Moreton, Essex Genealogy

England   Essex



Parish History
Moreton St Mary the Virgin is an Ancient Parish in Essex.

The diocese of Chelmsford was created in 1914, prior to this Essex parishes were in the jurisdiction of the Bishops of London until 1845 when they transferred to the diocese of Rochester. The diocese of Chelmsford has 474 parishes and 600 churches and is the second largest region in the church of England outside London.

The parish church of ST. MARY THE VIRGIN consists of nave, chancel, west tower, south porch, and north vestry. The nave and chancel, which are structurally undivided, are of flint rubble. The dressings of clunch have now mostly been replaced with more durable stone. The tower and vestry are of red brick. The south porch is of wood. Nothing remains of the pre-13th-century church except the font (see below). The present nave and chancel date from the first half of the 13th century, the nave having been built first. The nave has two restored lancet windows in the north wall and one in the south. The position of the north and south doorways is probably original. The east wall of the chancel has three lancets, a central one in the gable and two below. The north wall of the chancel has two lancets, one of them being behind the organ. In the 15th century the chancel and nave were probably reroofed. The chancel retains one moulded tie-beam of this date. The nave has two 15th-century roof trusses near the west end. These have long struts from the tie-beams to the heads of the octagonal kingposts as well as one short strut each to the central purlin. In both chancel and nave the rafters are ceiled in. The roof of the south porch retains some 15th-century timbers. The two-light window near the east end of the north wall of the nave was inserted in the late 15th century. The single-light window on the south side of the chancel is also of this date. The perishable nature of the clunch of which the windows were constructed accounts for their replacement at different dates and for the extremely varied character of the windows on the south side of the church. The westernmost window in the nave, recently replaced, was probably originally of the 15th century. Two other windows, one of the 18th and one of the 19th century, may also have replaced windows of the 15th century or earlier. The tower may originally have been of the 16th or early 17th century. Morant (1768) described the tower as 'of brick, plaistered over, with a spire shingled'. ( Parts of the nave and chancel roofs date from the 17th century. The south doorway with its six-panelled door is of 18th-century date. The weather-boarded south porch, incorporating earlier timbers, may have been reconstructed at the same time. In 1727 twisted communion rails, chancel wainscoting, box pews, and a west gallery were given by Mrs. Judith Elford. In 1786 part of the tower fell in a gale. It was rebuilt by James Marrable in 1787 'upon the model of the old'. It is of red brick, in three stages, and has a castellated parapet and a short shingled spire. The doorway into the nave was built at the same time. The two-light window near the east end of the nave on the south side is like the wooden west window of the tower and is probably of about the same period. In 1868-9 there was a thorough restoration of the interior of the church. Many of the fittings, including the box pews, the chancel wainscoting, the lists of benefactions to the poor, texts and hatchments, were removed. New pine seating was installed. The pulpit was reconstructed and the sounding-board removed. The vestry may have been built at the same time. Between 1877 and 1891 the north wall of the chancel was rebuilt, the lancet windows being restored and reset at the expense of the rector, the Revd. A. Calvert. The easternmost window on the south side of the chancel appears also to be of late-19th-century date, probably replacing a 15th-century two-light window. In 1897 the west gallery was removed. In 1904 a new organ was built. In 1953 the two lower lancets at the east end and the quoins at the west end of the church were restored in Clipsham stone. The westernmost window on the south side of the nave was replaced by a copy of a square-headed two-light late-15th-century window in the same material. The tower was restored and the spire reshingled. There are six bells. Two were recast in 1928 when the wooden framework supporting the bells was replaced by steel. The inscription on one of these, 'Miles Graye and William Harbert me fecit 1627', has been cut out and mounted on a pedestal in the church. Of the remainder one is inscribed 'Miles Graye 1632', one 'Thomas Gardiner Sudbury 1712', and one 'Thomas Lester 1751'. The sixth bell (No. 1) was presented by the ringers themselves in 1933. The Purbeck marble font is of the late 12th century. It consists of a square bowl standing on a circular base, which has four detached shafts. Two sides of the bowl are ornamented with fleur-de-lis, one has roundheaded arcading, and the fourth a crescent, disk, and spiral. The surface is much decayed and the carving incomplete. The oak pulpit is hexagonal and probably dates from the restoration of 1868. It incorporates four carved panels and a cornice of about 1600. The painting above the altar is a copy of the Holy Family by Andrea del Sarto and was acquired in 1951. On the south wall of the nave is an inscribed tablet to George Goodwin, rector (1625). The plate consists of an almsdish of 1648 with a shield of arms, a cup of 1663, a paten of 1663 (dated 1664), and a flagon of 1719 presented by A. Heron, rector (1698-1733). A Chancery decree of 1638 recognized the Church Lands Charity, the origin of which was then unknown. Its property was then and afterwards stated to be 'a tenement and 6 acres of land called the Church Land', held in trust for the repair of the church. The property was at the west end of North Lane. In deeds from 1787 until 1832 it comprised a freehold cottage or tenement called 'the Church House', a close of pasture adjoining, 2 acres by estimation, and two other closes or crofts of arable, 4 acres by estimation, on the other side of the road leading towards Moreton windmill. The estate seems always to have been let together and in the 19th century was called Church Farm. In 1646 it was rented at £5 12s. a year. (fn. 55) The annual rent remained at this figure until 1811 when it rose to £12. By 1879 it had risen to £20 but it fell to £18 before 1895 when it was further reduced to £12, after the farm-house had been destroyed by fire. In 1947 the rent was £15. After 1895 the income from rent was supplemented by the interest on £112 2s. fire-insurance, which was invested. In 1869 £113 3s. 9d. stock, representing accumulations of surplus income, was sold and, supplemented by voluntary contributions, was used to erect new pews. The sum of £50, invested in 1874, was also used in 1878 for large repairs. In 1950 the income of £2 12s. 8d. from stock was spent in part payment of repairs, but apparently no rent was received from the lands of the charity. The payment to the verger from Wilson's charity (1822) is mentioned below (Charities). William Talbot, by will proved 1894, left £100 stock to the rector and churchwardens in trust for the maintenance of the churchyard. In 1950 the income of £3 11s. 2d. was spent in part payment for its upkeep.

From: 'Moreton: Church', A History of the County of Essex: Volume 4: Ongar Hundred (1956), pp. 134-137. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=15606&amp;amp;strquery=moreton Date accessed: 06 February 2011.

Civil Registration
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Church records
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Census records
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Poor Law Unions
Ongar Poor Law Union, Essex

Probate records
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