ONGAR HUNDRED 



NAVESTOCK 



were added. The belfry is timber- framed. The walls 

 were formerly weather-boarded but have now been 

 plastered. Round the base is a semi-octagonal aisle 

 which once contained vestries. The central framework 

 consists of four heavy oak posts with attached octagonal 

 columns at their internal angles. The bell chamber 

 has a louvred opening in each face and is surmounted 

 by a shingled spire. 



The timber south porch was destroyed in 1940. 

 The four-centred outer archway had sunk spandrels, 

 each with a shield, the eastern a fesse between two 

 chevrons, the western said to have been Waldegrave. 

 In the gable was an 1 8th-century clock-face. The sides 

 were modern except for the posts and moulded wall 

 plates.5' 



During the 15 th century also new windows were 

 added in the south wall of the aisle and the north wall 

 of the nave, and a 'low side' window in the north wall 

 of the chancel is of the same period. A window of 

 15th-century date in the south wall of the chapel, 

 which was reported as badly decayed in 191952 has 

 now been renewed. 



In post-medieval times, probably in the early 19th 

 century, alterations were made inside the church and 

 the oak pier and arches put in the south arcade. This 

 pier is roughly cut to a polygonal shape and has a 

 moulded cap and a brick base. The wooden arches 

 springing from it are rough and plain and the whole 

 has been covered with plaster to resemble the rest of 

 the arcade. There are similar wooden arches across the 

 nave and aisle at this point springing from semi- 

 circular responds, also of plastered wood with moulded 

 plaster caps. 



Late in the 19th century the church was restored, 

 the tower and spire being repaired in 1897 at the cost 

 of David Sellar.s^ The west wall of the nave, which 

 is of brick, was probably put in at this time. The roofs 

 of nave and chancel also appear to have been renewed 

 in the 19th century.s* 



The 18th-century three-manual organ now in the 

 south chapel was brought from Southwood Court, 

 Highgate (Mdx.), and installed in 1930.55 In 193 1 

 the south porch and the windows were restored. 5* On 

 21 September 1940 a landmine fell in the churchyard 

 near the south-west corner of the church. The south 

 porch was destroyed, the belfry badly damaged, and 

 much of the roof stripped of tiles. There was also con- 

 siderable damage to the interior. A complete restora- 

 tion of the church started in 1954. The site of the 

 bomb crater is now occupied by a garden of remem- 

 brance.57 



There are five bells, the first being of 1 862 but the 

 others older. The third is by John Walgrave and prob- 

 ably dates from about 1420-50. It has the inscription 

 'Sancta Katerina Ora Pro Nobis'. The fourth is by 

 John Hardyng and of about 1560 and the second and 

 fifth by Miles Graye, 1637.58 



The plate consists of a cup and paten of 1625, a pair 

 of silver flagons of 1626 and 1630 given by Christian 

 Greene in 1638 and 1639, a brass almsdish, and a 

 small silver cup and paten given in 1 847 by the Revd. 



James Ford, then vicar. There is also a pair of electro- 

 plated patens, undated. 5' 



In the south aisle there are two 14th-century cofBn 

 lids which were at one time used as door steps. The 

 font, also in the aisle, is modern, but beside it is the 

 base of the 13th century one. The octagonal oak pulpit 

 is of the 1 8th century but the pews are modern. 



There are several brasses on the walls of the chancel, 

 the oldest being to Richard Makyn (1603) and his 

 wife Agnes (Colford) (1589), and to James Makyn 

 (1616). On one of the window-jambs is a brass to 

 John, son of Edward Moore (1624), a cursitor of the 

 Chancery. Also in the chancel is a monument to John 

 Greene, serjeant-at-law and Judge of the Sheriffs' 

 Court (1653) and his wife (1641). Other monu- 

 ments are to the wife and child of Charles Snelling 

 (1625) with effigies and shield of arms, and to Rebecca 

 (Greene) wife of Thomas Thorold (1625). 



There are a number of other monuments, including 

 some floor slabs of the 17th century. The most impres- 

 sive are those to members of the Waldegrave family. 

 They include the ist Earl, 1741: a marble tablet on 

 the north wall of the chancel; Hon. Edward Walde- 

 grave, drowned off Falmouth on his return from 

 Corunna, 1809: a symbolic relief carved by John 

 Bacon the younger; the 7th Earl Waldegrave, 1846, 

 with portrait bust by Behnes;*" Viscount Chewton, 

 son of the 8th Earl, died of wounds at Scutari, 1854; 

 and Frances, Countess Waldegrave, 1879. There is 

 also a monument to the Revd. James Ford, vicar, 

 1850. 



Sir Gilbert de Breaute, in right of his wife Joan, had 

 licence from the Dean of St. Paul's, about 1223-7, 

 with the consent of the vicar, to found a private chapel 

 at his court in Navestock. The founders and their kin 

 were to maintain a chaplain at their own cost, pay all 

 profits tothe vicar, exclude the parishioners, swear to 

 preserve the rights of the mother church, and give 

 yearly to it two wax candles. The chaplain was to 

 administer mass only with bread and holy water, 

 saving that at Easter the founders and their kin, 

 their free household and their guests but not their 

 servants were to be admitted to the sacraments at the 

 altar.*' 



A chapel is mentioned in 1335 as belonging to the 

 manor house of the Dean and Chapter of St. Paurs.*^ 



The Navestock Mission Room at Horseman Side, 

 originally a nonconformist chapel, is now (1954) used 

 for services in connexion with the parish church. 



Sir Edward Waldegrave (d. 1 561), the first of his 

 line to own the manor of 

 ROMAN CATHOLICISM Navestock, suffered im- 

 prisonment under Eliza- 

 beth I for his recusancy.*^ The Waldegraves appear 

 to have remained Roman Catholics until early in the 

 1 8th century. In 17 17 Henrietta, dowager Lady 

 Waldegrave and her son James Lord Waldegrave, both 

 appeared in the county register of papists' estates.*"* 

 Soon after this James turned Protestant: in 1722 he 

 took his seat in the House of Lords.*5 There are 

 records of a few other Roman Catholics in the parish 



" Hist. Mon. Com. Essex, il, 192. 

 " Ibid. 191. 



" Kelly's Dir. Essex {1^06). 

 s* E.R. iv, 221. 



" N. Pevsner, Buildings of Essex, 276; 

 Vestry Mins. 

 5« Kelly's Dir. Essex (1933). 

 " For a drawing of the church made in 



1895, showing the south porch and 

 weather-boarded belfry, see E.R. iv, 200. 

 The church was described in an article of 

 the same year which contains a measured 

 plan and other drawings : E.R. iv, 215—34. 

 58 Ch. Bells Essex, 3+5 ; Hist. Mon. Com. 

 Essex, 192. 



5» CA. Plate Essex, 67. 



'° N. Pevsner, BJgs. of Essex, 277. 



" Newcourt, Repert. ii, 434.. 



**^ See above. Manor. 



^^ See above. Manors, nad D.N.S. 



0* E.R.O., Q/RRp I/, 7, 1/51. 



's Burke's Peerage (1913 edn.), p. 1939. 



147 



