Parish Church of All Saints, Cressing

Written by slc-admin on Tuesday, 21st April 2020. Posted in

Both St Barnabas and All Saints are part of the Benefice of Coggeshall, Cressing, Bradwell and Stisted.

Built between the 12th and 15th Centuries, then extended and restored in the 19thC, All Saints is mainly of coursed flint rubble containing some brick and tile. The south wall of the Chancel is partly of red brick, with dressings of limestone and clunch (a traditional building material of chalky limestone rock used mainly in eastern England and Normandy), roofed with handmade red plain tiles. The north vestry is of gault brick (a thick, heavy clay, the first use of which was recorded in 1575) in Flemish bond.

The Nave is thought to be 12thC, on a Saxo-Norman foundation; the Chancel early 13thC, with the south wall rebuilt in the early 16thC. Other identified dates for construction are; bell-turret 14th/15thC; the North vestry 1823 and the southern porch in the 19thC. The eastern wall of the Chancel is rendered externally, with a stone plaque in the gable dated 1833; the window is 19thC; the diagonal north-east buttress is 19thC built of red brick.

Windows are of mixed origin, some 13thC lancet, 15th and 16th cinquefoiled lights with a quatrefoil and moulded label; 2 14thC trefoiled ogee lights with quatrefoiled tracery and some from the 19thC.

In the Chancel is a brass of Dorcas (Bigg), wife of Thomas Musgrave, of Norton, Yorkshire, 1610, seated figure of lady, left hand pointing to figure of infant, with 2 inscription plates; and a 17thC floor-slab of William Smith and Dorcas, his wife, sadly the inscription is worn. On the southern wall of the Chancel is a monument of Anne (Grene), wife of (a) Thomas Newman, and (b) Henry Smith of Cressing Temple, 1607, alabaster and marble tablet with kneeling figures of man in plate-armour, and lady, with 4 shields of arms; panelled base with small figures of a daughter and a
swaddled infant. Fragments of 14thC glass reset in the tracery of the north windows of the Nave. Above the northern doorway are the arms of Queen Anne before the Union, on canvas in a carved frame. There is one bell, by Thomas Gardiner, 1737.

The Parish Council is grateful to the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England, latterly English Heritage for this information.

Church Road
Cressing
CM77 8PQ