services, with communion sometimes
administered only three times a year, was continued by his successors until 1812 or later.
Parishioners sometimes attended services at
Chappel or White Colne. (fn. 11)
Thomas Henderson, nonresident rector1831-42 and 1842-7, held Wakes Colne for the
patron's brothers, E. H. Grimston (1842) and
F. S. Grimston (1847-66). (fn. 12) The church was
apparently well served by a curate who claimed
in 1841 that over 80 per cent of the 444 people
in the parish belonged to the church, and that
communicants averaged 42. (fn. 13) On census Sunday
1851 congregations numbered 124 in the morning and 140 in the afternoon, including 39 and
40 Sunday School children, out of a population
of 499; (fn. 14) in 1862 there were 40 communicants. (fn. 15)
Edward Bartrum (rector 1887-1906) published
tracts, including Helpful Hints for Hard Times
(1895), for his poorer parishioners. (fn. 16)
A parish room, made from a railway carriage,
was sold in 1923. (fn. 17) In 1978 an 'alleged breakdown in pastoral relationships' between the
parish and the rector reduced congregations. (fn. 18)
Since 1980 the united benefice of Wakes Colne
and Chappel has been held with Great Tey. (fn. 19)
The church of ALL SAINTS, (fn. 20) of flint
rubble with limestone dressings, comprises
chancel with south vestry and nave with north
porch and west bell turret. The 12th-century
church comprised nave, central tower, and small
chancel, of which the nave, with its south doorway and several windows, and the north and
south tower walls survive. In the 14th century
the upper part of the tower was demolished and
the lower part was incorporated into a rebuilt
chancel with a chancel arch in the old west wall
of the tower. (fn. 21) Two windows were inserted in
the nave walls. The new nave roof, of scissor
brace and collar construction, survives, underceiled as a barrel roof. Early in the 15th century
the timber bell turret was built at the west end
of the nave, and the timber north porch was
added. (fn. 22) Early in the 16th century a squareheaded, brick window was inserted into the
south wall, and the surviving north door made.
In 1684 the bell turret, chancel roof, and buttresses needed repair. (fn. 23)
The bell turret or 'steeple' was rebuilt and the
porch repaired in 1807. A partition, complete
with door and bell, was made in the church in
1815, perhaps to create a vestry. (fn. 24) Before 1839
buttresses had been built or enlarged to support
the east wall. (fn. 25) A west gallery was enlarged
c. 1859. (fn. 26) In 1862 the church was repaired and
reseated. A vestry was built on the south side of
the chancel, and a new doorway to it cut through
the chancel wall; stairs in the north wall of the
chancel, perhaps made for a Lenten veil screen,
were blocked. The surviving brick east wall was
probably built at the same time. (fn. 27) About the
1890s the small window in the west wall was
replaced. In 1902-3 the bell turret was heightened, the plaster removed from the outside
walls, and perhaps the twolight window inserted into the enlarged opening of thewesternmost 12th-century window in the south wall of
the nave. (fn. 28)
The late 12th-century font, given in 1846 by
the rector Thomas Henderson, probably came
from his other church at Messing. (fn. 29) On the east
wall of the nave is a fragment of 16th-century
wallpainting, a diaper of black roses. The east
wall of the chancel was painted c. 1911. (fn. 30)
The three bells, (i) Henry Pleasant 1707 (ii)
Henry Jordan mid 15th century (iii) Miles Gray
1662, (fn. 31) were rehung in 1987. The plate includes
a cup of 1702 bought in 1703 to replace a stolen
one; it was itself sold or lost in 1876 and bought
back for the parish in 1912. (fn. 32)
The churchyard was enlarged in 1908 with
land given by C. P. Wood of Wakes Hall. (fn. 33)