Essex Heritage Guide - Historic Churches

This delightful early Tudor chapel was built to serve as a mortuary chapel for the Audley family. The chapel features a marvellous hammerbeam roof, with carved and intricately decorated timbers, and numerous fine memorials to members of the Audley and Walden families.
St Michael's Church, Off Berechurch Hall Road, Berechurch, Essex, England, CO2 9NU

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St Peter's Church in Boxted is an attractive church in Dedham Vale, built in the 12th century re-using Roman bricks. Features include 12th-century windows and chancel arch, a timber porch, king-post roof, and coat of arms of George III.
Church Street, Boxted, Essex, England, CO4 5SU

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Heritage Highlight: Roman bricks re-used in the construction

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The Cathedral Church of SS Mary and Helen in Brentwood is a modern Roman Catholic cathedral designed by architect Quinlan Terry in the style of the early Italian Renaissance, tempered by the English Baroque influence of Sir Christopher Wren. The structure also retains part of an 1861 Gothic revival church originally on this spot.
Ingrave Road, Brentwood, Essex, England, CM15 8AT

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Heritage Highlight: Incorporates an earlier 1861 Gothic church

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A large 12th-century church at the top of a hill a mile from the town itself. Built of Anglian flint flushwork, with a 15th-century embattled tower. There are medieval brasses to the Beriffe family in the north chapel and a Victorian tile frieze commemorating local sailors lost at sea.
Church Road, Brightlingsea, Essex, England, CO7 0RZ

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Heritage Highlight: 15th and 16th-century Beriffe brasses

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A lovely country church on an ancient site, St Mary's incorporates Roman bricks in its walls. Interior highlights include 17th-century brasses, 17th-century pulpit, and a grandiose tomb to a wealthy London merchant named Thomas Bush. The modern stained glass Hostages Windows are dedicated to journalist John McCarthy, one of the Beirut Hostages and a local resident.
Church End, Broxted, Essex, England, CM6 2BZ

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Heritage Highlight: 1991 Hostage Windows commemorating the Beirut Hostages

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The Cathedral Church of St Mary, St Peter and St Cedd in Chelmsford is housed in a 15th-century building which became a cathedral in 1914. Look for the finely painted Georgian ceiling in the nave.
53 New Street, Chelmsford, Essex, England, CM1 1AT

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Heritage Highlight: 15th-century flint flushwork

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A wonderful Saxon church set near the site of the manor of Chickney Hall, and mentioned in the Domesday Book, St Mary's is one of the oldest churches in Essex. The most generally agreed date for its origins is around AD 1000, but some historians suggest a much earlier date, around AD 850.
Chickney, Essex, England, CM6 2BY

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A superb 15th-century wool church, much damaged by a WWII bomb but now restored. Features a collection of 16th-century brasses, ornate 1620 memorial to Mary Honywood, and Peycocke family tombs.
Church Green, Coggeshall, Essex, England, CO6 1QF

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Heritage Highlight: 16th-century Peycocke brasses

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The only surviving Saxon building in the historic core of Colchester, Holy Trinity incorporates Roman bricks into its structure. In the churchyard is the grave of William Gilberd, physician to Elizabeth I and an earlier investigator into electromagnetism. Holy Trinity is now a community art centre and cafe.
Trinity Street, Colchester, Essex, England, CO1 1JN

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Heritage Highlight: Saxon tower and west door

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This tiny church just outside Colchester Castle gardens was said to have been built by King Offa of Mercia in the 8th century. The current building dates to the late Saxon period, but it stands atop Roman foundations. It is now used as a Greek Orthodox church and is usually open to visitors daylight hours.
St Helen's Lane, Maidenburgh Street, Colchester, Essex, England, CO1 1UB

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Heritage Highlight: Late Saxon architecture on Roman foundations

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