St Michael's Church, Berechurch

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St Michael's Church, Berechurch
St Michael and All Angels, Berechurch, Essex - geograph.org.uk - 335595.jpg
St Michael's Church, Berechurch, from the southeast
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St Michael's Church, Berechurch
Location in Essex
Coordinates: 51°51′36″N0°53′33″E / 51.8600°N 0.8926°E / 51.8600; 0.8926
OS grid reference TL 993 219
Location Berechurch, Essex
Country England
Denomination Anglican
Website Churches Conservation Trust
History
Dedication Saint Michael
Architecture
Functional status Redundant
Heritage designation Grade II*
Designated 24 February 1950
Architect(s) Charles Pertwee
(partial rebuilding)
Architectural type Church
Style Gothic, Gothic Revival
Completed 1878
Closed 1975
Specifications
Materials Brick with stone banding and dressings
Roof tiled

St Michael's Church is a redundant Anglican church in the village of Berechurch, Essex, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building, [1] and is under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust. [2] The church stands on the south side of Berechurch Hall Road south of the town of Colchester. [3]

Redundant church church building that is no longer required for regular public worship, usually Anglican buildings

Redundant church is a phrase particularly used to refer to former Anglican church buildings no longer required for regular public worship in the United Kingdom, but may refer to any disused church building around the world.

Berechurch village in England

Berechurch is a village in Colchester, Essex, England.

Essex County of England

Essex is a county in the south-east of England, north-east of London. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and London to the south-west. The county town is Chelmsford, the only city in the county. For government statistical purposes Essex is placed in the East of England region.

Contents

History

St Michael's has never been a parish church, but rather a chapel of ease to Holy Trinity Church, Colchester. [1] It is possible that a church was on the site in the 11th century, but the earliest part of the present building is the tower, which dates from the 14th century. [1] The rest of the church was rebuilt in the late 15th century, re-using some of the earlier material. [4] A chapel was added to the north of the church in the early 16th century, and this was completed before 1533. In 1536 Thomas Audley, the Lord Chancellor to Henry VIII, was licensed to create a separate rectory at Berechurch, and it is thought that Audley may have been responsible for building the chapel, which now bears his name. More work was done to the church in the early 17th century. [1]

Parish church church which acts as the religious centre of a parish

A parish church in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, often allowing its premises to be used for non-religious community events. The church building reflects this status, and there is considerable variety in the size and style of parish churches. Many villages in Europe have churches that date back to the Middle Ages, but all periods of architecture are represented.

Chapel of ease

A chapel of ease is a church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently.

Thomas Audley, 1st Baron Audley of Walden English politician

Thomas Audley, 1st Baron Audley of Walden KG, PC, KS, was an English barrister and judge who served as Lord Chancellor of England from 1533 to 1544.

In 1872 the church was entirely rebuilt, apart from the tower and the Audley Chapel, by Charles Pertwee, re-using some of the earlier features. The south porch was added in 1878. After the Second World War, the nearby town of Colchester grew, and new housing estates were built in the area. St Michael's became too small for the congregation, and a new church dedicated to Saint Margaret was built nearby in 1968–72. The congregation moved to the new church in 1973, and St Michael's was declared redundant in 1975. The main part of the church was converted for other uses, but the Audley chapel was vested in the Churches Conservation Trust in 1981. [1]

In law, vesting is to give an immediately secured right of present or future deployment. One has a vested right to an asset that cannot be taken away by any third party, even though one may not yet possess the asset. When the right, interest, or title to the present or future possession of a legal estate can be transferred to any other party, it is termed a vested interest.

Architecture

Exterior

The church is constructed in brick with stone dressings, and has tiled roofs. Around the body of the church and the chapel is decorative stone banding. Its plan consists of a nave and chancel, with a north chapel (the Audley Chapel), a south porch and a west tower. The tower is in three stages, with diagonal buttresses, a stair turret at the southeast, and an embattled parapet. There is a door and a window on the west face of the tower, and bell openings in the top stage on all sides. The windows in the nave all date from the 19th century, the window to the east of the porch being particularly large. The east window of the chancel has been re-set from the earlier church; it dates to the early 17th century and contains Perpendicular-style tracery. The chapel has a large three-light east window dating from the 16th century with brick tracery. The west wall contains a 16th-century brick doorway. [1]

Nave main body of a church

The nave is the central part of a church, stretching from the main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type building, the strict definition of the term 'nave' is restricted to the central aisle. In a broader, more colloquial sense, the nave includes all areas available for the lay worshippers, including the side-aisles and transepts. Either way, the nave is distinct from the area reserved for the choir and clergy.

Chancel space around the altar of a traditional Christian church

In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary, at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. It is generally the area used by the clergy and choir during worship, while the congregation is in the nave. Direct access may be provided by a priest's door, usually on the south side of the church. This is one definition, sometimes called the "strict" one; in practice in churches where the eastern end contains other elements such as an ambulatory and side chapels, these are also often counted as part of the chancel, especially when discussing architecture. In smaller churches, where the altar is backed by the outside east wall and there is no distinct choir, the chancel and sanctuary may be the same area. In churches with a retroquire area behind the altar, this may only be included in the broader definition of chancel.

A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient buildings, as a means of providing support to act against the lateral (sideways) forces arising out of the roof structures that lack adequate bracing.

Interior

The nave, chancel and tower have been converted for non-ecclesiastical purposes. The Audley Chapel has a hammerbeam roof with carvings that include the emblems of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon. [1] Also on the roof are heraldic badges containing the arms of Audley of Walden. The chapel contains monuments, the most notable of which is to Sir Henry Audley, erected in 1648 before he died. It includes a white marble reclining effigy in armour, on a black and white chest containing the carved figures of his five children. There is also a tablet to Robert Audley who died in 1624, with memento mori motifs. There are further memorials dating from the 19th century. [1]

Hammerbeam roof A decorative, open timber roof truss typical of English Gothic architecture

A hammerbeam roof is a decorative, open timber roof truss typical of English Gothic architecture and has been called "...the most spectacular endeavour of the English Medieval carpenter." They are traditionally timber framed, using short beams projecting from the wall on which the rafters land, essentially a tie beam which has the middle cut out. These short beams are called hammer-beams and give this truss its name. A hammerbeam roof can have a single, double or false hammerbeam truss.

Emblem pictorial image that epitomizes a concept or that represents a person

An emblem is an abstract or representational pictorial image that represents a concept, like a moral truth, or an allegory, or a person, like a king or saint.

Catherine of Aragon first wife of Henry VIII of England

Catherine of Aragon was Queen of England from June 1509 until May 1533 as the first wife of King Henry VIII; she was previously Princess of Wales as the wife of Henry's elder brother Arthur.

External features

The churchyard contains the war graves of an army officer and a Royal Air Force officer of World War I. [5]

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth of Nations military service members who died in the two World Wars. The Commission is also responsible for commemorating Commonwealth civilians who died as a result of enemy action during World War II. The Commission was founded by Sir Fabian Ware and constituted through Royal Charter in 1917 named the Imperial War Graves Commission. The change to the present name took place in 1960.

Royal Air Force Aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces

The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's aerial warfare force. Formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world. Following victory over the Central Powers in 1918 the RAF emerged as, at the time, the largest air force in the world. Since its formation, the RAF has taken a significant role in British military history. In particular, it played a large part in the Second World War where it fought its most famous campaign, the Battle of Britain.

World War I 1914–1918 global war originating in Europe

World War I, also known as the First World War or the Great War, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. Contemporaneously described as "the war to end all wars", it led to the mobilisation of more than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, making it one of the largest wars in history. It is also one of the deadliest conflicts in history, with an estimated nine million combatants and seven million civilian deaths as a direct result of the war, while resulting genocides and the 1918 influenza pandemic caused another 50 to 100 million deaths worldwide.

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Historic England, "Church of St Michael, Colchester (1123672)", National Heritage List for England , retrieved 9 April 2015
  2. ↑ St Michael's Church, Berechurch, Essex, Churches Conservation Trust , retrieved 9 December 2016
  3. ↑ Berechurch, Streetmap, retrieved 17 February 2011
  4. ↑ Cooper, Janet; Elrington, C. R., eds. (1994), "Outlying Parts of the Liberty: West Donyland", A History of the County of Essex: The Borough of Colchester, Victoria County History, University of London & History of Parliament Trust, 9, pp. 408–418, retrieved 17 February 2011
  5. ↑ BERECHURCH (ST. MICHAEL) CHURCHYARD, Commonwealth War Graves Commission , retrieved 28 February 2013
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