A HISTORY OF ESSEX 



Magdalen Laver and it is now a private house called 

 High Laver House. 



The parish church of ALL SJINTS consists of 

 nave, chancel, west tower, south porch, and north 

 vestry. The walls are of flint rubble roughly coursed, 

 particularly in the chancel. Roman brick is found 

 among the rubble and forms some of the quoins. Most 

 of the dressings, originally of clunch, have been replaced. 



The nave was built late in the 12th century. It 

 retains one small round-headed window in the north 

 wall. West of this is an original doorway, partly 

 restored, which now leads to the vestry. It has a semi- 

 circular arch and chamfered imposts. 



The chancel, probably built about 1 200, has seven 

 lancets with pointed heads. There are two in each of 

 the north and south walls and three graduated lancets 

 at the east end; all are much restored. 



Two doorways, one in the north wall of the chancel 

 and one in the south wall of the nave, are probably of 

 the 13th century. The former is now blocked but the 

 arch in clunch is visible externally. The piscina, which 

 has a trefoiled head and a double drain, may be of the 

 13th century. There are fragments of 13th- or 14th- 

 century glass in the small nave window. 



The tower, of three stages, appears to have been 

 added about 1340.57 It was originally of flint rubble, 

 but this is now mostly plastered and much of the tower 

 has been rebuilt in brick. The moulded tower arch is 

 sharply pointed. In the west wall, but not axial with 

 the arch, is a good 14th-century window with a pointed 

 arch and two ogee-headed lights. There is a blocked 

 window in the second stage of the tower on the north 

 side. The chancel arch was probably rebuilt in the 

 14th century. The. responds and head are finely 

 moulded. It has spread considerably at springing level 

 and this may have caused the arch itself to drop, giving 

 the unusual three-centred shape. 



Late in the 14th or early in the 15th century four 

 new windows were inserted in the nave and one in the 

 chancel. These are all square-headed externally with 

 label moulds and head stops. Internally the arches are 

 three- or four-centred. The tracery, which has all been 

 replaced, was probably originally of this date and has 

 been copied with fair accuracy.58 



In the 1 5th or i6th century the roofs of the chancel 

 and nave, which are ceiled in except for the plates and 

 tie-beams, were renewed. 



In 1737 the vestry agreed that the tower should be 

 repaired and that 'one Tarling should undertake it by 

 the day and put up a brick buttress and restore the 

 plaistering where it is necessary, the parish finding all 

 materials'. 59 The south-west buttresses may have been 

 rebuilt in brick at this time as a result of this decision. 

 In about 1789 the spire and part of the tower were 

 found to be ruinous and were taken down.*° The 

 upper stage of the tower, and probably the south-west 

 buttresses, were rebuilt in red brick for some ^^200.*' 

 The parapet is castellated and there are round-headed 

 windows to the belfry. The octagonal spire is shingled. 



A general restoration of the church possibly took 

 place in 1865, when the font and tomb of John Locke 

 were repaired.*^ The south porch and the vestry 

 appear to date from this period. The porch, which is 

 of flint with a timber superstructure, replaced a 

 plastered porch*' of unknown date. The vestry, on the 

 north side of the nave, is of flint with limestone dressings. 



In 1873 an organ was built in the chancel.*'' In 

 1927 the chancel was altered, the choir stalls and a 

 19th-century stone pulpit being cleared away and the 

 organ moved to the west end. The alterations cost 

 ;^I27 of which ^43 was contributed by the Rhode 

 Island Society of America.*' 



The font, which stands in the tower, dates from the 

 middle of the 14th century. It has an octagonal bowl 

 on each face of which is a quatrefoil panel enclosing a 

 shield. The prayer desk in the chancel is a memorial to 

 those killed in the First World War** and the oak 

 pulpit is of the same style and date. 



There is one bell in use and a small disused sanctus 

 bell. In 1552 there were two bells in the steeple 

 weighing about 18 cwt., two 'rogacione bells' weighing 

 9 lb., and a sanctus bell of 3 lb.*'' In about 1768 there 

 were three bells.*' In about 1790 the parishioners 

 agreed that 'one large bell and a small bell or Saints 

 Bell only shall be hung in the steeple of the church 

 instead of three bells and that two of the said three bells 

 shall be sold' and the money used to help defray the 

 cost of rebuilding the steeple.*' In 1866 the cost of a 

 new bell, evidently a replacement, was raised by a rate 

 of 4/70 "pijg sanctus bell is inscribed 'xpe audi nos'." 

 It is probably of the 14th century and is one of the few 

 remaining medieval sanctus bells in Essex." 



From 1657-8, or earlier, the church owned Bell 

 Acre (i a. 3 r.), in the north-east of the parish. '^ The 

 rent from this land, which was £1 a year until at least 

 1805, was usually spent on church repairs in the i8th 

 and 19th centuries.7^ In 192 1 the rector informed the 

 Charity Commissioners that the rent had been applied 

 to church expenses since before 191 5.'' In 1945 

 dividends of ^^2 were spent in maintaining the church 

 grounds.'* In 1952 the land was sold for ^120. '7 



Nearly all the church plate was given by Sir Francis 

 Masham, Bt., and his son Samuel, Lord Masham (d. 

 1758). It includes two silver cups, one of 1674 given 

 by Sir Francis and one of 1 73 5 given by Lord Masham ; 

 two silver patens, one undated but given by Sir 

 Francis, and one of 1735 given by Lord Masham; and 

 a silver almsdish dated 1724 and given by Lord 

 Masham in 1735.'' 



In the chancel is a brass to MyrabyU (Mirabel), wife 

 of Edward Sulyard (c I495).79 There are figures of 

 a man in i jth-century armour and a woman in a full- 

 skirted gown and a pedimented head-dress. Below are 

 figures of four sons and one daughter and a rhymed 

 inscription. There are floor slabs in the chancel to Sir 

 Francis Masham (1723) and his granddaughter 

 Elizabeth Masham (1724). On the north wall is a 

 marble tablet to Damaris, widow of Ralph Cudworth, 



5' Hist. Mon. Com. Essex, ii, 130. 



" Early-igth-cent. engravings (E.R.O., 

 Prints, High Laver) show much the same 

 tracery. 



59 E.R.O., D/P 1 1 1/8/2. "> Ibid. 



" Ibid. Of this, ^£^150 was borrowed 

 from Thomas Speed of Harlow, maltster, 

 because the parishioners were unwilling 

 that so large a sum as ;^200 should be 

 raised by one rate. 



»» Kell/i Dir. Essex (1886). 



'J Sketch dated 1 82 1: E.R.O. Prints, 

 High Laver. 



'•* Vestry Minute Book 1863-1943, in 

 possession of the rector. 



65 Ibid. The society's contribution was 

 in memory of Roger Williams, founder of 

 the colony, who was married at High 

 Laver in 1629. ^^ Inscription in situ. 



<" E.A.T. N.s. ii, 228-9. 



" Morant, Essex, i, 141. 



«9 E.R.O., D/P 1 1 1/8/2. 



'"Vestry Minute Book 1863-1943; 

 Ci. Bells Essex, 316. 



" C/i. Bells Essex, 316. 



" E.A.T.s.s.xx'uzij. 



" E.R.O., D/P 111/8/1; ibid. D/P 

 I11/27/2. 



'* E.R.O., D/P 1 1 1/8/2. 



" Char. Com. Files. 



■"> Ibid. " Ibid. 



'8 CA. Plate Essex, 136. 



'« £.yj. r. N.s. vii, 13-17. 



94 



