Church of St Nicholas, Coggeshall Abbey

Details

TL 8422-8522 COGGESHALL ABBEY LANE (north side)

9/10 Church of St. 31.10.66 Nicholas, Coggeshall Abbey

GV I

Gatehouse chapel of Coggeshall Abbey, now a church. Circa 1225, restored in 1863, and by Bodley and Garner in 1897, repaired in C20. Flint rubble incorporating English brick and tiles, with dressings of contemporary English brick, roofed with handmade red plain tiles. Rectangular plan, a single build, without additions. In the E wall is a brick window of 3 chamfered lancet lights enclosed in a hollow-chamfered 2-centred outer order, with roll-moulded splays and 2-centred rear-arch. In the N wall are 4 chamfered brick lancet windows with similar splays and rear-arches, all slightly restored. In the S wall are 4 similar windows, but the 2 eastern windows are reduced in depth for internal features; the third window is wholly C19. W of it is a S doorway, 1863. The S wall between the E jamb of the third window and the W jamb of the doorway has been rebuilt in the C19. An engraving of 1818 shows the building in use as a barn, with a wagon entrance and midstrey at this point (J. Greig, Excursions through Essex). In the W wall is a window similar to that in the E wall, rebuilt externally in the C20 but retaining the original splays and rear-arch; much of the upper wall has been rebuilt. All the quoins have been repaired in the C19 and C20, but substantial original fabric remains. An aumbry in the N wall was wholly restored in the C19. At the E end of the S wall is an original stone credence with C19 sill, an original double piscina of brick with hollow- chamfered E jamb, mutilated, and in range with it, 3 sedilia with defaced 2-centred arches, hollow-chamfered W jamb, and C19 piers between the bays. Some original plaster survives on the soffits and backs of the arches, with C13 painting (1) of red masonry lines on white in E bay, (2) part of red cruciform nimbus in middle bay, (3) foliate pattern of brown on white on the soffits of all the bays. 1.85 metres above the floor on all internal walls of the building is a roll-moulded band of brick, rising with mitred corners over the credence, piscina and sedilia, restored in C19, but originally coloured green and glazed. Below the band the rubble is exposed, above it is plastered (the rubble was stripped archaeologically in 1981; 2 recesses were found in the E wall, blocked in the C19). At the threshold of the S door is a small area of mosaic paving, comprising circular tiles inset at the junctions of large square tiles, originally coloured and glazed but now bare. The roof is continuous, comprising 23 scissor-braced couples visible internally, and plain couples exposed in the gables, but the 10 couples at the E end have been treated differently from the remainder. The former are substantially original, with minor C19 repairs. The scissor braces are connected to the rafters by secret notched lap joints; collars are halved across the braces and rafters, and ashlar-pieces are tenoned into the rafters (illustrated in C.A. Hewett, English Historic Carpentry, 1980, 90). 2 undated photographs framed in the church show the roof thatched, and this end of it standing approximately 0.40 metre higher than the remainder at the apex, with a small plastered gable. The S part of the roof has been completely rebuilt in the C19 or C20, retaining some components of the original. Shown with a tiled roof and without the midstrey in a aau of 1639 (Essex Record office, D/DOp P.1). J.S. Gardner reported that the bricks are similar to those of Coxyde Abbey, Belgium, 1214, but produced locally at Tilkey (Coggeshall Abbey and its early brickwork, Journal of the British Archaeological Association (third series) 18, 1955, 19-32 and Plates XI, XIII and XIV). 'This is undoubtedly the finest piece of Early English brickwork in England, and ranks with Bradwell-juxta-Coggeshall for importance' (Warwick Rodwell, Historic Churches - a wasting asset, CBA Research Report 19, 1977, 103). RCHM (Little Coggeshall) 1. A.M.

Listing NGR: TL8536722279

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

116041

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Hewett, C A, English Historic Carpentry, (1980), 90
Greig, J, Excursions through Essex, (1818)
Journal of The British Archaeological Association in Journal of The British Archaeological Association, (1955)
Rodwell, WJ, CBA Research Report No.19 in Historic Churches a wasting asset, (1977), 103

End of official list entry

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