SEE:IT #6 The Lost Church of St Mary Magdalen
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#6 in the South East Essex: Interest Trail, a special variety trail consisting of 16 caches. Please see #1 for full details.
A cache placed in the grounds of the demolished churchyard of St Mary Magdalen.
Prior to its demolition, the parish church of St Mary Magdalen was one of the oldest churches in Rochford District, built principally in the 12th century. The Nave was constructed in the early 12th century, the Chancel was rebuilt and widened in the 13th or 14th century, the South Porch was added early in the 15th century, and the bell-turret in the 16th century. The walls of the church were of rubble covered with cement and roughcast, with dressings of limestone. The roof was tiled and the bell-turret was boarded.
By the 1920s the church had become ramshackle and unsuitable for worship and a programme of restoration was carried out in 1928-9. Despite this the congregation dwindled during the 1930s, and severe gales caused significant damage to the roof. The congregation received a temporary boost from military personnel in wartime when a large antiaircraft site was established to the east of Shopland Road (See my cache "WW2 HAA Gun Site" GC1MD60 for further details). However further damage occurred when a landmine burst nearby, and the church fabric continued to suffer during subsequent bombings. When congregations diminished once more the church was forced to close.
The church was controversially demolished in 1957, and some of the stonework, monuments and fittings were dispersed elsewhere, notably a brass memorial to Thomas de Stapel, serjeant-at-arms to King Edward III, dated 1372, which was removed to Sutton church. The timber porch was sent to the parish church at Bradwell-on-sea.
The two parishes of Sutton and Shopland are now combined, and responsibility for the care and maintenance of the churchyard lies with the Parochial Church Council for Sutton. An open air service is held at the churchyard most summers in memory of the families that are buried there.
Through the entrance one first catches sight of a tall monument and a low cross at the foot of a large sycamore tree. On entering the churchyard, the full extent of the site can be taken in, with views across the open green space to small dispersed groups of gravestones, mature trees and scrubby vegetation. Across to the south, shallow grassy earthworks mark the original position of the church. There are no paths or routes through the churchyard, and the visitor can wander freely. From within the space, the rich green boundary provides a sense of complete enclosure and isolation, and, at least in the summer months, affords few glimpses of the agricultural landscape beyond.
The only large memorial is an imposing granite monument to Lewis Utton and his family, former residents of Shopland Hall, which stands close to the entrance to the churchyard. In addition to the Utton monument, other gravestones mark the resting place of important local individuals, including the local historian Philip Benton, whose grave is marked by a simple flat memorial alongside those of other family members in the north-east corner, and Frederick Thackeray, cousin of the author William Makepeace Thackeray.
Other notable individuals whose remains were interred at Shopland but whose memorials have been removed are the aforementioned Thomas de Stapel, and Charles Tyrell, incumbent, who died in 1695 and whose memorial carried an ancient curse against its removal or desecration. Two adjacent head and foot stones on the south side of the site of the church, dated 1718 and 1727, are Grade II listed.
The oldest memorial is on the south side close to the site of the south porch of the church, and is a large flat stone now heavily eroded and illegible, but believed to be that of William Haker, dated 1639. To the south there is an attractive and orderly arrangement of nine Victorian graves with upright headstones, body tombs and footstones. The most recent burials are of the 1930s.
Shallow rectangular earthworks and residual masonry now barely visible beneath grass and vegetation, mark the original position of the church, adding interest and variety to the landscape. Like all parish churches, this site is of great historical and archaeological importance.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Haqre gur "Qbbef"